[Opensource] [OT] SUSE and Redhat

[Sandra Cann]

I am sure you heard the news about each of these companies. Interesting
times. What are some serious insights and estimations on what this will mean
for the OS Community and the IT industry? 

NOVELL buys SuSE
http://www.newsforge.com/trends/03/11/04/1332252.shtml?tid=17&tid=20&tid=85

and Red Hat tells customers, "No more freebies"
http://www.newsforge.com/software/03/11/03/1657205.shtml?tid=150&tid=2&tid=8

Overall I think it reaffirms that companies focusing on open source cannot
be sufficiently profitable to be successful on services alone - hence the
trend for commercial companies to value add to open source. I think too that
a complex open source project has a tendendancy to be "bleeding edge" and it
is essential to maintain a stable release for the enterprise until the next
release has proven itself. That said I don't agree with the way/how RH has
made this move - akind to cutting off your arm. I think it may hurt them
from negative perceptions of an existing user base that has made them
popular.  What do you think?

Novell is buying SUSE (and IBM is buying a chunk of Novell stock). I wonder
how many people have forgotten that Novell bought Unix from AT&T back when
it was gaining momentum. I think people thought then that finally Unix would
get some decent marketing. Instead they killed it almost dead. This time
looks different. Do they still own Unix and will it change the dynamics of
the case IBM has with SCO? Either way it looks like a good strategic move
for both Novell and IBM. The financial market seems to approve of Novell's
tactics.
http://custom.marketwatch.com/custom/excite-com/news-story.asp?guid={A9C79FB
7-9893-4985-AFF0-B7DFF0126FE6}

What do you think?

Sandra