[Opensource] [OT] SUSE and Redhat

[Coliukos, Peter]

FYI, I am a Linux neophyte (RH v8):  I think that Red Hat made a good
business decision, but a poor marketing move.  I think the business users of
RH will benefit; however, I think the underground users will suffer.  I do
see on the website how Red Hat is passing the torch to "Fedora" for the
hard-core, underground users.  You and I know that is not where Red Hat
wants them to go.  They want everyone to buy the upgrade to one of the new
RH Enterprise lines (including WS).  I believe that they will become the
Microsoft of Linux although I hate to admit it.  

On the flipside, I think that the Novell acquisition can only be good for
both Novell and SuSE.  I think that Red Hat was getting too big for SuSE to
deal with, and we all know the Novell versus Microsoft story.  My perception
is that SuSE has always been a little closer to the enterprise, and I think
they have always been the "favored son" of IBM.

A tentative prediction:  I think you will see DB2 Universal Database become
a packaged feature for the Novell/SuSE Linux distribution.

Some negatives:  This only helps Microsoft on the Desktop, and may tip the
scales on the Total Cost of Ownership argument for servers.

Thanks for listening...


Peter N. Coliukos
Director of Information Technology
Colony Liquor & Wine Dist., LLC
Phone: 845-338-2740 x1162
Fax: 845-338-9385
mailto:Peter.Coliukos at colonyliquor.com
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-----Original Message-----
From: Sandra Cann [mailto:scann at jcorporate.com] 
Sent: Wednesday, November 05, 2003 2:31 PM
To: opensource at jcorporate.com
Subject: [Opensource] [OT] SUSE and Redhat

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


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