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 Channel Futures

Open Source


Novell vs. Red Hat: Read the Linux Fine Print

  • Written by The VAR Guy 1
  • November 24, 2008
Novell today claimed to have more certified software partners than rival Linux providers. The chest pumping represents Novell's latest thinly veiled attack against Red Hat. But take a closer look at Novell's claims and you'll see why Red Hat may take issue with some of Novell's statements.

Novell vs. Red Hat: Read the Linux Fine PrintNovell today claimed to have more certified software partners than rival Linux providers. The chest pumping represents Novell’s latest thinly veiled attack against Red Hat. But take a closer look at Novell’s claims and you’ll see why Red Hat may take issue with some of Novell’s statements.

First, the good news for Novell: The company says more than 2,500 software applications are now certified on the latest versions of SUSE Linux Enterprise. The VAR Guy is impressed.

Also worth noting: Novell says an average of 140 new applications are certified on SUSE Linux every month. Again, our resident blogger is impressed. Backed by those ISV (independent software vendor) relationships, Novell intends to accelerate SUSE Linux’s momentum on corporate servers and even desktops. Yes, desktops. We’ll see how that effort is going when Novell announces quarterly financial results on December 4.

Take A Closer Look

Now, for the reality check. Novell’s carefully worded press release says:

“Based on publicly available information, SUSE Linux Enterprise 9 and 10 have the most certified software applications when compared to the latest releases of all other commercial Linux* distributions.”

Hmmm. Let’s dissect that sentence for a moment. Basically, Novell focusing the conversation on SUSE Linux Enterprise 9 and 10 vs. Red Hat’s latest release — Enterprise Linux 5.

Red Hat released Enterprise Linux 5 in March 2007. Sometime that same year, Red Hat surpassed 3,000 certified applications. At the time, Red Hat stated:

“The growth rate of applications in our catalog has been astonishingly rapid, from just a 100 or so applications in late 2002, we crossed the 1,000 barrier in 2004, and the 2,000 barrier in early 2006.”

So, how can Novell claim to be “leading” the ISV market with 2,500 certified applications when Red Hat Enterprise Linux had 3,000 certified applications in 2007? Perhaps Novell thinks many of Red Hat’s ISVs are certified for older Red Hat releases.

Quite A Battle

Regardless, The VAR Guy is enjoying Novell’s latest attempt to get under Red Hat’s skin. Novell attacked Red Hat in mid-November, with a new offer to help partners migrate customers from Red Hat Enterprise Linux to SUSE Linux.

Ultimately, partners and customers are the big winners in this apparent showdown between Novell and Red Hat. Competition will surely drive innovation and cost-effective solutions.

The VAR Guy is updated multiple times daily. Don’t miss a single post. Subscribe to his newsletter, RSS and Twitter feed.

Tags: Agents Cloud Service Providers MSPs VARs/SIs New/Changing Channel Programs Open Source

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20 comments

  1. Avatar The VAR Guy November 25, 2008 @ 2:12 am
    Reply

    Hey folks: Matt Asay, author of The Open Road blog, offers deeper analysis and updated statements from both Novell and Red Hat. It’s a great read. Check out Asay’s thoughts here.

  2. Avatar Roy Schestowitz November 25, 2008 @ 1:41 pm
    Reply

    gt; Regardless, The VAR Guy is enjoying Novell’s
    gt; latest attempt to get under Red Hat’s skin.

    How quickly you forget that Novell merely elevates a convicted monopolist and makes GNU/Linux NOT free.

  3. Avatar David November 25, 2008 @ 1:52 pm
    Reply

    Just because Novell claims these things doesn’t mean that they’re accurate. It’s a marketing tactic that is shared by Apple.

    Back in the ’80s, during the personal computer wars, Apple claimed all sorts of things that they lied about, hoping the public would just believe the ads and buy their crap. It’s the same thing Novell is doing here.

  4. Avatar The VAR Guy November 25, 2008 @ 3:00 pm
    Reply

    Roy: You’ve still got a way with words. The VAR Guy has not forgotten about Microsoft’s sometimes questionable sales tactics. But our resident blogger believes competition — from open source, SaaS, etc. — has gradually destroyed the Microsoft monopoly.

    David: Novell certainly seems to have stretched the truth. Good for them for signing up so many new ISVs. That IS good news. Shame on them for stretching or bending the truth to claim they have more ISVs than Red Hat.

  5. Avatar matthorany November 25, 2008 @ 3:58 pm
    Reply

    I like the words you use in the article… “Novell’s latest attack on Red Hat” since there’s not mention of the Red Hat distribution in that Novell press release. Bottom line is…if you like running Red Hat and your enterprise is running smoothly, then you won’t change. If you don’t like it and there’s reason in your enterprise to look for other solutions, then Novell offers migration packages to make it easier to migrate should you choose their route. Our enterprise uses SuSE and OES 2 and it works well for us. We aren’t looking to switch our backbone to another O/S simply because Microsoft says something about their operating system and has a press release about it. The word attack is ridiculous in my opinion.

  6. Avatar The VAR Guy November 25, 2008 @ 4:07 pm
    Reply

    Matthorany: So, Novell isn’t attacking Red Hat? Novell is specifically stating that they have more ISVs than anyone else. That’s a silent attack on Red Hat.

  7. Avatar Ron November 25, 2008 @ 4:13 pm
    Reply

    “Stretched the truth.” “Bending the truth.” Give me a break!
    Since when have we redefined the word “truth” to take on a meaning other than what it had? Just call it what it is: a lie.

  8. Avatar The VAR Guy November 25, 2008 @ 4:17 pm
    Reply

    Ron: Point well taken.

  9. Avatar matthorany November 25, 2008 @ 4:28 pm
    Reply

    Ok… lie is fine. I agree, you can’t just say you have more certified software and it’s magically true. But silent attack? C’mon. Just because I disagree with the statement about Novell attacking Red Hat; Is that a “silent attack” on The VAR Guy? No.

  10. Avatar anti-matthorany November 25, 2008 @ 5:56 pm
    Reply

    ‘I like the words you use in the article… “Novell’s latest attack on Red Hat”’

    So when Novell say “all other commercial Linux* distributions”, who do you think they mean? Who are the other ‘commercial’ distributions??

  11. Avatar matthorany November 25, 2008 @ 10:18 pm
    Reply

    Yes it does include Red Hat. But it’s not an attack on just them. If you were an open-source company seeking to acquire more customers, then you do what you have too to succeed in this era of technology. And that’s not really anything to do with this particular article, but rather the ones I’ve been seeing about Novell’s agreement with Microsoft and offering migration tools to Red Hat users. So what? If you like Red Hat then you are going to be looking for another solution are you?

  12. Avatar Vadim P. November 25, 2008 @ 11:53 pm
    Reply

    request of the lazy, please linkify the tinyurl link in twitter rss feed

  13. Avatar The VAR Guy November 26, 2008 @ 12:50 am
    Reply

    Vadim: Thanks for following The VAR Guy on Twitter. He’ll try to honor your link request at all times.

  14. Avatar Paul Gaskin November 28, 2008 @ 8:01 am
    Reply

    Novell’s SUSE can be considered an untouchable distro of GNU/Linux based on investments from Microsoft and their patent indemnification agreement with Microsoft which is intended to undermine the rest of the GNU/Linux distros.

    I expect bad things for Novell in the future based on this Microsoft relationship because Microsoft has _always_ acted in bad faith with regards to user freedom for all the years they’ve been in business. In contrast with Microsoft, the trend of other IT companies is to have more respect for users freedom and autonomy.

  15. Avatar Parker November 28, 2008 @ 9:54 am
    Reply

    You can banter all you want about the Novell/MS deal. I’m no MS fan myself but I’m not an anti-MS zealot either. In the real world of network administration where I live, anything that helps my thousands of Windows desktops and hundreds of Windows servers work with my Linux servers is a good thing. I’m talking about the new OES 2 with Domain Services for Windows. We’ll proceed cautiously with it but it looks good from here.

  16. Avatar HurdyGurdy November 28, 2008 @ 8:40 pm
    Reply

    Does Novell present an opportunity for a small VAR? I was surfing the web the other day and I found this on their site:

    ‘The Novell Partners below are utilizing online electronic commerce to better serve you, making it faster and easier for you to purchase all Novell products.’ And the page lists their recommended online retailers: CDW, Insight, Softchoice, Softmart. (they don’t really explain how it is ‘easier’)

    You get to this page by clicking: ‘How to Buy’ and then the icon of the shaking hands above the Buy from Distributor link. And then when you go the the ‘Buying Programs’ link it states: ‘By completing the form below, a Novell representative will contact you to provide the best pricing for your organization.’

    As a small VAR we don’t think it necessary for our customers to buy their software from an online retailer, nor is our customer looking for the best price, but rather the best value. We can’t provide the best price, nor can we sell their solutions at the street price and make any margin. So we as an SMB reseller believed it necessary to do something and we figured it would be in our best interest (and the interest of the customer’s) to recommend the exact opposite of what Novell recommends. So we printed out the web site verbage, turned it upside down and looked at it through a mirror. Granted, it at first appeared to be just upside and backward letters, but we squinted our eyes real hard and found the answer. Other small resellers can try this at home. I would recommend the most liberal interpretation of what you see. Does it mean my company doesn’t recommend buying software from an online retailer? Does it mean sell Red Hat or Microsoft? Does it mean both or something else entirely? It all depends upon the eyes of the beholder…..

  17. Avatar Kevin December 4, 2008 @ 9:51 pm
    Reply

    I saw your BLOG posting on the number of applications certified on Novell’s SUSE Linux and thought I would weigh in with a clarification. No one will ever confuse me with a marketing guy or posting fluff so here goes…

    The Novell announcement actually compares SLE 9 amp; 10 to RHEL 4 amp; 5 not to RHEL 5 as stated in the BLOG. I realize RH posts applications certified all the way back to RHEL 2 but since its an important metric for platform providers and ISVs alike to migrate their customers forward to our most recent technologies, we chose to focus on the last two releases when posting applications. We could post more by reaching further back to SLE 6 amp; 7 but whats would be the point. Most of our customer are on 9 amp; 10.

    That said, I really don’t see this as a race. We are simply trying to provide our customers with the finest ecosystem possible. If people want to count, so be it. I manage the group that builds and supports our OPS ISV ecosystem. Our goals are pretty straight forward; Make it as easy as possible for ISVs anywhere to deploy on our platform. We will continue to do this with our going forward releases.

  18. Avatar The VAR Guy December 4, 2008 @ 10:33 pm
    Reply

    Kevin: Thanks for the perspective. Ultimately, The VAR Guy still sees this as an arms race. The more ISVs Novell has, the more attractive SUSE Linux becomes to customers. Red Hat knows that as well. So in that sense, it is an arms race.

    However, that’s the beauty of a blog — particularly this blog. The VAR Guy will always welcome feedback and constructive criticism. And The VAR Guy will eat crow when we’re wrong about specific points.

    The VAR Guy is still a little confused in terms of Novell’s math, and the original Novell statement, which read:

    “Based on publicly available information, SUSE Linux Enterprise 9 and 10 have the most certified software applications when compared to the latest releases of all other commercial Linux* distributions.”

    Still, it’s great to hear from you. And regardless of what numbers you focus on, it is clear that Novell’s ISV base for SUSE Linux is growing rapidly. No debate there.

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