Red Hat

Novell puts Linux on sale as earnings disappoint

Novell's $340 million lifeline from Microsoft appears to be losing its potency.

Although Microsoft originally gifted Novell $240 million to help fight Red Hat, and later added another $100 million to the pile, it doesn't seem to be enough to revive Novell's fortunes, as the company reported disappointing first-quarter earnings and a slide even in its Linux business, which had been growing fairly well.

"The pipe fell apart," declared Novell CEO Ron Hovsepian, as The Register reports. That's an intriguing statement, as other open-source companies with which I work have seen their pipelines grow … Read more

Red Hat upgrades its mission

Red Hat has long been the big Kahuna in open-source software, but a new mission statement points to an even bigger role for the company.

Red Hat has long billed itself as "the defining technology company of the 21st century (seeking) through (its) actions (to) strengthen the social fabric by continually democratizing content and technology."

It's an ambitious vision, but it's a bit vague, and it arguably leaves an important constituency out: customers.

A new Red Hat mission statement, which I found on the restroom wall at the company's Massachusetts office (No. 867-5309 for Red … Read more

Is M&A stifling Oracle's creativity?

Vinnie Mirchandani writes provocatively on his Deal Architect blog that Oracle's penchant for acquisitions may be hampering its ability to innovate in-house and write code:

In existing Oracle internally developed and acquired products in the last five years, Oracle's enhancements have been anemic.

Oracle, in my opinion, has forgotten how to develop code. Its top executives are deal makers, not technology visionaries. Worse, when it comes to their acquisitions, they cannot retain or easily replace the entrepreneurial talent...The rapid pace of acquisitions has also had a significant impact on Oracle support.

Customers report frequent and confusing changes … Read more

IP for sale: Is open source buying?

The Chicago Tribune suggests that increasing volumes of intellectual property are now being sold at to shore up balance sheets. So who in the open-source world is buying?

I ask because it's almost certain that someone is going to purchase the IP, and it's likely to be a Microsoft or Oracle (or, possibly worse, Intellectual Ventures), to the extent the IP is worth anything. Instead, now would be a good time for open-source patent-pooling collectives like Open Invention Network to buy up these assets and use them to protect open source.

Red Hat, IBM, and others have established … Read more

How to make your first billion--with free software

In 2006, RedMonk analyst Stephen O'Grady questioned whether any open-source vendor would crack $1 billion in revenues. This week, fellow RedMonk analyst Michael Cote offered a blueprint for how open-source companies can breach that barrier.

The secret? Proprietary software.

Open source will never go away as a method of production or a business model. In fact, you'd be insane not to use it as a core part of your software business model now-a-days....Indeed, as..."small" (open-source) outfits have shown, you can build a fine business of "pure open source." It's those "… Read more

Red Hat board member trades one mission for another

Steve Albrecht, a longstanding Red Hat board member, has resigned from Red Hat's board effective June 30, 2009. The reason? Albrecht, originally tapped six years ago by Red Hat chairman Matthew Szulik, will serve as a mission president in Japan for the Mormon Church (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints), starting in early July.

It's a new mission for Albrecht, but will require many of the same attributes that made him a successful board member for Red Hat. My father also serves as a mission president in the LDS Church (Buenos Aires, Argentina), and I've seen … Read more

Microsoft, Red Hat to interoperate patent-free

For years, Microsoft has insisted that open-source vendors acknowledge that its patent portfolio is a precursor to interoperability discussions. On Monday, Microsoft shed that charade and announced an interoperability alliance with Red Hat for virtualization.

The deal includes several key components, all related to virtualization:

Red Hat will validate Windows Server guests to be supported on Red Hat Enterprise virtualization technologies. Microsoft will validate Red Hat Enterprise Linux server guests to be supported on Windows Server Hyper-V and Microsoft Hyper-V Server. Once each company completes testing, customers with valid support agreements will receive coordinated technical support for running Windows Server … Read more

JBoss Mass makes dumping middleware easy

Red Hat on Wednesday announced that it has started offering migration tools to enable enterprises to abandon their proprietary middleware solutions for open-source Red Hat's JBoss product.

It's a new salvo in Red Hat's increasingly successful campaign to replicate its Linux operating system success in the application server market.

Importantly, the new JBoss Mass (migration assistance) program is not just about software. It's also a community effort, including system integrator partners such as RivetLogic and CityTech, which aims to "connect new JBoss customers with existing customers and partners who have extensive migration experience."

In … Read more

Red Hat's state of the union

As much as I may say the open-source and proprietary software worlds are converging, in terms of business models, Red Hat continues to resist and to stand largely alone in its resolution to deliver value unmitigated by proprietary licensing.

In a state-of-the-union address on Monday, Red Hat CEO Jim Whitehurst calls out the Red Hat difference and points to one key area in which the consuming open-source community can become a contributing open-source community:

I've met with customers and partners all over the world during the past 13 months and have heard great stories about companies who are not … Read more