novels

Novell has made a series of ads parodying the iconic (can we call them "iconic" now?) "I'm a Mac" commercials. Like Apple's ads, they feature a dweeby PC and a "cool kid" Mac, although Novell's Mac looks less like a 2007-era hipster and more like a Freddie Prinze, Jr.-ish jock from a late '90s teen movie. (I mean, a Mac would at least be more inclined to resemble a slightly edgier character played by Ethan Embry.)

Then there's Novell's addition, Linux. In an obvious pander to male geeks, … Read more

Novell plans to begin beta testing in May its Open Enterprise Server 2, the second incarnation of its combined Linux and NetWare operating system bundle, the company announced at its Brainshare conference in Salt Lake City. The version is the first that will be able to run on the Xen virtualization software, meaning that NetWare 6.5 will be able to run side by side with other x86 operating systems.

Novell didn't announce pricing or final availability.

Novell's Suse Linux Enterprise Server 10, released in July, already is endowed with Xen support, but Novell also said Service Pack … Read more

PSA Peugeot Citroen has signed a multiyear contract to use Novell's Novell's Suse Linux Enterprise software on thousands of servers and desktop computers, Novell said Tuesday.

The contract permits the French automaker to install as many as 20,000 versions of Linux for desktop computers and as many as 2,500 versions for servers, and Novell said Peugeot plans to install all the software over the course of the agreement.

Terms of the deal weren't disclosed.

For those companies wishing Linux would work with their widgets, core programmers are offering to write the necessary software support for free.

Greg Kroah-Hartman, a programmer at Novell, announced the Linux driver program on his blog Monday. The "Linux kernel community is offering all companies free Linux driver development...All that is needed is some kind of specification that describes how your device works, or the e-mail address of an engineer that is willing to answer questions every once in a while," he said.

In an interview, Kroah-Hartman said the program is offered by the Linux Foundation, the … Read more

Novell has begun a new element of a years-long effort to coax people away from Windows and toward Linux. It unveiled a Web site Friday that touts purported advantages that Novell's Suse Linux Enterprise Desktop 10 has over Windows Vista.

The site includes a white paper making the case, a variety of customers who have opted to use the software, and a video arguing that SLED has good usability and a built-in office suite but not Windows' lock-in and high licensing costs.

Microsoft has introduced Vista for corporate customers and will follow suit later this month for consumers. Linux … Read more

Mono, Novell's open-source implementation of Microsoft's .Net technology, will get support for version 3.0 of the C# programming language developed for the technology, project leader Miguel de Icaza said.

"Yes, we will be implementing C# 3.0," de Icaza said on his blog Thursday. Version 3.0 adds about a dozen language features to version 2.0, but adding the support has been a lower priority than fixing bugs in current technology, he said.

In an interview, de Icaza said the work requires three major parts, each requiring about three months of work, and then … Read more

Microsoft and Novell, fresh on the heels of a patent partnership that triggered widespread criticism and scorn from open-source fans, have gone on a publicity counter-offensive. Despite disagreements over whether Linux actually infringes Microsoft patents, the two have joined to publicize a survey that, they say, shows customers like the deal.

The companies commissioned a study of 201 computing industry decision makers that found 95 percent of respondents approved of the collaboration. In addition, 90 percent said they thought the deal would improve computer system interoperability, and 75 percent said they thought it would decrease patent infringement risks. The partners … Read more

Novell has released its latest free version of Linux, OpenSuse 10.2, fulfilling a promise to change its default file system software.

The new product uses ext3 to oversee how files are stored on hard drives, said project manager Michael Loeffler in a mailing list posting announcing the new version. Suse once was the highest-profile user of an alternative, ReiserFS, but moved away.

The new version also includes Firefox 2.0 and new power management, Loeffler said. "As usual, we ship all the latest open source packages available at the time. But we want to give special mention to … Read more

Programmers from Red Hat, Novell and the Mozilla Foundation have pledged closer cooperation to ease technical obstacles that exist today, work planned to result in versions of the Firefox browser tailored for different versions of Linux.

"The browser on Linux is currently in a sad state of affairs," said Red Hat's Chris Aillon on his blog Monday, complaining that different versions of Linux incorporate different variations of the browser source code and that the generic version released by Mozilla won't run on newer Linux versions such as Fedora Core 6, released in October.

Likewise, Mozilla programmer Mike Connor … Read more