novels

I've written recently about the stampede of companies desperate to replicate Apple's success with its iPhone-focused App Store ("Apple App Store clone wars reach fever pitch"), but it appears the stampede is not yet complete. Novell, according to an article in PC Pro and further covered by my colleague Dave Rosenberg, is considering launching its own App Store for open-source applications.

There's just one hitch: we already have one.

In fact, we have several. Google Code, SourceForge, Code Haus, and other open-source code repositories already freely provide open-source applications. Beyond this, Red Hat tried to do a one-click installation experience with Red Hat Exchange (RHX) … Read more

PCPro UK is reporting that Novell is considering an effort to bring a "wealth of open-source software to everyday users through an open-source apps store."

Novell believes that an open-source apps store would make life easier for customers, specifically those interested in Netbooks. This certainly seems logical, but considering that open-source applications tend be licensed in a way that doesn't require an upfront fee, it's hard to see how this represents a business model.

"I would compare what's happening on netbooks with what's happening to the smartphone," Holger Dyroff, vice president of … Read more

The Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) is now projecting that global chip sales will drop 21 percent in 2009, reflecting a souring view since its last projection in November 2008, according to The Wall Street Journal. Fewer chips means fewer new servers and fewer personal computers sold, which is consistent with IDC's report of a 25-percent decline in server sales in the first quarter of 2009.

Against the backdrop of these hardware declines, which software vendors are best-positioned to withstand CIOs' spending frigidity?

Recent earnings reports from Novell and from Red Hat suggest that Linux and open-source vendors may clean … Read more

Linux has been growing in importance for years in the darkened server closets. In the server world, Linux's cost and performance benefits have trumped its early weaknesses (Ease of use, etc.), making Linux the heir apparent to the Unix throne.

But that's the server, where geeks write software for other geeks. In the consumer world of personal computers and mobile devices, however, Linux hasn't fared particularly well precisely because the developers of Linux differ so markedly from the vast majority of the user population.

Linux developers, in other words, scratch very different "itches" from those … Read more

While Microsoft has been advising open-source vendors not to focus on price as a primary competitive differentiator, the big Linux vendors--Red Hat, Novell (SUSE), and Canonical (Ubuntu)--apparently haven't received the memo. A quick look at their Web sites suggests that the Linux vendors want chief information officers to have their price tags top of mind.

Red Hat:

Novell:

Canonical:

And even Oracle, which usually doesn't paint itself as the low-cost leader, is making the pitch:

Microsoft's Windows Server revenue is down 29 percent. Meanwhile, Novell's and Red Hat's Linux businesses are thriving.

Maybe the … Read more

The bad news is that global server revenue is down 25 percent in the last quarter, according to IDC, with Microsoft Windows server revenue down a whopping 29 percent.

The good news? Novell reported Thursday that its Linux Platform revenue climbed 25 percent year over year in the midst of one of the worst recessions in history. Talk about Linux swimming against the economic current.

Well, it's good news for some. Microsoft, of course, won't take any comfort in Novell's numbers, especially as recent Eclipse survey data suggests that Linux is eating into its Windows server and … Read more

For years, Linux enthusiasts have tried to win an unwinnable war: displacing Microsoft's hegemony in personal computers with Windows clones. Though Lindows was perhaps the first to make a serious attempt at replicating the Windows experience, all the Linux "desktop" vendors have tried it, and all with the same result:

Failure.

This isn't because Linux isn't any good as a personal computer operating system. It's because such copycat tactics have doomed Linux to always being a cheap facsimile of Microsoft's idea of what the personal computer should look like and do.

With Moblin version 2.0, … Read more

Google's still-nascent efforts to dominate the mobile market, already reeling from Apple's surging iPhone platform, were dealt another blow on Thursday when Intel and Novell announced that they will collaborate to promote Intel's Moblin operating system, a rival Linux distribution for mobile devices.

Whereas Google is initially targeting smartphones with Android (though an Android-based Netbook has apparently been released), Intel is targeting Moblin at Netbooks.

Additionally, Android and Moblin aren't simply two different Linux distributions, in the way that Red Hat Enterprise Linux and SUSE Linux Enterprise Server are. Android and Moblin use Linux in different … Read more

Red Hat stands alone as the only significant public open-source company. Is this a testament to its execution, or is it a hint that open source is not well-suited to big business?

While I believe that open source will increasingly be the heart of many big technology businesses, it will almost certainly feed new entrants to markets, not incumbent vendors.

Looking at Red Hat's report on its most recent fiscal year (FY 2009), however, suggests that for these new entrants, open source can be a very profitable business indeed. I've already reported on the high-level financial results.

What … Read more