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Novell CTO defends 'unstable' Xen claims
www.zdnet.com.au ^ | 11 August 2006 10:15 AM | Steven Deare, ZDNet Australia

Posted on 08/11/2006 6:35:34 AM PDT by N3WBI3

Novell chief technology officer (CTO) Markus Rex has hit back at criticism the company included an "unstable" Xen virtualisation environment in its new Linux server, pointing to support from hardware partners.

At Novell's Sydney office on Thursday, Rex responded to claims by Linux competitor Red Hat that Xen was not stable enough to be deployed in enterprise environments. Novell has claimed to be the first vendor to include Xen in its Linux distribution, SUSE Linux Enterprise Server.

Xen, primarily developed by US-based start-up XenSource, allows users to run multiple operating systems as guest virtual machines on the same hardware.

"If you look at the Xen open source project, we have been the number two contributor during the past 10 months or so to that project. So we've kind of contributed most of the enterprise readiness for the Xen platform," Rex said.

Red Hat only had to look at Novell's launch of its new server for testimony that Xen was enterprise ready, according to Rex.

"We had all the major hardware partners that had virtualisation hardware like IBM, Intel and AMD. They all stood up and said 'Yes, this technology's ready, and we fully support deployments based on Xen and in combination with SUSE Linux Enterprise 10'."

"So I guess the other vendors would not do that if it weren't ready."

Novell had a track record of being the first to expand the Linux platform, while competitors had often claimed the additions weren't ready, he said.

"It's up to each vendor on when to include certain technologies," Rex said.

"We always have been very much on the forefront of technology, so I think it's just fitting that we have been the first ones to integrate Xen."

However, despite its self-proclaimed pace-setter status, Novell has not yet completed rolling out Linux desktops to all its employees. The vendor announced the plans over two years ago.

Rex said the rollout was "still an ongoing process", but that the company was on track with its two year old goals.

"The whole company has been using OpenOffice now for about a year, roughly.

"[This] was the far more painful transition than [changing] the actual underlying operating system because it's the day to day application that you use and it touches all your file formats and everything."

Novell had "80 something percent" of its people with Linux on their desktops, Rex said.

The rollout in Novell China was complete; "most of" Novell Germany was done, and "virtually all" of Novell's technical teams around the world ran Linux on the desktop, he said.

Some Novell staff would still use Windows in addition to Linux on the desktop for certain functions, such as software development, said Rex.

Novell executives also downplayed the recent replacement of the company's chief executive and chief financial officers.

"There have been a couple of different phases inside Novell," said Rex.

"And each of the different phases had its unique needs."

Initially a Windows software company, Novell turned to Linux-based software when it completed the acquisition of SUSE Linux in 2004.

"Now we've reached the next phase. And each of the phases have different people doing the key decisions," said Rex.

"I've been involved with all three phases and I've worked with all three groups of people.

"It was not necessarily so much different ... it's like a constant evolving.

"Whether it's better off or worse off [without former CEO Jack Messman], this is something I cannot really say."

Messman was replaced by Ron Hovsepian, formerly Novell's chief operating officer.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Computers/Internet
KEYWORDS: brassbuzzard; linux; novell; opensource; redhat; trolled
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To: N3WBI3
Initially a Windows software company, Novell turned to Linux-based software when it completed the acquisition of SUSE Linux in 2004.

So much for the honest reporting.

21 posted on 08/11/2006 9:09:28 AM PDT by Golden Eagle (Buy American. While you still can.)
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To: N3WBI3

Novell: Where good software goes to die.


22 posted on 08/11/2006 9:09:35 AM PDT by Doohickey (I am not unappeasable. YOU are just too easily appeased.)
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Comment #23 Removed by Moderator

To: Golden Eagle

So, only 20% of Novell employees are actually productive.


24 posted on 08/11/2006 9:10:55 AM PDT by Doohickey (I am not unappeasable. YOU are just too easily appeased.)
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To: W3BMAST3R101
Have you tested out any other distros?

Yeah. Using VMware, I load them up frequently to see if I like them or not. So far, I still always come back to FC. I'm thinking it's because that's what I'm most familiar with.

I have a DVD image that I still need to burn that contains 10 live CD distros. Most of them are specialized for forensics, and a couple are GP distros for demos. It's pretty cool, but it's taking up 4G of my /home partition. :(

25 posted on 08/11/2006 9:17:33 AM PDT by ShadowAce (Linux -- The Ultimate Windows Service Pack)
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To: Doohickey

LOL, if that.


26 posted on 08/11/2006 9:20:48 AM PDT by Golden Eagle (Buy American. While you still can.)
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Comment #27 Removed by Moderator

To: Golden Eagle; ShadowAce

Yup you just go ahead and keep running down American companies...


28 posted on 08/11/2006 9:24:37 AM PDT by N3WBI3 ("I can kill you with my brain" - River Tam)
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To: N3WBI3

He's got a playmate now.


29 posted on 08/11/2006 9:26:50 AM PDT by ShadowAce (Linux -- The Ultimate Windows Service Pack)
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To: N3WBI3

Novell is switching their core product to a free foreign clone of American products. Which is why you suddenly like them.


30 posted on 08/11/2006 9:32:37 AM PDT by Golden Eagle (Buy American. While you still can.)
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Comment #31 Removed by Moderator

To: N3WBI3; Golden Eagle
Novell's Enterprise Linux Server Takes 30% Of Server Market

It's just claims by Novell, with no independent numbers to back them up, but I think it interesting that they are comfortable making the claim in the first place.

32 posted on 08/11/2006 9:38:18 AM PDT by ShadowAce (Linux -- The Ultimate Windows Service Pack)
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To: ShadowAce

Nah. I just like making fun of Novell. I can't think of any other company that has screwed up more superior products, or has had more difficulty defining itself.

Whatever curve there is in technology, you can rest assured that Novell is behind it.


33 posted on 08/11/2006 9:41:29 AM PDT by Doohickey (I am not unappeasable. YOU are just too easily appeased.)
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To: Doohickey
I just like making fun of Novell. I can't think of any other company that has screwed up more superior products, or has had more difficulty defining itself.

LOL! OK. I can understand that, actually. Novell has a rather, um, checkered past.

Thanks for the clarification!

34 posted on 08/11/2006 9:46:43 AM PDT by ShadowAce (Linux -- The Ultimate Windows Service Pack)
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To: Golden Eagle
Which is why you suddenly like them.

Find me a post where I ever said I did not like Novell..

BTW nice way to avoid the fact Novell is an American company and you think its ok to run them down for using something which originated in Europe while you post on the web which.... originated in Europe..

35 posted on 08/11/2006 9:55:14 AM PDT by N3WBI3 ("I can kill you with my brain" - River Tam)
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Comment #36 Removed by Moderator

To: N3WBI3

The difference is I don't spend every waking moment boasting about foreign technology like yourself. I would love to go into the details of why this may be, but you always cry to the moderator about it being too personal.


37 posted on 08/11/2006 10:18:08 AM PDT by Golden Eagle (Buy American. While you still can.)
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To: Golden Eagle; FLAMING DEATH
You were disrupting threads on the web (European invention) long before I was posing here... heck according to you you were posting via the web here before 'here' existed..
38 posted on 08/11/2006 10:21:14 AM PDT by N3WBI3 ("I can kill you with my brain" - River Tam)
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To: N3WBI3
threads on the web (European invention)

LMAO!

39 posted on 08/11/2006 10:26:39 AM PDT by Golden Eagle (Buy American. While you still can.)
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To: ShadowAce
I'm pretty much with you on that. As of right now Xen isn't quite ready for prime-time yet. For dev and test machines, it might be appropriate, but I'd be hesitant to go with it in a production environment today. That may well change in the future, though like you, I'm a little leery of what seems to be more or less 'pseudo' virtualization.

For the present, VMware rocks in every test we've thrown at it. We'll be doing some major deployments of VMware here within months. It's going to save us a ton of money and time.

40 posted on 08/11/2006 10:43:44 AM PDT by zeugma (I reject your reality and substitute my own in its place. (http://www.zprc.org/))
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