[K12OSN] Novell and LTSP

Sun May 9 04:55:21 UTC 2004

I attended a Novell / HP seminar on Wednesday in Calgary.  They talked alot
about moving your enterprise to linux - take out your unix servers and put
in linx.  Interestingly they did NOT talk about Windows servers.  They also
talked about deploying linux on the desktop.

They stated that Novell is now the #1 contributor to:
Gnome - part of the Ximian acquisition
KDE - part of SUSE
momo - Ximian
and a few others that I cannot recall.

At the end of the presentation they showed what the next generation of
Novell would look like. ... all the normal Novell stuff but running on Linux
but not called Netware 7 but rather Open Enterprise Server.  You can either
install it with a Linux kernel or with a Netware kernel - whatever best fits
your network.  Their proven eDirectory will be a very welcome addition to
the linux world.  We must also remember that they now have the one
alternative to Microsoft Exchange server for linux ... Groupwise 6.5 on
linux.  AFAIK this is the only real groupware solution available on linux
... with email, calendaring, scheduling, document collaboration, etc.  This
will be interesting to watch to see if GroupWise takes off.  Some of their
other stuff ... the iFolder also seems VERY cool.  They also have iManager
which is their eDirectory, etc management tool totally ported to be web
based.  That is a move away from their Console1 java tool or the windows
based Netware administrator.  So all in all a LOT cooking on the server
side..

Then in one of the later slides in the presentation they showed the next
generation of desktop - no screen shot though, just a nice logo.  Currently
they push the Ximian Desktop 2 based on Gnome. The next one will be called
Novell Desktop with their branding and color to it.  I wonder what it will
be based on, Gnome or KDE?  or will they take the Redhat Bluecurve idea a
step farther and melt the look and feel to make both be similar??

The last slide had a one line mention of LTSP ... no further mention.  But a
big part of the presentation was about Linux on the desktop... what can all
be run now, using WINE or CrossOver Office for those that are not native
linux yet. (in fact their XD2 apparently includes CrossOver office....???
did not know that.)  Now with Jim giving more of the details, this is
certainly to be watched.  Novell has suddenly become a VERY BIG player in
the linux world.

Novell then would also have have a thin client solution, just like Sun, or
Microsoft or Citrix ... but based on open source!!  Sounds like fun to
watch.

greetings
Joe Guenther

-----Original Message-----
From: k12osn-bounces at redhat.com [mailto:k12osn-bounces at redhat.com]On
Behalf Of jam at mcquil.com
Sent: Thursday, May 06, 2004 9:50 PM
To: k12osn at redhat.com; ltsp-discuss at lists.sourceforge.net
Subject: [K12OSN] Novell and LTSP

"Will Novell adopt the LTSP project?"

That was the question yesterday on Slashdot.

Well, it turns out that Novell is indeed working on a thin
client solution, and based on my conversation today with Nat Friedman,
it is definately based on LTSP.

What this means is that Novell has recognized the value
that LTSP brings to the market, and that rather than
re-invent the wheel, they want to help us prepare LTSP for
the enterprise.

Nat says that they want to help with features
such as security and local device support.  And, he assured
me that they want to work with us, to make sure that it all
works smoothly and it will be done in an open way.

Initially, I didn't know how I should react to this.  As the day
went on, I had a concern that maybe Novell would attempt to take
control of the project.  I suppose that's a natural reaction.

After talking with Nat, a couple of Novell engineers, a few people
who were at the Novell dog-n-pony show on tuesday, and some friends,
my attitude is that of pride.  Pride in the fact that what we have been
working on for the past 5 years or so has been recognized by one of
the largest software companies in the world and they see potential
in what we have created.  I for one, am impressed by what Novell is
doing with Ximian and SUSE.

LTSP is NOT what I do for a living.  It's my hobby and my passion.
It just amazes me that a bunch of people can get together in their
spare time and create something that can have such an impact on the
world.

Right now, there are schools all over the world using LTSP
to deliver computing to children who would otherwise not have it.
There are people in Brazil, some of whom are homeless, without a
street address, but they have an email address, because LTSP was
used by the government in what is called the 'Telecentros'.

There are small companies popping up all over the world, by
people who believe they can make an honest living by deploying
Linux and LTSP based solutions in schools and libraries, government
agencies and businesses, such as doctors and lawyers and architects and
hardware stores and heck, the list goes on and on.

To me, that is so cool.

At this point, I'm very interested in what Novell can offer to
our little project.  At the very least, they are helping to legitimize
it.

Anyway, back to work.  LTSP-4.1 isn't gonna finish itself :)

Jim McQuillan
jam at Ltsp.org

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