[K12OSN] Novell and LTSP

[jam at mcquil.com]

"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