“SuSE, the German Linux distributor and less-cool European
equivalent of Red Hat, is receiving Euro 12 million ($12.8 million)
from Intel and Apax Partners for marketing and the establishment of
sales and support offices worldwide. SuSE also wants to establish a
network of business partners.”
“It seems most unlikely that Intel’s European investment is any
kind of sop against the EU dislike of Pentium III serial numbers,
because of data security issues associated with e-commerce
transactions that is being investigated by the European
Parliament’s STOA (Scientific and Technological Options Assessment)
Panel. Earlier this year, STOA reported on the “development of
surveillance technology and risk of abuse of economic information”,
while Franck Leprevost’s study, Encryption and Cryptosystems in
Electronics Surveillance has just been presented to STOA.”
“Tim Keating, Intel’s content group director for EMEA, said
that “Intel is investing in SuSE because we want to encourage the
diffusion of Linux on Intel-based computers in Europe” —
primarily the Xeon until the Itanic… sorry, Itanium is released.
Intel’s investment policy seems to follow the maxim that if it
moves, or could use Intel chips, invest in it — especially if it
offers an alternative to Microsoft. Intel previously invested in
Red Hat, which is still unprofitable.”