[ Thanks to Jason
Greenwood for this link. ]
When Novell announced its purchase of the desktop Linux company
Ximian two weeks ago, it was one of the biggest stories to come out
of LinuxWorld Expo. The move was significant and intriguing, since
Novell didn’t buy software, per se, but instead bought into ideas
that could prove pivotal to its future.“Ximian’s products–the Evolution messaging application, Ximian
Desktop 2 environment, Red Carpet management software and Mono, the
Linux-based implementation of Microsoft’s .Net platform–were
developed and distributed as free software, so Novell didn’t have
to pay for the code to market it. What Novell got for its money is
the opportunity to exert control over the code by directing its
development.“With the market share of its NetWare network operating system a
fraction of what it once was, Novell, along with industry titans
such as IBM, Oracle and, to a lesser extent, Sun, is betting it’ll
be better off tying its future to a platform owned by no one in
particular than chasing after the one operating system intended to
rule them all. To that end, Novell has been porting its flagship
services to Linux, and the company has announced its plans to ship
NetWare 7 as a set of services made to run equally as well atop the
Linux or NetWare kernel…”