In the past two days, Novell has made two important Linux-related
announcements - the release of its Connector for Microsoft Exchange Server
to open source and expansion of its Premium Service support for Linux.
The release of Connector makes the entire Evolution product available as open
source under the GPL license. This is a good move for Novell because it is
important to provide a product that allows Linux users to collaborate with
Windows users with respect to e-mail, scheduling meetings, etc. without
having to spend an additional $69 for the Connector. The Connector may have
been viewed as a revenue generator for Ximian, but that is not the case for
Novell. Novell is interested in attracting more users to its Linux desktop
offering and this will help.
The second announcement - expanding its Premium ServiceSM support program
to cover its Linux offerings - is th... (more)
I don’t get it. Sun is still trying to go against market trends and push
Solaris on SPARC when many customers want Linux. Sun has a wonderful volume
server business with Solaris on SPARC. In fact, Sun has lowered its
SPARC-based volume server prices so much that it can compete on price with
some of Dell’s offerings. And some of Sun’s middleware products are
included.
But many users want Linux. Linux server sales are growing by at least 30%-35%
per year. Users are interested in Linux for a number of reasons: they don’t
want to be locked in to proprietary hardware; they know that i... (more)
Today I read an article by a journalist with quotes by analysts about Linux
and how difficult that it will be to move to Linux from Windows and from UNIX
in some cases. Then there is this book written by someone named Kenneth Brown
based on a study of Linux and its derivation. Mr. Brown says that Linux may
have been derived from UNIX and that some open source types do not respect
others IP.
UNIX code is in various operating systems. In the early 1980s when I was
learning to be a UNIX kernel programmer, I picked up a copy of Lyon's
annotated UNIX book. His book had the source code... (more)
On June 17, 2004, Red Hat announced what I would call a good a good 1Q05 (the
quarter ended on May 31, 2004). The revenue for the quarter was $41.6M - a
53% year over year increase. That number will likely change with Red Hat's
re-statement of its revenue after PricewaterhouseCoopers found a "flaw" in
their accounting for subscriptions. Red Hat will now start recognizing
subscription revenue on a daily basis over each contract term. My
understanding is that PricewaterhouseCoopers uncovered the flaw on June 16,
2004, the day before the 1Q05 earnings were announced and well after K... (more)
What is open source? It is a way of developing, distributing, and licensing
software. In the late 1970's and early 1980's, the roots of open source as we
know it today were established.
The pioneers of open source were more interested in building software that
helped them achieve both social and technical goals than in taking advantage
of the business aspects of open source. Today, users, systems vendors, ISVs,
systems integrators, and others are interested in exploiting the business
value of open source.
A number of people and organizations from the mid-1970's to the present hav... (more)
Bill Claybrook is President of New River Marketing Research, a marketing research firm that focuses on Linux, open source software, and commercial grid computing. He performs primary research and helps marketing organizations plan for new product offerings and develop go-to-market strategies, as well as develop marketing analysis content. Prior to entering commercial computing and marketing research, he was Associate Professor of Computer Science at Virginia Tech and the University of Connecticut, as well as Professor of Software Engineering at the Wang Institute of Software Engineering.
Scott Sellers
Anthony Franco
Daniel Morris
Wayne Walls
Niki Acosta
Jereme Hancock
Oren Michels
Marvin Wheeler
Douglas Kim
