What a Web we Weave

Obviously, I took a break last weekend. I’ll give the installation another go this extended weekend. I want to check in with the forums and see iwhat answers there are to my questions (and pleas for assistance).

Meantime, I ruminate over this Novell-MS imbroglio.

After this deal was announced, the first reports were favorable. I recall reading that this might be Microsoft extending an olive branch to the Linux community.

A few days later, after we learn what the terms and conditions are (and especially the reverse payment), it’s become crystal clear this is more of a challenge to the FOSS community by the corporate hit men.

The obvious ploy- to increase FUD- Fear, uncertainty, and Doubt- among the ranks of Linux users.

BTW, don’t cut Novell any slack for their involvement- it’s a bald faced ploy by them to increase market share, and at minimum, their support business.

Also, the IP (intellectual Property) ploy being made by everyone from IBM to Mattel these days, MS, in the tradition of big business, knows it merely needs to throw it’s weight around to instill the dreaded FUD.

After all, it costs money to fight a lawsuit- and if MS expects to start naming ‘John Doe’ as plaintiffs in their forthcoming lawsuits, taking a page out of the RIAA’s terror manifesto, I think it’s safe to say, you’ll see a very interesting battle happen as strategies.

Even recently, Eban Moglen, one of the pioneers of free software, put forth the theory that MS absolution of Novell Suse users indemnifies all Linux distros, which might not hold up in the wrong one, but it’s clear, the return volley has been fired.

[Eban Moglen] said he and others have started work on updating the license to close the loophole by inserting a clause stating that a promise not to sue, such as the one given by Microsoft, would be automatically applicable to everyone.

The War is Over

No, not that one. The one over the OS in the server market. As this article points out, recent developments (Novell and Oracle) show that Linux has won out over Microsoft Windows.

As far as the desktop goes, well, as my experience points out, the F/OSS still has a way to go.

I will check in with one of the Novell hosted NG’s later to see if anyone has responded to my query about YaST and my inability to install dual boot on a system with Windows pre-existing.

So I am still in the preparation stage, and while I don’t feel impatient, I do find myself wondering about support. There is a lot in favor of Windows:

1. Large installed user base
2. Friends and family (and neighbors) familiarity with Windows
3. One Windows, lots to Google; x versions of Linux, more to sort through

And since it comes pre-installed, there’s little to prevent you from getting off the ground once you switch it on.

I have a small confession to make: in the 20+ years I’ve been involved with PC’s, I’ve never installed Windows.

What would it be like if everyone had to install Windows themselves?

You Might Ask Yourself

“He can’t properly burn an .iso?

“He’s doomed.”

Hey, I’m in the room!

That’s okay, I can forgive you. I feel a bit of a numpty from time to time, as I am sure you do. Take the piss if you please. We’re all too human, and erm, ‘challenged’ from time to time.

But I have an explanation/excuse. Do you wanna hear it? Can I plead my case, guv’nor?

Surely you are someone who has found occasionally yerself $.05 short of a dollar, no? Hell, Maybe you can benefit from my experience.

Last week, if you recall, I had dl-ed the DVD.iso from Novell, using Opera’s download manager. This came with it’s own set of issues. I had to restart the transfer more than once. Unlike a torrent, which picks up where it left off, this entire file would have start from zero again.

Agonizing, as it put back my plans several hours each time.

Finally though, the dl finished and all indications were, it was a done deal.

I opened the folder, and right off noticed, it wasn’t the requisite length. Hmmm. I viewed the contents using WinRAR which indicated all was well, I could see the files, and since it indicated to me it was a compressed .iso, that seemed m’kay to me.

In hindsight, this is where I went wrong.

FUD: Much Ado About Novell-MS

Nicholas Petreley analyzes the unholy alliance deal on linuxjournal.com, and goes completely over my head (lots of legal hairs being split open just to look at their guts. The horror.)

I swear, I could hear my eyes glaze over, which is funny ‘cos that’s when I realized my brain had already disengaged.

Still, for those who revel in such minutia, which is like a really big deal, it appears some very sinister and highly psychological tactics have been utilized in this unholy alliance deal.

“For five full years, Microsoft says it will promote SUSE. For five years, Novell will guarantee its customers immunity to patent lawsuits by Microsoft.”

Which sort of implies that’s enough time for MS to deploy it’s vast array of borg agents to take down F/OSS once and for all, in an effort to win the fight against communism (xommunism?).

Apparently this is a tactic that has been used to great effect before, and as Nicholas sees it, Novell got greedy & walked right into their trap:

“What happens after the five years pass? I seem to recall Microsoft made five year (or similar length) deals with Sybase, Symantec, Corel, Borland, Citrix, and other companies that thrived before the deals only to be reduced to insignificant gnats afterward. All of these deals involved giving the company a bundle of money and promising them they’d prosper. All of these companys (sic) were promptly discarded as partners once Microsoft gained what it needed to eliminate them as serious competition.”

Not hard to tell who is who’s bitch in this scenario.

I think this is getting a bit outside the scope of this blog, which is focused on the implementation and use of Linux by an average user. But it is probably important, as I wouldn’t want the choice of Suse (made before this unholy alliance deal was announced) to come back and haunt me.

I already feel like a virgin at a toga party.

I think I’ll look a little deeper into which other, if any, distro(s) will partition and install a dual boot on my Sony/XP/MCE. It must promise to do it as easily as Novell promises Suse will (though that has yet to come true) .

“Let Me See the Green”

Novell will be paid about one fiscal quarter worth of revenue by Microsoft in their unholy alliance deal for Suse support.

Appropos of yesterday’s post following up on this strange business deal, which still has me wondering what is behind it. Something is cooking, eh? Novell is licensing Microsoft IP, and Microsoft is paying them.

I’m not the only one, apparently, as Novell created a FAQ to deal with the questions being asked.

What’s interesting to note is they don”t seem to answer any of the questions not being asked :^/

This Quotation Sheds a Little Light

The big announcement last week that Microsoft and Novell had entered into an agreement (or unholy alliance- you decide) for the former to add support for Novell’s particluar version of Linux, has me scratching my head.

What’s it mean? Is it simply Ballmer’s response to Larry’s firing a shot across the bow?

Let’s go back in time, say five or so years (isn’t the web a wonderful thing?), to an article that might provide a little insight into the possible motives behind this unsual, and so far unclear alliance.

“Linux is a cancer that attaches itself in an intellectual property sense to everything it touches.” -Steve Ballmer, Microsoft

I would be remiss if I didn’t say that, while my selection to go with Suse only had to do with it being known to be the easiest to install (so far, my first attempt has been a bust) I’m sort of wondering if I shouldn’t reconsider.

This penguin is looking a bit tainted.

Dvorak posits that this might be the way the old guard blanches the thinly distributed Linux ranks. Perhaps ticking to life the wrath of Richard Stallman.

UPDATE
This article pries the corners back (hopefully nobody was blinded by the red death ray), forecasting what could happen as a result of the unholy alliance deal.

Houston, We Have Issues

This weekend’s lesson: When attempting something like installing Linux, especially when being a first-timer, expect to encounter unexpected delays.

The previous weekend I had dl-ed the Novell Suse 10 dvd.iso. I burned it, and all seemed fine, although I didn’t at that time go beyond simply checking if the Suse boot screen would work- which it did :^)

I was attempting my first install on my old IBM P3. I though this was a good choice, as then I will have one test case under my belt. I felt it important to feel confident before risking my main pc. I could potentially lose everything. Others will want to know that this is something they too could accomplish, without risking injury to one’s property and in many cases, livelihood.

Well… when attempting installation on the old workhorse, I got as far as YaST screen which presents you with ‘reasonable’ settings (page 17 in the startup guide – see the margin for a link if you want to follow along). You can then accept, or modify the setting to suit. Sort of.

I got a bit concerned that at this stage as it only gave me the choice to format the entire hard disk drive. Not what I want, nor what I was expecting to see. In the manual pdf, this appears different from what I saw on my screen. Crikey.

Speaking of Forging Ahead

This weekend, I’ll be making my very first ever attempt to install Suse as a dual boot system.

Before I try installing this on my primary machine, a Sony rc110g (P4, Dual Core, 1064 GB RAM, 250 GB HDD Windows XP MCE), I will utilize a guinea pig: my old IBM PIII (P3, 1064 RAM, 40 GB HDD, Windows 2000 Pro).

This old workhorse should still be functional, but I haven’t switched it on in some time. After it passes that first test, next will be to look for files that I want to keep and archive to DVD. I should already have enough disk space to install Suse, but just in case something goes haywire, since I do not have first hand experience with YaST, I want to be sure I don’t wipe out files. (I have already archived once before, but it’s been some time, but I think it’s a good idea now to reacquaint myself with the contents of the HDD.)

I’ll start prepping tonight. First, will it even turn on? Will my 19″ LCD monitor be able to operate, having only on-board graphic display adapter? Failing that, I’ll borrow wifey’s 17″ (I wish now I hadn’t donated our auld crt’s), as that used to be mine. Enter the BIOS to make sure it’ll boot from the cd, and Bob’s your uncle <fingers crossed>.

I’ve read the suse10_start.pdf document through once, and will review it prior to install.

Can you believe this stuff happening now?

I don’t know if this is a good thing or not. I chose Novell’s Suse (SLED10) based on past experience, plus the fact that it reportedly installs best on to a machine with Windows already installed.

“‘Under the pact, which isn’t final, Microsoft will offer sales support of Suse Linux, a version of the operating system sold by Novell. The two companies have also agreed to develop technologies to make it easier for users to run both Suse Linux and Microsoft’s Windows on their computers. The two companies are expected to announce details of their plan today at a press conference in San Francisco. In addition, Microsoft won’t assert rights over patents over software technology that may be incorporated into Suse Linux, the people said. Businesses that use Linux have long worried that Microsoft would one day file patent infringement suits against sellers of the rival software.’”

Being optimistic, I don’t expect this will make things worse, only better.

Maybe soon, there will be an ability to write to the NTFS file system (currenly Linux only reads). Plus, MS has expressed a desire to speak with other vendors. If you can’t beat ‘em…

Or, perhaps this situation of ’strange bedfellows’ is a result of Oracle’s going after Red Hat. Or perhaps a secret collaboration between Larry and Bill (dear old pals) to divide and conquer? Nah, that sounds to conspiracy-y.

For my purpose, it’s not even worth thinking about, so I will just forge ahead.