This session was over at the Marriott … that’s a first.  The
projectors are not working … there is no audio … and Juergen Geck
couldn’t make it here.  Bummer.  The VP of R&D is doing
the presentation … I didn’t catch his name.

He defined SuSE as a new business unit of Novell … I hadn’t heard
that before, but it makes sense.  He also expanded into discussing
the difference between Open and Closed Source companies … “the
difference isn’t that big” … SuSE simply takes Open Source projects,
tests and certifies, and supports.  So they are really selling the
process … not the product.  It’s cool to hear this since I used
to argue this at Novell … we used to have people that thought we sold
NetWare … but we really sold the development and support services
.  At least that is what customers were paying for …

SuSe has been going forward with the 2.4 kernel, and has been adding
features of the 2.6 on their own.  They are now embracing and
integrating the 2.6 kernel in their latest products.

He brought up an interesting chart of “Effort” and “Committment” …
what you get with what product.  With SuSE Linux you get “no
committments” … with the Enterprise products you get “availability of
support” and “availability of maintenance”.  They have a model for
their “Technology Strategy” … he has a great chart … Customer Value
across the bottom (with build, manage, and integrate) and then
Competitive Advantage up the left side (with technology, platform, and
integration platform) … from this he explains that  they began
at the “build-technology” … moved to “build-platform” … then to
“manage-technology” … and now to “manage-platform”.  I might
have to recreate this diagram … it’s interesting.

Again … they emphasize the power and value of their “AutoBuild”
process .. . and I would agree … it’s this automation that enables
them to deliver.  He indicated a database of ~4000 packages that
they track.  Updates are detected, patches are created, builds are
created, QA and Doc are notified, eventually they are released to
maintenance.  There are both manual and automated aspects … some
of the original tests and security checks are manual.

The Support cycle is:

• Phase One – bugs reported/found
• Phase Two – temporary patch released to reporter of bug
• Phase Three – recertification/testing
• Phase Four – customer deployment

Ok … now I’m really bummed.  They aren’t talking about futures
at all … this is the same stuff that I have heard in several SuSE
presentations.  What the products are … how AutoBuild works …
what’s in each product … what is different between products.  I
understood this the first time I heard it.

Wow … he just finished his presentation!  People are grumbling
out loud … they are as shocked as I am …  No Futures! 
This is the worst presentation that I have been to … not that he
didn’t present well, it’s just that he didn’t touch on *anything* that
the title and synopsis mentioned … this sucked.

I spent some time in The BrainShare Lab after the first session … it
seemed a little “empty” compared to previous years.  Not a bad
thing … since there was a lot to look at and see.  I ran into a
lot of friends, and had a blast talking with people about their
projects.

One thing that I am glad to see is that I found almost no negative
people … even when they knew or were told that I worked for SCO …
and most realized that it will be great in the future when our
companies can collaborate in the future.  It’s great to be able to
have professional technical conversations with professional technical
people.  😉

I spent a bit of time over at the eDirectory booths … they are still
continuing to do amazing work with LDAP and directory technologies in
general.  They have a new “Embedded eDirectory” product, but is
not what I would ahve thought.  It’s more like a “Bindled
eDirectory” solution that allows an application vendor to bundle
eDirectory with their application.  The main purpose is to act
like an LDAP directory and proxy … with some added features.  It
can store local users, or if configured, if can proxy requests through
to an alternative directory.  This allows an application to extend
the “local” schema and add application specific attributes … and then
pass through all other information to the corporate (or upstream)
directory.  It’s a very powerful capability.

I also saw a company that is embedding LDAP clients into some wireless
gear … for directory-based management of wireless radios.  I got
me thinking about something that could be added to the Linksys APs that
are out there that have Open Source firmware.  This is something
that I was trying to do at Novell years ago … and now it’s looking
real.

There were a number of other booths on NetWare, SuSE GNU/Linux, and
their other products.  I’ll have to think about what hit me as
really cool or valuable … there were too many things to see in a
short amount of time … I’m off to the SuSE Linux Futures session …

The speaker – Malcolm Yates? – is a great presenter … he’s
quite an interactive and lively presenter … it’s apparent that he
enjoys his job. He joked about the acquisition and pondered what
you get when they combine? 😉

• Novell & SuSE
• No Se?
• No Use?

He progressed through the various versions of SuSE … Personal,
Desktop, Professional, Standard Server and Enterprise Server.
Professional is really the one that has everything for the “power”
user. Web interface for all administration and services.
You can also use YaST … written in NCurses. They also have Open
Exchange Server …

Enterprise Solutions … SuSE Linux Enterprise Server 8 … of SLES 8
… he then went through his “picture presentation” that
was great. What a kick … this is just getting better and
better. He was giving away prizes for the people who could figure
out what each picture represented …

He then went through the various customer/partners … Mobile, Ford,
Deutsche Bank (2000+ servers world wide), Catapillar, Safeway,
SmithBarney … 80%-90% of mainframes running Linux are running SuSE.

He then went through all of the certifications – Carrier Grade (Jun
2003), EAL 2+ (Aug 2003), EAL 3+ (Jan 2004) … most of these within
the last year in partnership with IBM. He indicated that this is
the fastest that anyone has ever got EAL 3+ certification after their
2+ certification.

“We do not sell software” … “We sell our experience, our support, our
ability to provide tested maintenance, our integration capability, our
development effort …”

Their process is:

• Open Source Community (~3000 packages) ->
• SuSE Common Code Base (Configuration and Test ~6000 packages) ->
• AutoBuild (Automated system identitifes incompatibilities) ->
• QA + Doc (Manual Regression, Automated Regression, Feature Test) ->
• Production

Their products have a 5-year life cycle. Releases of new version
every 18-24 months. So there is overlap between versions, and
customers understand the schedule and when they will have to
update/upgrade.  No questions and this obviously allows them to plan their revenue stream.

He listed all of the SuSE firsts … Enterprise Class Linux, 5 year
maintenance support, Linux for S/390 & zSeries, iSeries, 64bit on
all eServers, Global support contract with IBM, AMD Opteron support,
2.6 kernel features on a 2.4 kernel, Enterprise Desktop, EAL 3+
certified … and 1st class world class partner for business …

And some caveats about using Linux?   There are some obvious
ones that he won’t say … there are conflicting things … there are
some that he can not say.

It was an amusing presentation, and quite entertaining … he did a
great overview of the products  … however I am not really sure
that I learned anything about the “Partner Program” and what is it, or
what it has to offer. 

This session was pretty full … I chose to stand in the back and
listen.  This appeared to be a German company, based in
Germany.  They started to review the details of the company, and
outlining the Windows/Citrix solution that they had been using. 
He indicated that they had a huge savings in licensing fees … someone
asked ho much and the speaker indicated that he was not allowed to say.

I listened for a bit more, and then got another call … busy day.  ;-(

I came to Eriks advanced presentation to see what else I could pick up
on Mono and where its going. I ended up entering a completely
dark room … except for the projector. Miguel was here writing a
quick “mini-web browser” using Mono, Glade, and a Mozilla
component. It was very cool to see him work, and how quickly he
got it close to working. I say “close to working” since he was
pressed for time and had to run to a meeting … the app ran, however
the Mozilla component was not showing in the window … Miguel left.

Erik got going and presented the “What is Mono?” pitch. It
was going for a while, and then one of the other attendees asked the
question … “Is this the Advanced Mono or not?” Erik expressed
that due to the fact that Miguel had to leave it was going to be an
“evolved intro” … bummer.

He again touched on where Mono is doing better than .NET … besides
the breadth of language support, Mono has a wide range of platform
support. He then went into MonoDevelop
… an IDE for Mono. It looks pretty good and has project
support, integrated debugging, project templates, code completion,
etc.  I’ll still be interested to see if they might choose to move
this to Eclipse in the future.  I could see where they might not
… although they ought to find a way to integrate it …

Erik then went into MonoDoc … the documentation engine.  He was
talking about how it’s like a Wiki … and then I realized what time it
is.

It sucks … today I am being interrupted for all kinds of calls. I had to leave. ;-(

The session began with the usual oneNet pitch, and then went into the
discussion of what Open Enterprise Server is … or will be. The
speaker reviewed the Strategy that was being followed:

• NetWare 6/6.5 – Emphasis on the Services
• NetWare 6/6.5 – Open Source Technologies (AMP)
• Novell Linux Services 1.0
• Ximian and SuSE Acquisitions
• OES Announcement

OES is the combined solution to: Protect your investment, Leverage your
infrastructure, Infuse agility to your environment, Manage costs,
Benefit from Open computing, and Keep your choices open.
This lead into some discussion of other advantages for the customer.

Some of the current GNU/Linux inhibitors were listed:

• Fitness within current strategic plan
• Service and support responsibility
• Ease of useability and interoperability
• Third-party applications and integrated solutions
• Total cost of ownership considerations
• Legacy applications

It was indicated that these were being addressed. One by one …
knocking them out. He then addressed a lot of “frequently asked
questions” …

What happens to NetWare and NetWare 7?
– Its going to keep moving forward.
What happens to Novell Linux Services?
– Customers will have support moving forward.
When will OES be available?
– This year.
What version of SuSE will come with OES?
{I missed the answer}
Can I use SLES?
– Yes.
Will SLES continue to be sold seperately?
– Yes.
Will OES be supported on Red Hat?
– Yes.
How will OES be priced?
– We’re working on that.

Man … he ripped through these so fast I almost couldn’t keep up! 😉

What enterprise services are in OES?

• Open User Experience
• Identity and Security
• Enterprise Management
• Business Continuence

Virtual Office is being promoted as a major component of their Open
User Experience. iFolder is also a big part of
this. I can see where these two products combined
begins to provide a Groove-like solution. They are saying that it
can work both server and client based. iPrint is also included in
this for printing. He also mentioned Seamless File Services
… mixing and matching client and server protocols.

eDirectory, of course, is the cornerstone of the Enterprise Identity
and Security pitch. Features of this are Enterprise Access
Control , Role-Based and Delegated Administration, Global Management
and Deployment.  iManager was talked about as the “console of choice” going forward.  They also indicated embracing CIM and WEBM from the DMTF. 
I’m surprised in a way … HP is doing much more exciting stuff via Web
Services that I believe are longer term solutions.  Maybe there is
some good integration between the efforts.  {Note to self: 
Go look into DMTF recent work …}  😉

Wow … he just talked about OpenWEBM and that it works on Caldera
Linux and UnixWare!  I’ll have to check into that also …

There was a review of the products and capabilities in the Storage and
Backup area, along with the Clustering capabilities.  I think they
said that 2 node clusters are free and included with NetWare … I
wonder if they are doing this for GNU/Linux also.

2004-second half will bring lots of new things … NetWare is getting a
Bash shell(!), RPM support, Python scripting, and the Red Carpet
agent.  Both kernels will get migration tools, Virtual Office
enhamcements, Workgroup iFolder, CIMOM instrumentation … GNU/Linux
will get NSS volume support, Clustering, NCP Server, and iPrint Client.

2005 will bring Shared iFolders, Cluster File System, Virtual Office
integration with iFolder and GroupWise, Business Clustering for
GNU/Linux, Hybrid Clustering (NetWare and Linux!), and more.

That wrapped it … a lot of interesting stuff to look forward to.

It sucks … I’m on a conference call during the keynote, so I’ll have
to watch the recorded version later.  The presenter from IBM, Jim
Stallings, is talking about their thoughts and efforts in the GNU/Linux
market.  He showed a lot of slides with growth rates, and analysis
of market trends … all showing the growth of GNU/Linux and the
“inflection point” that he indicates occurred in the last year or so.

IBM is outlining their strategy on how they will capitalize on the
growth of GNU/Linux … and their extensive world-wide resources. 
It is amazing how they are setting themselves up to truly benefit and
dominate in “selling” and “supporting” a product that cost them almost
nothing to have.  Impressive.  IBM is a very mature company
…

Jim then expanded on what he said was the sales opportunities for IBM and Novell:

• 2 Million+ NT Servers
• 2 Million+ “down rev” NetWare servers
• 6 Million+ Windows 2000 servers
• 1 Million+ OS/2 servers
• (I missed the last bullet …)

He wrapped up and Chris is now introducing the next part of the keynote
… Dave Litwack.  They are going to do some demos .  I
missed all of this while still listening to my conference call
…  ;-(

I also missed the next set of demos … I’ll catch up via the on-line replay.

Next was Martin Fink (VP Linux, HP)  and he presented the breadth
and depth of the relationship between Novell and HP.  He also
outlined their commitment to GNU/Linux, and their extensive use
internally – 4500 GNU/Linux servers!  He also talked about the
fact that HP and Novell have been working together for ~20 years, and
that they had a strong partnership with SuSE (including capital
investment) since 1999.  As my call ended (my cell ran out of
battery!) I only caught the end of his comments.

I had an interesting conversation last night with some Novell folks
about Open Source and the GPL. They were indicating that iFolder
had been put into “Open Source”, but that they would also be selling an
“Enterprise Version” of the product. Sounds good … a way to
make money on Open Source.

What surprised me was that they then indicated that they were not going
to release the “Enterprise Version” into Open Source. What?
I thought the GPL had the “viral” effect. Nope, they said …
they are retaining the copyrights. On top of that, they are
requiring anyone contributing to the projects to sign over their rights
and copyrights. Whoa … now this sounds weird to me.

I
have to admit that I don’t understand a lot of this, however this seems
extremely counter to the GPL. I’m going to investigate more,
however it appears that the following is somehow the path that Novell
is pursuing:

• Release projects into Open Source under the GPL
• Retain all copyrights
• Require contributors to transfer all rights to Novell
• Release proprietary, commercial versions of the software for money
• Include Open Source contributions in proprietary, commercial versions
• Prevent anyone else from creating commercial versions using the GPL

Is this correct? Can anyone really do this?

They indicated that MySQL, SleepyCat, and others are doing exactly this … I’m going to dig further …

As I was leaving the Mono GUI session, I went to say hello to Calvin
and he seemed shocked to see me.  It was actually funny … the
Mono team had been reading my blog in the back of the room and Calvin
told them that he knew me.  They had no idea I was itting in the
class in front of them!

Calvin took me out in the lobby where I got to meet Miguel and Nat, and
took a little time to chat.  Of course, Miguel indicated he was
sorry that I worked for SCO … however we talked about Mono, Simias,
and iFolder.  They are really doing some great work and want to offer a real competitor to Longhorn … before Longhorn.

Novell acquired some real talent with Ximian … these guys are going
to make a real difference in the world.  The most impressive thing
that indicates this to me, is that they don’t waste time talking badly
about Microsoft, etc.  Them seem to really respect with Microsoft
is doing, and what Microsoft is creating … and they are confident
that, even with all of the money and marketing power that Microsoft
has, they can beat them.  They are committed to create something
that sells itself … that provides real value that people will pay
for.  And they seem to realize they don’t have to trash Microsoft
in order to do that.  Good people …

I didn’t get a chance to blog this last night … this was the last session that I attended Tuesday.

I spent a little time in the lab since this session was marked as full
… I was on the waiting list.  I ended up at the room about 30
minutes after it started and got in anyhow.  As I walked in I saw Calvin Gaisford
from Novell.  I had worked with Calvin at Novell and he is a great
guy … and extremely talented.  He gets it.  He bailed to
Caldera when things sucked at Novell, and went back a year or so
later.  He’s very much involved with the iFolder project, and is working with Mono.

Just as I got in the room, one of the people at a PC got up and left
… I had sat next to him in the morning … he saw me standing in the
back and offered his PC to me.  Jackpot!

I flipped through the slides, which were a good overview of  the
.NET architecture, and then got caught up to the development
projects.  Again … I’m impressed.  I worked through the
first couple of exercises, and then got to the Glade
development.  Glade is an awesome tool that I found a long time
ago in Linux … it allows you to rapidly build the UI framework that
you later add code to.  Mono has implemented libraries so that you
can now use Glade to create your UI, and then add the C# (or VB?) code
later.  GUI apps in GNOME, on UNIX or Linux, written in C# or
VB.  Amazing …

Ease of application development on any platform, IMHO, is key to
success.  And these guys are moving rapidly to provide a full –
modern – development environment with rich tools for the creation of
these applications.  Mono rocks!

During the session the speaker introduced the “crowd” in the back of
the room … Erik the PM, Miguel the leader, Calvin of iFolder,
etc.  I wanted to get a chance to meet Miguel and chat with him
… when I completed the development exercises I turned around and they
had left.  Bummer.

Anyhow … I can’t wait to continue to explore development with Glade
and Mono … I want to see how quickly the progress with VB
occurs.  IMHO, VB is a *huge* with for UNIX and Linux when Mono
supports it … there are a *lot* of VB developers out there.

The Mono sessions alone made the conference worthwhile!