Sorry, that I have not been available. I was as a handing out CD/DVD to a group of SCO resellers at one of the meetings. I am just getting back in town. I did not intend for such a long debate and divergence. I found this email as I was going through the mamouth emails will I was gone. It will take me a few days to get through all my email to respond. On Mon, 17 Aug 2009, Gerald Pfeifer wrote:
On Fri, 14 Aug 2009, Boyd Lynn Gerber wrote:
1. Many small business owners/small companies feel there is a lack of attention to their needs from Novell. That is to say Novell only listens to "Monster Enterprise Clients"
Solution: We form a group that combined has equivelant $$$ behind it to warrent attention.
How is this related to what you call openSLE? Looking at your comparison with Fedora/CentOS/RHEL, there is zero $$$ behind CentOS as far as Red hat goes.
Let me clairifiy, this. I mean that as a group combined our $$$ would give us a better voice to Novell's upper management. It seems to me that they only really listen to the people with the big bucks. So to get them to listen we as a group need to have enough people together to form such a group to get the ear of the top level Novell management. We need some changes that can only really come from people endowed with the authority to make changes that really benefit us Small-Medium Businesses (SMB)
Perhaps you could describe how you'd see this interact/relate to openSUSE on one, and SLE on the other hand? That would be helpful for me, and possibly others, to better understand your proposal.
What I see is a possible statement from Novell, that they would support us as a community in developing this group. That should be choose to create an openSLE, they would not sue us. (Left over from my talks and handing out the DVD's). One comment was made to me if I was trying to do an "In Your Face SCO." Which I replied, I am only trying to let you have options for the unclear future. I love openSUSE and having SLE(S,D) is an addvanage for clients that really need support from a large company. At this conference I talked with the fedora/CentOS/RHEL group. They told me that having CentOS has made it some much easier to move people (that needed real support from a larger company) to RHEL. The reason they choose CentOS as their choice was the ability to have a larger company to move their clients. "CentOS is as close as you can get to a OS that can be used for business and there longer support cycle needs without having/being forced to such an OS."
2. To quote some CEO's and COO... "The SUSE/Novell people act like a bunch arrogant 20-something ... that treat us and are staff like idiots.) SMB's have to contribute more time/money/resources to keep openSUSE going. (Why should we when we are treated like idiots)?
Which Linux operating systems are these CEOs and COOs using?
CentOS and RHEL or should I say looking really hard at them. Most have been long time Novell supporters(before the SUSE acquirement). Some had/were long time Novell... * (SMBs's)
There is a reference to openSUSE here, which would imply their interaction with Novell is via the openSUSE community as opposed to Novell Technical Services, Sales, etc?
No, they come from using Novell before the SUSE aquirement. Some from getting tired of Red Hat and not really meeting their needs. (Read KDE user's) the reference comes from their perception that with the 24 month cycle it really is tooooo... short a time to really run a business. Many like to install the OS and just forget about it. "It is just a tool to be used, not a religion. We want an OS that will allow us to concentrate on what we do best ""Our business"", we are not hacker or geek's we just want to run our business and make a profit." I have not had the heart to tell them that we have moved from a 24 month to a 18 month distro. This is really going to get them worked up even more than they are already. Hence the need for a CentOS type of openSUSE.
At some of the event I and others I talk with have attended it is often asked "Why doesn't Novell offer an opneSLE alternitive?"
...
People using the fedora->CentOS->RHEL talk of how many of the business they support move this route to become RHEL customers. I think we (being the SUSE prefered" really would benefit from a similar path. That is why I am trying to somehow get a group organized. So we are able to have our voice heard at the higher levels of Novell.
I am listening. :-)
Thanks, I really apperciate it. I guess as a long time Novell
user/reseller, contributor and SuSE Linux user/reseller and contributor,
I want to provide/create a group that is able to be heard and allow us
SMB's to really gain from SUSE in it's current forms. That is why I
mention that openSLE is a possible outcome of this group. There is a
great group the provides the Education needs(I am also a member). But
SMB's really do not seem to be getting what we need. This group only
wants to use the OS as a tool. So we that reseller/support/prefer the
current Novell OS's openSUSE, OES. SLE(S,D) are able to have a community
that meets our needs. One option is the openSLE->SLE(S,D) for business.
They really do not want to have to worry about their OS.
Thanks,
--
Boyd Gerber