How to respond to the Novell rumors

17 Sep 2010

      Folks,

Several of you have contacted me requesting aec on how to respond to
questions about the rumors of a Novell sale.  Below, you can read my
talking points on this subject which should help you give proper
answers.  Please note importantly that this talking points is from me as
Marketing Team lead, *NOT* as Board Member.  The Board has no official
statement and has not discussed this topic at all.  

Thanks and please read below.  If any questions to clear up on these
points, ASK!

Bryen M Yunashko
openSUSE Marketing Team lead

THE “OFFICIAL” WORD:

By now, many of you have heard the rumors from the New York Post that a
sale of Novell, Inc. is impending. As there is currently no official
statement from Novell, there is also no official statement from the
openSUSE Board nor the Community it represents. We have no official
information on this matter. As such, statements from the Community
should be viewed as speculation and not official declarations.

- Most, if not all, openSUSE Community members who are also employed by
Novell do not have access to any such draft agreement that may exist
with the Novell, Inc. executives. As such, do not attempt to seek inside
information from these individuals. Even if they did know something,they
are not authorized to divulge it and attempts to get information would
just be a waste of both your time and theirs.  You should direct all
inquires to Novell's PR Director, Ian Bruce, at ibruce@novell.com.

- Even if the NY Post article is true, and a sale is imminent, the
timeframe offered by the Post should not be construed as an expectation
from any of us as to when we will know anything. It could be 4 weeks
from now, or it could be months from now, or maybe even never.

WHERE WE STAND:

- openSUSE Project is an organization that is independently-driven by
its Community.  Novell has been an important and valued partner in the
openSUSE Project, and we look forward to continuing or building upon
that relationship with Novell's successor, if one exists.

- The openSUSE Community continues to strengthen its Project, as it has
done for the past few years and shall remain a project that grows and
propels itself on community-driven initiatives.

- It is "business as usual" for us in the Community. Whether Novell
does sell or not, we continue to perform our daily tasks and initiatives
within the Project. We do not view sale as changing the way we do
business nor whether openSUSE will continue to exist in its current
form.

- If you are concerned about whether such a sale will adversely affect
the Project, the best thing you can do is to get involved and be a
contributor to the project. The more we contribute to and drive the
Project, the more successful we will become and the more viable we will
be as an independent and strong Project.  Each positive contribution
outweighs any negative impacts that may occur, whether real or
perceived.

Moreover, Novell is not doing it's openSUSE work out of charity but
because they believe it is better for SUSE Linux. Any organization who
would buy Novell would, in 6-12 months, start to re-evaluate this and
see how successful our community is. The only smart choice would be to
keep investing in the openSUSE community, to continue working with us.
We remind you also that openSUSE has been an integral part of the Linux
strategy of Novell and the rumours mention a "strategic buyer". A
strategic buyer would believe in the Linux story including openSUSE. 

A selling of Novell would be a change but nobody right now knows whether
it would be a positive or negative one - and in which areas. Therefore,
it is premature to attempt to react based on unofficial news reports.

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Bryen M. Yunashko

Chuck Payne

jdd

Satoru Matsumoto

Bryen M. Yunashko

Kostas Koud

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