Linux In Novell’s East Region

No, not all software is open source today… nor do I expect all software to be so anytime soon.  That’s why I have to agree with our corporate vision of a mixed-source world.  To make some folks in the IT world fully embrace open source solutions will require applications to be available.  That’s why articles like this one from CNET which highlights particular open source applications, and programs like Novell’s Market Start (designed to help foster high quality open source applications/solutions) excite me.

Optaros put out a whitepaper/catalog of OSS wares and companies, along with mini-reviews and ratings for various categories, and overall it’s a great reference, but there have been the predictable outcries of “we’re not a 1, we’re a 5” and “we didn’t get included and should have been” from various vendors.  Check out the controversy outlined in this article from Computerworld and then get the catalog to see if you agree.

In Pictures has posted a set of free tutorials for OpenOffice on it’s site, check them out and pass the word along to those who you think can benefit from it.

The Coming Linux Storm – the article says there is a coming donnybrook between Business Linux, Philosophical Linux and Home Linux Users. See what you think and if you’re like a lot of us, you aren’t just a member ofa single one of these…

Hines Corp, based in Michigan, had a mixed environment of Microsoft, Novell, Unix and Linux (Red Hat).  They decided to “streamline” and adopt more and more Linux in their environment; to be more precise, they chose SUSE Linux.  As a result of this strategy, they have seen improved security, improved reliability and substantial cost savings.

“…moving to Linux has saved Hines almost a million dollars on ERP costs alone. ‘Say if we went with Microsoft’s ERP application, compared to what we have today, just the initial cost would be $1.2 million, compared to $400,000. When we proposed the Microsoft solution to corporate and they saw the price tag, they said something I can’t repeat.’ “

Read the entire article from Linux.com here

And he posted about it here. I will be working with this, it’s the first in what I predict will be a whole genre of P2V tools coming out for Xen environments, this is the first and certainly the most inexpensive…

If he were posting….

Get it either by chapter or all in one big tarball, the official book website has a nice description by the author of why he wrote the book and why it’s being given away in bit-land as well as printed and shipped in atom-land.

We use Google Earth a LOT to see where client sites are, for fun, to amuse ourselves while waiting for long software compiles to finish etc.  Fun for the whole family or coworkers.

Get the 411 on the latest version on the Google Earth Blog.

You’re not alone, either in wanting to, or having a hard time deciding what player option will work with what media.  Check out this great layout of the different options available for Linux Media.

From the http://specialreports.linux.com/article.pl?sid=06/12/19/053225&tid=136&tid=91:

“Virtualization, the ability to run multiple “virtual” systems on a single host, is nearly as old as solid state computing. But it’s been all the rage again in recent years, with more than a dozen large-scale Linux virtualization projects — and while they require special custom kernels, patches, and software, the first steps toward OS-level virtualization have been implemented in the Linux kernel.”

Here is some free Linux training from Novell, and (hey) you can’t beat the price!  If you’d rather have an instructor led version of the class, the closest one to you can be found from the training website, but here’s a set of free training if you prefer to do things yourself.

Some of the highlights…

• Migrating from Red Hat to SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10
• Upgrade from CLP 9 or CLE 9 to SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10
• Migrating to SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 9
• Bridge Your Skills from NetWare to Linux
• Linux on Power5 Systems Learning Center

Bookmark the page and check back for updates.

This is definitely one for “Ooh Ahh, That’s Cool!” file… Have you heard of “Festival” before? Festival is an open source speech synthesis system which runs on Linux, Unix, and even Windows. It takes text-based input and produces audio. Best of all, it’s included with openSUSE and included and supported with SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop.

You can try it out with this web voice demo, or

Read more about it at the CMU speech site or the original University of Edinburgh site, or

Check out this Cool Solution on how to have Festival say what you type, or even have web pages read to you.

It’s a question that comes up often, but it’s also one of the easiest to answer. Linux is a far more open platform than Unix is and the potential for cost savings (hardware, software, support, virtualization, etc.) are nothing short of HUGE!

Here are some articles that you might want to look at…

• SearchTechTarget.com Ask-the-Expert Q&A
• Unix maintenance costs spur Ohio EPA’s Linux adoption
• (more to be added later…)

We’d love to hear why you decided to make a move from Unix to Linux.  Enter your feedback in the comments…

Who else uses Linux? German automobile maker Audi does. In fact, they are in the process of migrating from more expensive Unix servers to SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES) and hope to be finished in 2007.

“…the company’s IT department chose Linux for three solid reasons: ‘[It runs on] commodity hardware, which is faster; better pricing; hardware-vendor independence.’ ”

This article from Linux.com talks about how Linux is making a difference at Audi.

Here is the official Novell success story for Audi

The Georgia Public Library is apparently transitioning over to an enterprise-class library management system that runs on Linux.

While this particular article isn’t directly related to Novell or SUSE Linux, it is yet another example of the types of software and applications that are available in the open source community.  The more, the merrier!

They replaced their old Unix based system with a more cost effective and open Linux based system.  Kudos to them!

Linux.com | Librarians stake their future on open source

The accolades for SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop (SLED) 10 keep piling up…  this time it’s Info World.

Infoworld’s Award states: “Novell’s revamped desktop Linux distribution combines professional fit and finish with unique usability features not available from other vendors. Its hardware support is excellent, albeit hampered by lack of Linux support from hardware vendors. A class act, SLED 10 gives business users new reason to consider Linux for enterprise desktops.”

Eliminate wasted IT dollars from your data center with Linux and virtualization.

January 31, 2:00pm EST

Register Today for “The Lean Data Center” – a live webinar for IT decision-makers in manufacturing organizations. Hear how Siemens runs their global SAP system on SUSE Linux Enterprise Server from a centralized data center.

If you’ve been around our Linux Day Shows or any of us, you know that we have an increasing number of clients that are using Free/Libre and Open Source software on their Windows machines as a way to get users weaned off of the Microsoft Products.

Here is a great list of Free Windows Software to help those folks, and you should really take a hard look at the apps listed here, there are some great ones to use even if you never decide to kick the MS habit.  Here’s another list I just found.