VMware is buying Novell

I'm not in the slightest degree stunned that the Wall Street Journal is reporting that VMware shall be buying for Novell's Linux business. After all, I steered that VMware could actually use Novell's SUSE Linux for its future, and I additionally knew that Novell was in sizzling and heavy merger and acquisition talks earlier this week. My own sources have also now confirmed that VMware is Novell's suitor.

I nonetheless don't know these essential questions of how a lot, when, or any of the rest. In accordance with the WSJ, and this I've been unable to confirm,
VMware is buying Novell

Novell's remaining belongings, together with NetWare, Novell's old community operating system may end up in the fingers of "Attachmate, which is owned by personal equity buyout companies, which embrace Golden Gate Capital and Francisco Partners. Attachmate is a 30-plus 12 months terminal emulation and networking firm that would most likely do an excellent job of supporting the final of Novell's die-hard NetWare customers. Briefly, this a part of the reported deal also makes sense.

Whether VMware will do a superb job of taking care of SUSE Linux is one other question. VMware CEO Paul Maritz is a former Microsoft powerhouse. Do not suppose although that simply because at one time he might need been in line for Microsoft's CEO chair that he's a great buddy of Microsoft these days. When Microsoft rently took out an advert in USA Right this moment urging companies not to purchase long-time period VMware licenses, no matter love was left was lost.

In turn, Maritz has had little good to say about Microsoft lately. I would go to date to say that VMware/Novell will in all probability have less to do with Microsoft than Novell does on its own these days.

This is not to say that VMware/Novell won't nonetheless work with Microsoft. There are many Home windows prospects working VMware virtualization stacks and a superb variety of Windows retailers that run Linux are doing it with SUSE Linux. VMware might not like Microsoft, but they're not going to cut off their nose to spite their face.

At the same time, though, VMware can be happy to use Novell's not too long ago released Cloud Manager software to maneuver users to virtualized SUSE Linux situations far, far away from Windows. VMware and Novell had been already working intently together long earlier than this deal began to materialize.

As well as, whereas VMware has not been friendly to open supply, I believe they know that for his or her company to get any actual value from Novell it has to support Linux and free and open-supply software. They is probably not crazy about it, however they do not should be. Corporations have discovered in the last few years that open-supply makes good, hard dollars-and cents sense. It is for these sensible, enterprise reasons that VMware goes to support Linux and make SUSE Linux the operating system in its virtualization and cloud software stack.
Novell Open Enterprise Server Administrator's Handbook, SUSE LINUX Edition

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