At first glance, Novell’s desktop Linux goals are humble. Novell insiders tell The VAR Guy they’d be pleased if SuSE Linux eventually captures 1 percent of the overall global desktop market. So, how is Novell’s desktop strategy performing so far — especially vs. Red Hat and Ubuntu? Here are key clues from two top Novell sources on the subject.
In preparation for Novell’s Brainshare conference, which kicks off March 16 in Utah, The VAR Guy spoke with Novell’s Justin Steinman, director of marketing, open platform solutions; and Michael Applebaum, senior product marketing manager, open platform solutions.
Ultimately, Novell’s strategy is to offer the best version of Linux available — from the desktop to the data center, asserts Applebaum.
On the desktop, Novell believes SuSE Linux can become a mainstream business solution for 10 percent of the price of a Windows desktop. Embrace SuSE Linux, the company says, and you’ll avoid Windows’ security headaches while continuing to perform the six tasks that fill most business users’ days:
- Instant messaging
- Web browsing
- Word processing
- Spreadsheets
- Presentation tasks
Novell’s desktop messaging has changed — very subtly — in recent years. Back in 2005, The VAR Guy moderated a CIO event where Novell officials said SuSE Linux was a targeted solution for selected business departments. Now, it seems, Novell is finally ready to say that many businesses can move all or the vast majority of their desktops to Linux. At least, that’s The VAR Guy’s take on the situation.
What About Linux Rivals?
Still, describing SuSE Linux’s potential cost and productivity advantages over Windows isn’t enough. Novell must also stand out from Red Hat (which has reemphasized its desktop efforts) and Canonical’s Ubuntu Linux, which has scored desktop pre-load wins with PC makers like Dell.
“Frankly, we consider Ubuntu a consumer desktop,” says Applebaum. “When you use Linux in the enterprise, you need to be able to dial 1-800 ‘someone’ for help.” Novell’s SuSE Linux team and channel partners are best positioned to offer that business help, Applebaum insists.
And what about Red Hat? “Candidly, we don’t see Red Hat on the desktop,” says Applebaum, before quipping: “But we’re still waiting. We’ve yet to encounter them [in the desktop market].” (Red Hat’s efforts to jump-start things on the desktop have hit snags.)
During the conversation, Steinman pointed to several key SuSE Linux desktop wins, including:
- Tamil Nadu implementation that Justin referenced, there were 30,000 desktops and 2000 servers.
- And Peugeot, which involves 20,000 desktops and 2500 servers.
Sweet wins, to be sure. And Novell’s overall desktop goals — capturing 1 percent of the market — sound humble. But that’s roughly 2.5 million PCs — based on roughly 250 million PCs shipping worldwide annually.
The fastest-way to achieving that goal is through PC pre-loads. Here, Applebaum and Steinman concede that they’re stealing a page from Microsoft’s game plan: Get PC companies to pre-load your software, and peer pressure will trigger additional vendor and customer wins.
Novell has already scored desktop pre-load wins with Lenovo in the U.S. and several other regions, and Dell in China. Applebaum and Steinman concede that they may not be ready to announce additional pre-load wins in time for Brainshare. However, roughly a dozen sessions at the big Novell customer and partner conference will focus on Novell’s overall desktop strategy.
Money Matters
Foolishly, The VAR Guy failed to ask a key question: Can Novell actually make money selling SuSE Linux desktop pre-loads? Or is this about gaining desktop mind share in order to strengthen Novell on the server? That key point of clarification, alas, will have to wait for a future phone call.
Wall Street has been watching the Novell closely. A few weeks ago, several financial analysts were pleasantly surprised when Novell raised its financial guidance for this year. But now, some of those same analysts are downgrading Novell’s stock based on the fact that there’s no “big bang” product opportunity in Novell’s near future.
Ultimately, Novell’s financial story and its desktop efforts remain a work in progress. A few years ago, it would have been hard to imagine big companies moving their desktops to SuSE Linux (or any Linux, for that matter). Apparently, Novell has managed to enlighten a few folks. And poor word of mouth about Windows Vista provides Novell with ample opportunity to push forward on the desktop, one enterprise at a time.
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Novell is underestimating Ubuntu. If ubuntu really is for the consumer market, then those consumers will be interested in running ubuntu at work or in their small businesses.
[...] how is Novell?s desktop strategy performing so far ? especially vs. Red Hat and Ubuntu? Here are key clues from two top Novell sources. March 13, 2008 · Linux, News, Open Source [...]
“The fastest-way to achieving that goal is through PC pre-loads.”
Not quite- the way Novell has positioned a SLED license with every workgroup license many organizations are going to install this desktop on existing equipment- especially when faced with the hardware upgrade/replacement costs w/ Vista.
We have seen a significant increase in the acceptance of SLED as an option- especially in locations that are already a Citrix/Terminal server environment.
Fred:
It’s all fine for the Ubuntu kool-aid drinkers to want to use Ubuntu at work, but that won’t make it so. Novell is correct in that they understand the realities of the business market. Businesses don’t care about the vision or ethics of Ubuntu or the F/OSS community in general. They want what they want and what they want is usually not Ubuntu’s focus right now.
For one thing, it’s great to say things like “You don’t need because you can use ” but the harsh reality is that there a LOT of highly specialized, commercial, Windows only applications that customers will not, and cannot do without.
Novell has been working on overcoming this on several fronts. One being WINE integration for older apps, and the other being Mono for new generation .Net based app compatibility.
The “no closed source, commercial apps ever” mantra of a lot in the Linux and F/OSS community just doesn’t fly for business es that are already locked in to existing Windows only applications. As an IT Manager myself, I’d love to have a Linux F/OSS based company, the reality is that even if we had an unlimited budget to find or have custom coded all the apps we wanted on Linux, we still wouldn’t be able to use it (at least not everywhere). The reality is that many of the vendors or suppliers we deal with _require_ you to use certain applications on certain platforms (WIntel) to do business with them. End of story, no negotiation. I’ve even toyed with the idea of Linux workstations and a virtual server for serving up Windows sessions for such apps, but the effort and cost are prohibitive for us.
Here’s an example of what I mean. Suppose you wanted to start a car dealership. The brand doesn’t really matter, but lets say it was Ford. You will have contracts with them that will determine some of your I.T. Choices for you. For example, to access their parts and service systems, you have to run their applications, and they only run on Windows, and they have a hardware license dongle. What do you do about this?
I think that Novell’s approach is a good idea. Lose the battle to win the war. Do I like .Net, or Mono? No, I don’t. However, by working with Microsoft to make applications able to run on the Linux platform, they can slowly make the platform irrelevant. Once Linux can make enough headway on the desktop, even by running Windows/.Net(Mono) apps, it can then become prevalent enough to make developers notice. If enough people are running Linux (to run Win apps) then we can pull a Microsoft and say “Hey, people are using Linux anyway, why not use the advanced features specific to Linux and make your apps even better with native Linux applications?”
Of course this isn’t the way I’d like things to happen, but I think it’s one of the only workable, long term strategies. Look at how afraid Microsoft is of platform independent applications. They know it’s the key to killing them in the market place. After all, if applications ran anywhere, who would choose to use Windows if they didn’t have to?
Anyway, Novell has chosen to live in the real world, and the Debian types persist in trying to wish, scream, and nag utopia into existence.
Novell’s path may never lead to Utopia, but it might take us to the really nice town down the road from Utopia. The other road leads to nowhere.
Tachyon
Whoops, apparently you can’t use some characters on this blog.
Here’s the second paragraph again…
For one thing, it’s great to say things like “You don’t need (insert commercial Windows only app here) because you can use (insert Linux F/OSS or commercial substitute here) ” but the harsh reality is that there a LOT of highly specialized, commercial, Windows only applications that customers will not, and cannot do without.
For most of us considering using SLED at work the other option is not Ubuntu but OpenSuse. I actually purchased SLED intending to use it in a small business application but found the number of available programs (like GnuCash) was far too limiting. I went back to OpenSuse.
OpenSuse is more polished and doesn’t automatically lumber you with GNOME, although you certainly can opt for it if that is your preference.
The only things I can’t do in OpenSuse directly as some rather specialized apps that mainly run on Windows, like my glucometer reading program.
I’ve switched 5 desktops to OpenSuse at my house and business at this point.
Tachyon:
I agree with you completely. I work for a non-profit that would love to use OpenSource apps were ever they can but so many specialized applications require Windows that it is more cost effective to pay for Windows upfront. Neither a business nor a non-profit is going to sacrifice on the cost of the “best tool for the job” if doing so makes it harder to accomplish their core objectives. And, most non-technical people see the “best tool for the job” as the native OS that their Windows programs run on.
I think the best thing that can happen for Linux in general is the porting of Linux apps to Windows and the porting of Windows apps to Linux. This allows people to get used to Linux apps in the environment that they are used to. Most non-technical people do not care what OS they are running as long as the applications that they consider to be the best start-up and run correctly on it.
Look at Vista for example, people are holding of on moving to it because it doesn’t run all their apps correctly yet. They don’t care about the OS just the apps and their apps are running on XP just fine.
Novell’s business ideas are the best chance Linux has of ever making it into the mainstream. What I would like to see is a change in attitude in the OpenSource community. Instead of “we have a free substitute for a Windows app that you already use and like” it needs to be “we have better tools”.
People use Apple computers because they see Apples products as offering superior applications for the end user not because it is a substitute or because it is based on standards.
People use Firefox on Windows because it is faster, more customizable or more secure; not because it is a substitute for Internet Explorer. In fact, no one except techies cared about Mozilla until Firefox because Mozilla’s focus was on being a Linux substitute not a superior product. I know I’m going to get some back lash for saying that last part because I cannot back it up with fact, but you have to know what I mean. Firefox is a superior product to IE 7 and Mozilla markets it that way. “Reclaim the web” or “reclaim your browser” was the marketing they used if I remember correctly.
Anyway, as long that the applications that people want to use and integrate with are Windows only and as long as businesses want and need those applications Windows will be there operating system no matter what alternative applications are developed. As long as Linux cannot run these apps businesses will continue to use the OS that runs the apps they need. That would be Microsoft Windows.