I’ve run into a lot of customers who are concerned with how to convert CD’s to ISO files and copy them over to an ESX server. Therefore I thought I’d share a little tip that makes this process extremely simple:
1. Place the CD you want to create an ISO from into the CDROM of an ESX server.

2. Log in to that ESX server’s Service Console as ‘root’.

3. Type in the following command:

cat /dev/cdrom >”filename.iso”

That’s it!

On November 6 2006 Microsoft and Novell signed their “agreement”. This ad was release prior to that.

Funny what $348 million can do…

Technorati Tags: Novell, Microsoft

Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer recently told analysts:

“I would not anticipate that we make a huge additional revenue stream from our Novell deal, but I do think it clearly establishes that open source is not free,” he said, “and open source will have to respect intellectual property rights of others just as any other competitor will.”

Intellectual Property Rights? Microsoft screams about IP rights when they think theirs are being infringed, but never when they are the ones infringing. They seem to think that having a monopoly that allows them to squeeze out competition is fair. They also forget that in all this, they are attempting to trample on the GPL and all IP developed under it. This has in fact, delayed the latest version of the GNU Public License (GPL).

Free Software Foundation President and co-author of the GPL, Richard Stallman, recently weighed in on this:

“The GPL was designed to ensure that all users of a program receive the four essential freedoms which define free software. These freedoms allow you to run the program as you see fit, study and adapt it for your own purposes, redistribute copies to help your neighbor, and release your improvements to the public.

He continued: “The recent patent agreement between Microsoft and Novell aims to undermine these freedoms. In this draft we have worked hard to prevent such deals from making a mockery of free software.”

Technorati Tags: GPL, Richard Stallman, Linux, Microsoft, Steve Ballmer

Here’s a couple of follow up items to yesterday’s post:

Graklaw’s thoughts on the Microsoft/Novell deal titled “Novell Sells Out“. Personally, I’d think Novell would have learned from the last time Microsoft burned them. Remember back in the day when the default network operating system was Netware? I guess if you can’t beat ‘em, sell out to ‘em. Sadly, SuSE USED to be my favorite flavor of Linux. Now, I wouldn’t install it if you paid me.

If you’re interested, here’s the FUD released by Microsoft and Novell regarding their deal.

Technorati Tags: Microsoft Novell Deal, SuSE Linux, Netware

I’m posting a great article I just read on technorat.net posted on 11/2/2006. It’s in regards to the deal that Novell and Microsoft struck up last year. Apparently this deal is an attempt to give Microsoft control over commercial users of Open Source software.

Today Novell and Microsoft announced a partnership in which Microsoft has made some unlikely-seeming promises regarding Linux. What aren’t they telling you? First, you can be sure that Microsoft’s not out to help a competitor. This announcement paves the way for Microsoft to implement significant control over commercial customer’s use of Free Software. And it has significant negative implications for Open Source in general.

There are two significant announcements. First, that Novell and Microsoft are entering into a patent cross-license, and second, that Microsoft is promising not to assert its patents against individual non-commercial developers. The bad part is that this sets Mirosoft up to assert its patents against all commercial Open Source users. There are also some little bonuses for Microsoft, like Novell will help Microsoft turn back the Open Document Format and substitute something Microsoft controls.When we say “commercial”, it’s interesting to note that there are really few non-commercial users: people who only use their computer for a hobby. Buying something on a web site, for example, is a commercial use. Most individuals use their computers in some aspect of making their livelihood. There will now be a Microsoft-approved path for such people to make use of Open Source, an expensive subscription to Novell SuSe Linux that costs as much or more than Microsoft Windows and that comes with a patent license.

So, the protection of non-commercial individual contributors means that you can make Open Source, but if anyone actually uses it for something other than a hobby or a non-profit organization, there is an implicit threat that Microsoft can bring a software patent lawsuit against them - unless they are a customer of Novell.

One of the questions yet to be settled is whether Novell will violate the GPL, the license of the Linux kernel and other important software, by offering patent protection that is exclusive to Novell customers. The press release pretty much stated that. On that topic, the preamble of the GPL says it best:

We wish to avoid the danger that redistributors of a free program will individually obtain patent licenses, in effect making the program proprietary. To prevent this, we have made it clear that any patent must be licensed for everyone’s free use or not licensed at all.

Novell has clearly accepted that license. But it appears that they are now out to make patent protection a business differentiator.Even if everyone were to be protected regarding software that Novell distributes, there’s the tremendous collection of Free Software that they don’t distribute. A logical next move for Microsoft could be to crack down on “unlicensed Linux”, and “unlicensed Free Software”, now that it can tell the courts that there is a Microsoft-licensed path. Or they can just passively let that threat stay there as a deterrent to anyone who would use Open Source without going through the Microsoft-approved Novell path.

With this agreement, Microsoft also secures Novell’s assistance in pushing a pro-Software-patenting agenda in Europe and elsewhere. On a panel that I led at the AlwaysOn conference this summer, Novell’s president made clear their support for software patenting - a policy that works to the detriment of any Open Source developer who wants to have users without Novell’s blessing. You can be sure they’ll be at Microsoft’s elbow now in meeting with legislators and asking for increases in patent protection.

The timing of this agreement is significant. Microsoft and Novell are said to have been working on this agreement for some time, and sped up its announcement to take attention away from Oracle’s recent announcement and to further depress Red Hat in the stock market. The timing of the SCO case is also significant. Recent testimony in that case revealed that Microsoft offered to “backstop” VC firm Baystar’s investment in SCO, essentially asking Baystar to be a front through which Microsoft funded SCO’s attempt to… charge a royalty to users of Linux. SCO’s case is foundering, so here’s Microsoft’s next scheme to charge a royalty to users of Linux, and to make Novell into the next SCO. Groklaw, a widely-respected journal of technology law, probably said it best with their headline on this story: Novell Sells Out.

This entire agreement hinges around software patenting - monopolies on ideas that are burying the software industry in litigation - rather than innovation. If we’ve learned one thing from the rapid rise of Open Source, it’s that intellectual property protection - the thing that Open Source dispenses with - actually impedes innovation. And the Novell-Microsoft agremeent stands as an additional impediment.

I ran across a great article on HP’s website that discusses Sun Microsystem’s constant flip flop over Linux:

- February 2002: Sun CEO Scott McNealy dons a penguin suit and says, “We love Linux, and I hope there isn’t any doubt about it…”
http://news.com.com/2100-1001-832463.html

- September 2003: Sun Executive (now President) Jonathan Schwartz was quoted as saying, “Also, let me be really clear about our Linux strategy. We don’t have one. We don’t at all. We do not believe that Linux plays a role on the server. Period. If you want to buy it, we will sell it to you, but we believe that Solaris is a better alternative…”,”
http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,4149,1274623,00.asp

- August 2004: The Sun executive vice president for software, is quoted in a Sun press release saying, “Sun’s commitment to Linux and the Linux community is stronger than ever,…”
http://www.sun.com/smi/Press/sunflash/2004-08/sunflash.20040803.4.html

- September 2004: Sun President Jonathan Schwartz was quoted as saying, ”We are absolutely targeting Red Hat specifically” as a competitor.
http://news.com.com/Sun+Weve+turned+over+a+new+leaf/2100-1010_3-5375931.html?tag=nl

- September 2005: Sun President Jonathan Schwartz was quoted as saying, “Stay tuned on the Red Hat-Sun relationship,” … “We think there’s ample opportunity to work together out there.”
http://news.com.com/Sun+extends+olive+branch+to+Red+Hat/2100-7344_3-5860897.html?tag=cd.hed

- September 2006: Sun releases its “Replace Red Hat” campaign saying “Give the Hat the boot”.
http://www.sun.com/software/solaris/hatsoff/sys_admin.html

The fact is, Linux is here. Almost every customer I talk to has some production Linux. It’s just a fact of the modern data center. The problem that companies like Sun have is that Linux erodes the value of their proprietary version of UNIX.

According to an interview a zdnet interview with RedHat CTO Brian Stevens, Fedora 7 will include KVM. This is a major step for the relatively new open source virtualization technology. KVM was recently officially added to the Linux kernel.

How will this effect Xen? It appears that RedHat is behind KVM and investing a significant amount of time and effort into developing it. According to the ZDNET article:

“Stevens also likes the technical approach that Moshe Bar, CTO of KVM backer Qumranet, took with KVM: “He absolutely nailed it,” Stevens said.

However, Stevens said, KVM lags another open-source virtualization technology, Xen, which is the single biggest new feature in the company’s upcoming Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5. “There’s a year of work, I’d guess, to really make it at parity where Xen is today,” Stevens said.”

It would appear that will inclusion into the Linux kernel, and now inclusion into Fedora we can expect to see KVM offered in RedHat’s Enterprise Linux offering in the next few years.

You can read the interview here.

Tags: KVM, Linux, Open Sourse, RedHat, Virtualization, Xen

I was cleaning out some old directories when I ran across this. It’s an old Gartner report focused at helping customers choose an “Enterprise” class version of Linux.

Since this was from 1995, it only focuses on RedHat and Novell/SuSE Linux, only mentioning other flavors such as Debian and Gentoo.

I’m sharing this because I think it still has some relevance in today’s market.

Let me know what you think.

You can download the pdf here.

Last October, Gartner weighed in on Oracle’s Linux Support offering.

Oracle has announced that they are offering support for Red Hat Enterprise Linux stating “less than half the cost, Oracle’s Basic Support is equivalent to Red Hat’s best service level”.

Gartner’s report seems to agree that Oracle’s offering is better. Gartner’s report recommends:

“Red Hat customers:

* Undertake compatibility testing of an “all-Oracle Linux world” in data centers. As part of this, consider piloting one or two mission-critical systems, especially maximally loaded ones. Ensure that independent software vendors confirm, in writing, that they will keep their software synchronized with Oracle’s distribution or how they will address variances
* If you are content with Red Hat’s quality of support, renegotiate contracts with Red Hat. Large accounts should expect 50% to 70% discounts on list prices.
* If you are not content with Red Hat’s quality of support or require indemnification — which Oracle’s Premier program can supply, assuming that Oracle’s terms meet your legal requirements — and have no compatibility issues with Oracle, consider Unbreakable Linux.”

On February 2nd, http://www.linux-watch.com/ released an article titled “Unbreakable Linux?“. The article states that Oracle’s offering hasn’t gained much momentum.

For more information on Oracle’s support offering, here’s the link.

Alessandro Perilli has a great interview with IBM on virtualization on his site http://www.virtualization.info/. It’s definately worth a read.

You can read the interview here.