Novell has been in so much news since their recent Brainshare conference that I really didn’t know which story, if any, to link to.
I like linking to/commenting on Linux news because, well, I like Linux, and the blog gives me a little opportunity to cheer, promote, advocate, what-have-you. On the other hand, it seems to be almost getting to the point that another enterprise using Linux, or Linux making a further stride toward desktop/mainstream use, is just not as interesting as it used to be.
Actually, that’s good news.
What that means to me is that we are no longer surprised by this. It is no longer a matter of Linux or Open Source getting its foot in the door; the door is open, and Linux is being invited inside to chat. It’s normal. The times they are a-changin’.
So there is this news story about Novell’s conference highlights, this one about Novell’s branding strategy, this one about Enterprise Linux in some specific cases around the world (many of which have multiple thousands of users being migrated).
I’m reminded (maybe prematurely, but, oh well) that a year or so ago, when Microsoft began their "Get the facts" smear advertising campaign, it was pretty common to see the following quote (from Gandhi) on Slashdot:
Probably it’s a little early to be saying "we win" — but if you don’t shoot your mouth off now and then, you have nothing to eat later. At any rate, the truth is that I’ve been seeing a lot of this attitude, spoken or implied, all of it basically saying, "we win." For example, if we were just to consider it a war over enthusiasm, like I spoke of in a previous post, I would consider that battle won. And if you have the enthusiasm, the hearts, and the minds of the developers, admins, and users, the server and the desktop will follow.
