Attachmate reveals Novell, SUSE, & Linux Plans (ZDNet) [LWN.net]

Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols talks with Attachmate CEO Jeff Hawn about the future for Novell, SUSE and openSUSE. "SUSE sponsorship and participation in key open-source projects is a fundamental element of the business. This commitment is driven by a desire to contribute to and collaborate with the community in a way that fosters the success of open source technologies overall and creates the greatest value for our customers. The openSUSE project is a great example of vibrant and healthy collaboration. SUSE sponsorship and participation in projects like openSUSE creates great value for the community and also for SUSE customers who benefit from the innovations and advancements we create together."

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Attachmate reveals Novell, SUSE, & Linux Plans (ZDNet)

Posted Apr 30, 2011 0:17 UTC (Sat) by vblum (guest, #1151) [Link] (3 responses)

The question that puzzles me is, why did Markus (Rex) leave. Perhaps I should ask ...

Attachmate reveals Novell, SUSE, & Linux Plans (ZDNet)

Posted Apr 30, 2011 12:05 UTC (Sat) by garloff (subscriber, #319) [Link] (2 responses)

All of the senior management left, which includes Markus Rex.

Attachmate reveals Novell, SUSE, & Linux Plans (ZDNet)

Posted Apr 30, 2011 23:26 UTC (Sat) by vblum (guest, #1151) [Link] (1 responses)

sure but this is not some random career manager that Novell brought in to oversee SUSE, and who's now leaving for the next generic company after collecting his bonus ... but rather someone who's been with SUSE for a long time, pre-Novell. Just wondering. [in any case I wish him all the best, including that bonus I hope]

Attachmate reveals Novell, SUSE, & Linux Plans (ZDNet)

Posted May 2, 2011 19:53 UTC (Mon) by k8to (guest, #15413) [Link]

Indeed, Markus has been 'overseeing' the SuSE engineering effort in one way or another since 1999 or so.

He has stayed through fun times and thin times, and while I was not around to watch his actions, I can only assume that he was an important player in that endeavor.

Attachmate reveals Novell, SUSE, & Linux Plans (ZDNet)

Posted Apr 30, 2011 14:49 UTC (Sat) by linusw (subscriber, #40300) [Link] (3 responses)

What a hopeless horde mass of words to say "We think OpenSUSE is good".

Is this the kind of language treatment you're taught in school?

Attachmate reveals Novell, SUSE, & Linux Plans (ZDNet)

Posted Apr 30, 2011 15:36 UTC (Sat) by rriggs (guest, #11598) [Link] (2 responses)

I had a similar thought when reading the summary as posted here on LWN.

My impression after reading the article was that it's the sort of answer you give to the first part of a question when you don't want to answer the second part directly.

Attachmate reveals Novell, SUSE, & Linux Plans (ZDNet)

Posted Apr 30, 2011 16:59 UTC (Sat) by arjan (subscriber, #36785) [Link] (1 responses)

yeah it was an amazing long answer to avoid saying anything about mono.

makes me wonder...

Attachmate reveals Novell, SUSE, & Linux Plans (ZDNet)

Posted May 3, 2011 22:48 UTC (Tue) by rahulsundaram (subscriber, #21946) [Link]

Looks like your suspicion turned out to be true

http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=OT...

Attachmate reveals Novell, SUSE, & Linux Plans (ZDNet)

Posted May 1, 2011 5:45 UTC (Sun) by forlwn (guest, #63934) [Link]

An obscure company (Attachmate) is given the chance to drive Novell/Suse. That was made possible under a biggest picture business where Novell was emptied from its best and most valuable assets, transferred to MS on behalf of an investment company who runs Attachmate. We don't know what NDA were made under this deal, but my idea is that Attachmate is now a remote controlled company. They said "Business will operate as usual" at Novell" and I think its right. Business as usual for all the parties.

Attachmate reveals Novell, SUSE, & Linux Plans (ZDNet)

Posted May 1, 2011 14:28 UTC (Sun) by tbird20d (subscriber, #1901) [Link] (2 responses)

The new management couldn't possibly be any worse than the old. Ron Hovsepian and others were leaching many millions per year out of the organization, in exchange for pretty crummy management. Mr. Hovsepian received about $4 million in compensation last year alone, and that was down from the year before. These guys routinely granted themselves millions in stock options every year, resulting in the principals diluting common shareholders and owning significant percentages of the company. I say good riddance.

Attachmate reveals Novell, SUSE, & Linux Plans (ZDNet)

Posted May 2, 2011 19:55 UTC (Mon) by k8to (guest, #15413) [Link]

Yes, but how is that different from most corporate leadership?

Attachmate reveals Novell, SUSE, & Linux Plans (ZDNet)

Posted May 3, 2011 3:27 UTC (Tue) by jhhaller (guest, #56103) [Link]

For an example of what happens to a company under the management of a private equity fund, do some searches for Simmons, the mattress maker who went through several equity owners, each of which loaded the company up with more debt before selling to the next owner, before the eventual bankruptcy. The employees and the bondholders were the ones who suffered the most. Not all private equity deals end up like that, and desired outcome is an IPO, not bankruptcy.

Attachmate reveals Novell, SUSE, & Linux Plans (ZDNet)

Posted May 1, 2011 17:15 UTC (Sun) by lmb (subscriber, #39048) [Link]

As much as I personally mourn the loss of Markus, who has been a good friend and manager for over a decade, I still am convinced that this is a big chance.

And I would like to ask everyone to hold back on the judgment; might I remind everyone present about how Novell/SUSE did not become evil after SCO or past the MS deals? Any decision will have good and bad consequences, but the predictions of the conspiracy scaremongers have turned out quite off-track in the past.

SUSE stands strong today, with both openSUSE and the enterprise portfolio.