Hi, all. The new SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 is out, _and_
the new SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 10 -- after several release
candidates. I've downloaded them for CABAL.
Novell is continuing its ongoing reorganisation of SUSE's product
line -- making a further hash of my SUSE-bestiary page:
"SUSE Product Strategy" on http://linuxmafia.com/kb/Licensing_and_Law/
Quick Review:
------------
It used to be that you had this relatively simple lineup:
o SUSE Linux Professional Edition: The kitchen sink.
o SUSE Linux Enterprise Server: Based on above's most-stable releases,
but with a long bundled support cycle.
o SUSE Linux Personal Edition: Omitted a bunch of server packages.
o SUSE Linux Evaluation Edition: Single-disc edition.
o SUSE Linux Live-Eval Edition: Same, except live-CD format.
o SUSE Linux Ftp Edition: Not a CD set, but rather the set of all
rpm package on the ftp-site tree, comprising all packages in
Professional Edition except for those without redistribution rights.
SUSE Linux AG was primarily in the business of selling per-seat licensed
copies with no right of redistribution applying to the entire CD set
(only to the open source portion of the packages, plus packages that
were proprietary but allowed redistribution, such as xv, pine/pico,
etc.). _However_, they let the single-disc Evaluation Edition be
redistributed freely as long as it was not "for value" -- and used their
ownership of their then-proprietary YaST program (which is both the
runtime administration program and the OS installer) to enforce their
wishes.
Along came Novell, purchasing Germany-based SUSE Linux AG, open-sourcing
YaST under GNU GPL, and slowly morphing the product line. They added:
o SUSE Linux OSS Edition: Basically Ftp Edition divided into CDs.
o SUSE Linux Retail Edition: New name for Professional Edition.
o Novell Linux Desktop: New name for Personal Edition (after Novell
called it "SUSE Desktop Edition" for a while).
o SUSE Linux Eval. Edition: Seems to be Retail Edition w/o support.
o SUSE Linux Standard Server: Seems to be Enterprise Server w/diff. support.
o Novell Linux Point of Service: Enterprise Server shrunk for PoS terminals.
o Novell Open Enterprise Server: Enterprise Server 9 running NetWare engine.
o SUSE Linux Personal-CD Edition: New name for Evaluation Edition.
o SUSE Linux Retail Live-DVD Edition: New name for Live-Eval Edition
(after Novell called it "Professional Live DVD" for a while).
Crazy, eh? Well, they're morphing it again.
The brand identity "Novell Linux" seems to have (almost) disappeared;
the only surviving Linux OS products (as opposed to Linux app
collections, e.g., Novell Small Business Suite) they admit to existing,
on their Web site, are:
o SUSE Enterprise Desktop: New name for Novell Linux Desktop. (Current = 10)
o SUSE Enterprise Server. (Current = 10)
o Novell Open Enterprise Server.
o Novell Linux Point of Service. (Current = 9)
o SUSE Linux: New name for Retail Edition. (Current = 10.1)
o openSUSE: New name for Ftp Edition / OSS Edition. (Current = 10.1
+ 10.2 alphas + "head" rolling development tree). Note that there are
still proprietary packages, but only ones whose owners allow
redistribution by the public.
I predict that the "Novell Linux" brand will be phased out -- and I'm
not sure what happened to all those single-disc editions, but think
they've been discontinued.
Redistribution:
--------------
Used to be, there were recurring flamewars over right to redistribute
the kitchen-sink editions' CD sets. With all benign intent, SUSE Linux
AG and Novell used to perpetuate those by saying things like "Sure, we
don't mind if you redistribute Professional Edition to your friends, as
long as you don't charge", which was true and spoke well for them, but
they were forgetting about third-party rights (Adobe Software, Real
Media, Opera Software ASA, Matrica GmbH, etc.) that would be trampled.
Subscribers may recall that I settled that question definitively with
licence audits of Professional Edition 9.1 and 9.3[1]: Its CD sets are
_not_ lawfully redistributable by the public -- any more than any of the
current editions other than openSUSE are.
To head off possible confusion, this is true even though any member of
the public _can_ (lawfully) download Enterprise Desktop and Enterprise
Server from Novell's site. That site is an _authorised_ distributor,
Novell having been licensed for that right by proprietary codebase
owners Adobe et al.
CABAL Installfests, and Picnix15:
--------------------------------
CABAL does its best to respect software licences, even dumb ones (well,
_especially_ dumb ones): We're not bootleggers. So, distributions like
Enterprise Desktop and Enterprise Server are a policy issue. This will
also arise in August, when I lend CABAL's CD/DVD collection to SVLUG for
an installfest at the 15th annual Linux Picnic aka Picnix15, at
Sunnyvale Baylands Park, Aug. 19, the Saturday following LWCE's annual
appearance in San Francisco.
I'm willing to lend CABAL's Enterprise Desktop and Enterprise Server CD
sets to people attending our events for installation purposes. I
believe that does not violate copyright holders' rights in this case.
_However_, it is not OK for people to duplicate the discs.
It may seem dumb to perpetuate a situation where each person wanting
disc sets for these downloadable editions must download and burn a set,
independently, but that's the law. (Anyway, be aware that Novell offers
60 days of complimentary support with registration for those editions,
and then you'd be on your own for all software updates.)
I _do_ plan to have CD/DVD sets of openSUSE 10.1 and maybe the latest
10.2 alpha prerelease available to duplicate.
[1] http://linuxmafia.com/pipermail/conspire/2004-September/000513.html
http://linuxmafia.com/pipermail/conspire/2004-September/000514.html
http://linuxmafia.com/pipermail/conspire/2004-September/000517.html
http://linuxmafia.com/pipermail/conspire/2005-April/001066.html
http://linuxmafia.com/pipermail/conspire/2005-April/001080.html
--
Cheers, English is essentially Pictish that was attacked out of nowhere by
Rick Moen Angles cohabiting with Teutons who were done in by a drunk bunch of
rick at linux Vikings masquerading as Frenchmen who insisted they spoke Latin and
mafia.com Greek but lacked the Arabic in which to convey that. -- Bill Hammel