WLUG Meeting - Novell and Linux

Guest speaker: Paul Kangro,
Asia-Pacific Solutions Manager
Novell

Quick Overview of topics Paul covered:

• government requirements for non-proprietary file formats (India, Kuala Lumpar, Malaysia, ...)
• "TCO" arguments (Robert Francis Group study - Linux 55.9% cheaper TCO than Windows, 87.3% cheaper than Solaris)
• lots of demand for Linux OperatingSystem support and maintenance
• hardware vendors wanting commercial support

Desktop stuff:

• Novell Linux Desktop (based on SUSE 9)

  • no vendor lock-in
  • reduced licensing costs
• YAST (configuration tool) open sourced

• Ximian bought by Novell

  • Mono - (Spanish for "monkey")
• Evolution2 - MS Exchange Connector open sourced
• NetWare-style filesystem permissions - policies/views
• CrossoverOffice
• Novell's eDirectory on linux

iFolder

• transparently do incremental backups of directories
• client-server model - ease of syncing/restoring
• version 3 written in Mono using Eclipse

Thanks to Paul for an interesting presentation!

7pm, 23rd Sept University of Waikato Room: LitB