Interview: Volker Smid, President, General Manager of Novell EMEA

7. 8. 2008 | Robert Krátký | Rozhovory | 3006×

When Novell started to move its portfolio over to open source and Linux did you consider it a sure bet at the time?

It was a tool to what I would call a comeback to our roots. We were always a software platform company, we then migrated to a more services concentrated company. First the acquisition of Cambdridge [Technology Partners], then the acquisition of SUSE. I think, we became, over time, back the software infrastructure player, with focus on open source. So it was a planned migration.

What do you think is the weakest spot of Linux? What should the community focus on for Linux to gain a larger desktop market share?

Our particular interest is what I would call Linux in the enterprise, both on the desktops and also in the data-centres. Any community work that relates to the enterprise capability of Linux is supported and well appreciated. One headline is always Unix to Linux parity. There are still some advantages to the Unix operating system that Linux does not have, but it's on its way. So this is one thing.

Robustness, scalability, real-time extensions, virtualisation platforms - every piece that relates to the enterprise acceptance of Linux, both in the data-centre and on the desktop, are community projects that we absolutely support.

Which one of your activities on the desktop front do you consider the most important at this time?

Exactly the same: the enterprise aspect of the desktop. Because there's a desktop I use at home and there's a desktop that the company decided should become a part of the enterprise platform. And if you take an enterprise desktop, Linux desktop, this desktop needs to be integrated into the existing platform. So all of a sudden you have an enterprise desktop that needs to be integrated into an Active Directory. We need to integrate Linux desktop into the Samba platform, we need to integrate the Lotus Notes environment in to the existing Linux desktop. So the enterprise aspect... is probably the one thing that we are working on.

Now when you take the same Linux desktop and apply it to the consumer market, all of a sudden things like DRM are more important or the way you migrate computer games over to the desktop, and graphics card support - those are things more important for the consumer than for the enterprise.

Ing. Aleš Kučera: Quite often we hear from people who advocate for MS desktop. Most often the comment is 'you cannot play this and that particular game'. And I say, well that's fine. We have Linux for a professional, enterprise use, and you can use Vista to play computer games. Most of the problems our customers are facing in the enterprise environment come from the total flexibility of setting up their desktops. And if you look how many companies are successful by selling technologies which control of the windows desktop and environment so it can be used in enterprise, including Novell ZENWorks, it is clear to see what the CIO is looking for in an organisation. Which is going back to the roots, something which resembles a host terminal system. You need to get the job done so you need people equipped with the tools they need, and not with the tools they would like to have.

We focus on enterprise environment which means that our SLED has, as far as I understand, about 200 packages, while openSUSE 11.0 has about 2000 packages, or even more. But how do you want to control 2000 packages with a customer who's got 5000 terminal stations?

How would you describe the differences between SUSE Linux Enterprise and Red Hat Enterprise Linux? Do you have the same goals?

The technology dept. would probably clap me for that, but fundamentally, probably not enough differences to talk about. The fundamental difference is what we do, not how we do it. Our focus is enterprise mission-critical. If you look into our relationship with SAP and the announcement we have done. Today about 75 per cent of the existing Linux SAP deployments are on SUSE Linux. Whenever we mission-critical there's a preference for SUSE, whenever we talk volume and edge server there's a preference for Red Hat. It almost seems that RH serves a different market than SUSE. RH is absolutely the leader in the volume market. Let's say Internet server, something that is edge and not mission-critical, it normally runs RH. The more you look into enterprise mission-critical, the more you find SUSE. So for the ten biggest customer wins in the last twelve months we did not compete against RH. Our competition was more the existing, incumbent Unix than RH.

About the Microsoft (MS) – Novell agreement. Had you known then what you know now is there something you would have done differently?

No. Well, negotiation with MS was none of my direct business, it's more indirect. When I talk to customers and partners, the main statements then and now are we did it right. What we've created without knowing is a platform of interoperability. This Moonlight/Silverlight project that we've started was not part of the original agreement. They just came to us and asked us whether we want to make the port. So we used MONO and ported it over to Linux. And that was fairly easy.

I think the one change, that is not related to MS, a better and more effective communication to the community should have been part of our thinking. But in terms of negotiating the deal I would have no other complaints.

Some Linux users say Novell is evil and ought to be boycotted because of the Microsoft deal. What message would you have for them?

My message back to them is that the entire community, and you can take the community and split the part that is a paid enterprise like IBM, HP, Intel, AMD, RH, Novell, should be proud about the speed of the proliferation of the work that it has done. Because what this agreement has done is it accelerated the access to Linux. In general and in the enterprise. And that is the result not of the relationship between Novell and MS, that is the result of the work of the engineers that have done and have made it enterprise ready.

So, I would say that the big message back to community is a value statement, a quality statement of their work that they've done so far, and they should be interested not so much in who's delivering the value to the end-customer but more in whether the customer sees a value in what they use. And I think that's a great testament about it.

What was the reaction of your company's employees to the deal with Microsoft? Did they mostly like the idea of teaming up with Microsoft who has been a long-time competitor?

Over time the IT industry became a network of coopetition. We're a big partner of IBM, so we work together with IBM on Linux. We are strong competitors on the tivoli platform of identity management. So we cooperate with MS on the server platform, we have strong competition on the desktop. Over time, this whole IT industry moved from being competitive to more or less being in a state of coopetition. This is how we try to reflect it, that's how the SUSE part of the Novell organisation initially reacted to the MS agreement.

I was in Norimberg at our main facility for SUSE in November in 2006 when we announced. And we had interesting conversations back then. But right now, I think this part of the whole thing has changed towards 'what do we do to create customer value' and give it back to the community. So I think the more success we've created with that agreement, the more positive customer testaments we received, the more positive is the reaction from the community.

But initially, it was a surprise. The surprise was so big that even the German television, in prime time, 8 o'clock, in the news broadcast the fact that MS and Novell have struck an agreement, and that's interesting.

Ing. Aleš Kučera: Of course, some people were not happy about that, but the biggest problem was, and you just discover it later, that these people have not actually carefully read was in the agreement. Most successful communication or explanation tool was to ask people to read it. Because they were against this agreement without even knowing what was inside. And the agreement was made public. And then you can go with these guys and ask them the question: 'so, what's your problem with this particular clause?' We work together to allow customers to share data across various platforms. 'What's your problem with the clause which actually says that we would commonly dedicate some resources to create some virtualisation tools? What's your problem with that?' Of course, there are some people, there're just very few of them, who still understand that as a religious problem, or that somebody betrayed someone else. Of course, people who are using emotional arguments, it's very difficult to find rational arguments to agree with these people.

When the GPL3 was drafted it was designed to prevent future agreements like the one you have with MS. Especially with regard to the patent provisions. What do you think about the GPLv3 patent provisions and the license in general?

Well, quite frankly, I have not spent an awful amount of time reading and understanding the GPLv3, the patent aspect, and all the comment that have been made about it. My personal comment is that if we see, for the sake of what we try to do with open source and Linux, that this agreement should be a success, I do not see a licence agreement like GPL to be an inhibitor to success. If this is ultimately a customer success, it will prevail. My ultimate job is to serve customers and partners in the best possible way. My overwhelming feedback so far is that MS and Novell did the exact right thing for helping to increase the service ability of a joint MS and Linux estate and customer environment. And that in itself is a great success and statement.

But I cannot talk about the specifics of GPLv3. I have difficulties to believe and understand that anything would prevent success. Right now, the only thing I can say, it accelerates the usage of Linux on the customer side. That should be in the joint minds of anybody who is in the Linux community.

Microsoft has repeatedly claimed, even after the agreement, that Linux infringes on a number of its patents. Do you think there's some truth to these statements?

Interesting question. I have no reason to comment on this thing because I don't have any insight. Number one what counts is we indemnified our customers from whatever threat there might be. I believe that software patent infringement is a different level of threat on European ground than it is on US ground. So I'm glad to report that our customers are indemnified, if there's an issue. And I think this is a number one responsibility that I have. Other than that I cannot really comment , positive or negative about the number. I think it was 141 infringements that have been reported. I really have no insight and no facts that can either support or not support the argument. The one fact that I can report on this is that every customer that we jointly serve is indemnified.

The subnotebook market is thriving. Do you think there's space for a SUSE-based system for these devices?

Right now we focus heavily on what we call the enterprise market, and the subnotebook market is a more consumer market than an enterprise market, so the answer to that is: there is a possibility but it should not be seen as the number one, let's say opportunity. Our number one task is to get in front of the leading clients of the world and make sure that the SLED is one of the preloaded versions on something that the enterprise might need. But subnotebooks... I will probably buy a subnotebook myself for private use pretty soon... next time I'm in Taiwan I will certainly do this. But it's not yet for the enterprise.

OpenSUSE 11 ships with the Xen virtualization engine but other vendors have started to focus on this area as well. What are your plans for staying competitive in the virtualization market?

Number one, I think Novell is, with the agreement that we have in place with MS, absolutely in a position to be one of the leaders in the MS-Linux cross virtualisation field. Just by the matter of fact that we have the agreement. There might be difference in opinion though whether MS hosts Linux guest operating system or whether Linux hosts MS guest operating system.

Number two, last time I counted we had already two million Xen users out there so we have already distributed a big amount of Xen.

Number three is the acquisition of PlateSpin. We have products and services available to migrate workloads from virtual to physical, from virtual to virtual, or from physical to virtual. And with relationship that we have in place with VMware I think we have buckets of opportunities where we are well positioned, and in particular with MS the opportunity I see is excellent.

Anything else you would like to share with Czech Linux users and developers?

Ing. Aleš Kučera: First of all, we are supposed to sign a strategic operation agreement with the Ministry of Interior. We'll sign a strategic operation agreement which will create a framework for future cooperation. That's number one. For us, future cooperation means practically everything from acquisition of products and technologies to services. And we're working together on some major tasks which are in front the Czech government in terms of eGovernment solutions.

Number two, I'm sure this contract also creates a framework for solutions based on open standards and principles. I believe the important thing is that our governmental officials even understand the difference between open standards and open source which is not quite common, I must say. So I hope this is one important thing. And the other important thing which is being pronounced thirteen days ago. This is currently the second largest technical services place of Novell worldwide. So I believe the good news is for our developers and even users that in this particular place new business opportunities are going to be created. So in case they are interested in working for Novell and are open source developers, they should find job openings or simply come over here and ask if there is some job available. Because Novell will need to staff these operations.

       

Komentáře

[dad]

po delsi dobe opet jeden velmi povedeny a vstricny rozhovor. Navic konecne s odborniky a ne s nejakymi marketingovymi nebo managerskymi patlaly. Je videt, ze Novell byla vzdy technologicka firma a vybira si tedy schopne lidi.

Napr. vedet co je desktop je pro vetsinu ekonomicky zamerenych lidi neznamy pojem. Ale vedeni Novellu nejen ze vi o cem je rec, dokonce rozlisuji i unix a linux.

Nebo to s temi balicky. Vetsina manageru si pod balicky predstavi postu (jini uplatky -ze ano pane profesore) ale Novellista vi, ze jde o jakesi zhluky software a pan ing. dokonce vi, ze je lepe toho mit mene nez vice.

Kdybych byl mladsi, tak bych se uchazel o misto u SUSe (uz kvuli Anicce) ale v mem veku by me asi nevzali.

[koty]

já bych kvůli věku flintu do žita neházela a pár volných pozic máme taky.

[TM]

On má dad v těch obavách kolem věku pravdu. Já jsem pravděpodobně o něco mladší než on, ale už to také začínám pociťovat. Kult frikulínů je dnes prostě příliš silný a diskriminace v tomto směru bohužel existuje - je to realita a nikoliv neopodstatněný výmysl, jak praví i moje praktické zkušenosti...Kindermanažer při pohledu na datum narození zpravidla upadne do naivního přesvědčení, že je - li vám nad x let, nevíte co je počítač. Že jste s počítači vyrůstal vpodstatě od dětství on neví, pro něj byly vynalezeny až s datem jeho narození.
Pokud to ale v Praze u Novellu chodí opravdu jinak, je to dobrá zpráva...
To by jen zbývalo projít přes aniččiny hlavolamy, které je prý při pohovoru třeba řešit on-line a ne vždy člověk na řešení hned přijde )) Stejně jako dad si myslím, že tak trochu při tom bazíruje anička na kravinách. Ale pochopitelně vycházím jen z informací z druhé ruky...třeba to není úplně tak jak se povídá.

[koty]

Nojo, je to tak, že musíte hlavně projít. A ty hlavolamy jsou celkem v pohodě, vzhledem k tomu, že si obvykle můžete vybrat jazyk a způsob řešení. No a pak si taky obojí obhájit, což někomu může připadat jako bazírování na kravinách .

[belisarivs]

Navic na Anicku ani nemusi narazit. Ja ji videl (takze uz verim ze existuje), nebo alespon hadam, ze ta se sponou z nejakeho plosnaku (nejsem si jisty, ale vypada to na desticku s procakem, co se rvala do Slot 1, nebo jak se to jmenovalo, proste Celery a tusim P2 do ~450 MHz), ale u pohovoru nebyla.

[undertaker]

Nemylis si ju s Johankou? Ta nosila tiez "kremikovu" sponu vo vlasoch.

Anicka, (teda ta holka, co jej platime za to, aby vystupovala ako Anicka ;) nosi vo vlasoch Pentium4.

[Sleep_Walker]

Ja myslel, ze je to Itanium, nebo se pletu, nebo jeste jich ma vic...

[undertaker]

Mas pravdu. Doplietol som to.

[Käyttäjä 11133]

No jo, pozdě... :D

[Käyttäjä 11133]

Nechtěl si říct Itanium?

[anicka]

No bodejt, vsak taky kdo ty moje komentare cetl poradneji, nez jen ve stylu "chci se leknout," ten se dozvedel, ze uz tak nejmin rok jsem u zadneho pohovoru nebyla a pevne doufam, ze uz nikdy ani nebudu muset. Nic proti mezilidske komunikaci, ale hackovani je zabavnejsi... a asi i produktivnejsi

Kazdopadne, s temi hlavolamy jsem byla v SUSE myslim tak neco mezi... IMHO celkem nuda, ale hadam, ze kdo se hlasi do naseho QA, toho takove veci minou skoro uplne. A kdo se hlasi do SUSE Labs, ten bude uvaren ve vlastni stave naprosto neskutecnym zpusobem (mam trochu tuseni, co se tam deje, a je to dost zajimave).

Pokud jde o komentare nize, tak podle toho, co jsem slysela o pohovorech v Red Hatu, silne pochybuju, ze by me vzali ;-P

[Rezza]

Tak pojd k nam, do konce roku jeste potrebujeme pres 30 lidi :) Kontakt na spravne lidi neni problem dodat...

[Milan Hejpetr]

A o jakou jde firmu ? Kde geograficky působí ? Čím se zabývá ? Momentálně mám pořád ještě solidní job, ale pochopitelně sběr těchto informací a občasný průzkum na pohovorech je čím dál důležitější Koneckonců změna je život, pokud je to směrem k zajímavější práci.

[Michal Hocko]

;)

[Rezza]

Jobs Zrovna dnes jsem o tomto clanku mluvil s nasim EMEA Directorem :)

[koty]

Kšá, potvoro . Já tady byla první.

[Rezza]

U nas dostane krasny cerveny kloboucek :) U vas by musel mit akvarko :D

[Käyttäjä 11133]

[undertaker]

Skor terarium... rybicky nechovame.

[anicka]

Klobouk se sice hodi, ale... plysovi tucnaci, obri nafukovaci tucnak, tricko na kazdy den v tydnu (a mozna i mesici), zavazadla, plechacky... myslim, ze me nejaky cerveny klobouk vlastne az zas tak nezajima

[deda.jabko]

Nad rámec toho se však vyjadřovat nemohu – ať kladně nebo záporně – ani ohledně počtu, myslím, že to bylo 141, údajných porušení. Opravdu o tom nevím tolik, abych to tvrzení mohl potvrdit, nebo vyvrátit.

existuje vubec nekdo, kdo se k tomu muze vecne vyjadrit?

[belisarivs]

vysvětluje svůj pohled dohodu na s Microsoftem

[Robert Krátký]

Dík, opraveno.

[belisarivs]

Zajímavě jsme si o tom tenkrát popovídali

[spectrum]

Ani malé dítě by nemluvilo lépe. Bojím se vlka, ale nevím jak vypadá ani co mi může udělat. Je to smutná sranda. Ještě, že jsem nahradil Netware Sambou, ještě teď mi běhá mráz po zádech a s Enterprise verzí s mohou ... Jedinou Enterprise, kterou uznávám, je ta ze Star Treku.

[Kovář David]

Jj, to slovo Enterprise tam zaznělo tolikrát, že mi to až nahnalo hrůzu. Obzvlášť, když u některých produktů vidím, co to znamená...

[rastos]

> Především se však počítá, že jsme své zákazníky pojistili před veškerými hrozbami, které by se mohly vyskytnout.

"... a uviedli do potenciálneho nebezpečenstva ostatných užívateľov Linux-u, ktorí nie sú zákazníkmi Novell-u. Ale to je nám (Novell-u) fuk."

[Michal]

To samozřejmě není vůbec pravda (pro ostatní uživatele to neznamená žádnou změnu), ale to je vám pravděpodobně také fuk.

[rastos]

Ak Novell zavlečie do populárneho projektu licencovaného pod GPLv2 niečo, čo je chránené patentom, tak jemu (ani jeho zákazníkom) to nevadí. Ale všetci ostatní musia skúmať či patch od Novellu prináša riziko patentového sporu s MS alebo nie.

[kerala]

Je vidět, že jste nepochopil licenci GNU GPLv2. Licence GPLv2 je NESLUČITELNÁ s placenými/uzavřenými patenty. Hypoteticky, kdyby to Novell udělal, tím by v prvé řadě porušil samotnou licenci GNU GPLv2. Doporučuji Vám, než abyste psal takové hověziny, tak aby jste se příště zdržel komentářů.

[DIR]

Každopádně jsem rád, že mohu potvrdit, že jsou naši zákazníci zbaveni odpovědnosti, kdyby se nějaký problém vyskytl. To je to hlavní, za co jsem zodpovědný. Nad rámec toho se však vyjadřovat nemohu – ať kladně nebo záporně – ani ohledně počtu, myslím, že to bylo 141, údajných porušení. Opravdu o tom nevím tolik, abych to tvrzení mohl potvrdit, nebo vyvrátit. Mohu jen zopakovat, že každý zákazník, kterého společně obsloužíme, je pojištěn proti odpovědnosti.

Teda mě z toho běhá mráz po zádech

[kobliha]

Aspon ti neni vedro :)

[Fluttershy, yay!]

Odpověď na druhou otázku není odpovědí na druhou otázku.

MS+Novell se mi nelíbí (interoperabilita je hezká věc, ale když je tam zmínka o patentech, smrdí to, Novell tím de facto uznal, že GNU/Linux nějaké patenty asi porušuje).

Ale jinak dobrý rozhovor. Až mi z toho enterprise šla hlava kolem.