Novell and Open Source

Novell and Open Source

Test Objective Covered:

1. Describe Novell Nterprise Linux Services (NNLS).

Before we end this chapter and start installing NNLS on your server, we need to briefly discuss Novell's relationship with the Open Source movement. As part of its oneNet strategy, Novell has begun to embrace Open Source software. We talked briefly about Open Source back in Chapter 2. If you will recall, the source code for products developed under the GPL license is freely available for anyone to download.

Once you've downloaded it, you can legally alter the code to fit your needs and then compile it. The stipulation behind this agreement is that your changes have to be openly shared. You can license and redistribute your application as long as this condition is met.

You might be wondering why Novell chose to embrace the Open Source community. I'm sure there are many reasons behind this decision (most of which I'm not privy to, of course). One clear advantage stands out, though: One of the key drawbacks to Novell's product line was the fact that it didn't have a lot of applications written for it by third-party developers. NetWare Loadable Modules (NLMs) were very difficult to write.

Many industry analysts in the late 1990s identified this issue as an important advantage for Microsoft Windows NT and 2000 Servers over NetWare. By moving to an Open Source strategy, Novell has opened up its systems to a wide array of existing Open Source applications. Because Open Source products are freely distributed, the total cost of ownership (TCO) of Novell products can be significantly lowered for an organization.

Novell has also contributed back to the Open Source community by opening up the source code to some of its most popular products, such as iFolder.