[NTLUG:Discuss] July 17 - Caldera - Dallas program

[Mark Bickel]

> From discuss-admin at ntlug.org Tue Jun 12 09:25 CDT 2001
> From: Chris Cox <cjcox at acm.org>
> To: discuss at ntlug.org
> Subject: Re: [NTLUG:Discuss] July 17 - Caldera - Dallas program
> Date: Tue, 12 Jun 2001 09:24:29 -0500
> 
> Everything I've heard lately about Caldera indicates that
> they are selling SCO's Unix (Unixware/OpenServer mutant)
> with some kind of Linux runtime enablement.... sort of like
> when Sun said they had Linux before Linux existed.  Raises
> an interesting point.... if "Linux" is just the kernel, can
> Caldera's offering really be called Linux??
> 
> Even IF (and that's a big IF) Caldera does continue to
> produce a true Linux based distribution, you can't bet
> that they will spend near 100% of their sales time pushing
> their proprietary implementation over it.
> 
> I really do not see any difference between Caldera UNIX (with
> Linux runtime enablement), Solaris (with Linux runtime enablement)
> and AIX (with Linux runtime enablement).  Basically you have
> a vendor who wants to push the product that cost them the most
> to produce... that being their proprietary Unix derivatives (SCO
> owning the "actual" name and the AT&T Sys V lineage).... to
> Caldera, Linux is merely a marketing tool.
> 
> What do others think about them?
> Chris

I've used Caldera since their first beta (CND Preview I) and have been
pleased and impressed with their overall quality. E-desktop 2.4 is a
great product IMO. Caldera has provided significant contributions to the
Linux kernel and module base in the past. The Novell IPX stack is one
notable example. Also they've developed some neat aplications - Lizard
is one slick installer; COAS was an interesting approach to SysAdmin,
but its promises have been largely unrealized; Webmin and its bigger
commercial brother Volution are powerful web-based SysAdmin tools.

BUT: Caldera has had a long history of hyping their NextBigThing (TM)
and then dropping support like a hot potato and moving on. Looking
Glass, Wabi, NetWare Server, COAS ... all dead ends - the list goes on.

Their commitment to OpenSource and Free Software is questionable at best. 
Recent interviews with CEO Ransom Love and Bryan Sparks (now head of 
spin-off Lineo) reveal some rather disturbing (to me anyway) comments 
regarding GPL licensing.

Moving to a bastardized SCO UNIX kernel/Linux infra is not where I want
to go. Evolving the code base in the OpenSource Linux (and even *BSD
for that matter) to develop the Enterprise/High-Availability features
(large-scale SMP, NUMA, fault-tolerance, journaled filesystems, etc.)
IS the way to go, and should be our future.

Heck, the UNIX model has its flaws and weaknesses. In the long-term it
will be replaced by more advanced paradigms; In the short term it beats
most of the alternatives hands down.

Caldera - they've annoyed me enough that I'm probably going to switch.
SuSe anyone?

Mark.Bickel at ericsson.com