It's almost time for another openSUSE release, and i'm sure there will be many articles written about it in the near future. openSUSE 11.1 plans to bring a whole bunch of new features to the desktop. But what about the company behind the SUSE logo? Novell get a lot of bad press, but do they really deserve it?

Novell is getting smaller and smaller while Red Hat expands, partly at Novell's expense

"Not since SCO has there been a company so reviled by the open source community as Novell following its deal with Microsoft.

I've openly wondered -- again and again -- whether Novell will ever connect the dots between SUSE Linux and the company's other product groups. A potential answer to that question has emerged. It involves Novell’s Intelligent Workload Management (IWM) strategy, which melds cloud and virtualization opportunities with Novell’s solutions. Here’s the scoop.

Well, this is fascinating. Here's an order from Judge Ted Stewart in a dispute between Novell and its insurer, Vigilant Insurance Company. Novell tried to get them to pay for the SCO v. Novell litigation back in 2004 and they refused, so Novell sued last May.

Pro-Novell deception in the press and in blogs. "[Matt Asay] now comes out (yes, once more) to defend Novell’s latest FUD attack on Red Hat. "

We recently showed how Microsoft is ’stealing’ from Novell’s GroupWise. Is this the company that Novell is serving in so many ways? Why? Has Novell forgotten the past so quickly? Examples from the news of Novell problems and loss of business to Microsoft.

Novell has just earned itself a very low position (48th) in the “most influential tech vendors” ladder, which seems very gut feeling-driven. Almost on the very same day came this press release from Novell:

Novell’s latest quarterly financial results, revealed today, were a mixed bag for the SUSE Linux provider. Novell made progress in some areas. But didn’t really thrive in others. Where does the company go from here? The answers will likely surface at the Novell BrainShare. Here are the details.