Novell Inc. and Microsoft Corp., trying to expand the reach of their unusual alliance, say they plan to put a bigger emphasis on the Chinese market. The companies say they will make an extra investment to sell more support subscriptions for Novell's SUSE Linux Enterprise Server operating system in China.

I’m starting to see some big potential for symbiosis between two Linux and open source leaders: Red Hat and Ubuntu. Red Hat’s departure from the consumer desktop Linux market comes at the same time Ubuntu continues rolling in the same market with the release of Ubuntu 8.04 Hardy Heron this week.

At first glance, Microsoft’s software portfolio — Windows, Office, Small Business Server and Exchange — still dominates the small business market. But Red Hat CEO Jim Whiteshurst says his company has found a back door into the small business market. Perhaps surprisingly, it doesn’t really involve desktop Linux.

When it comes to hardware and software, IBM and Novell have a longstanding SUSE Linux business relationship. So where are the two companies heading next together? Novell and IBM provided some clues during last week’s Novell BrainShare conference. Here are the details.

Ron Hovsepian, CEO of Novell, took an unwarranted swipe at Red Hat for failing to show up to the Linux desktop market, but by Red Hat's own admission, it's not really interested in the traditional desktop market.

It's no secret that Novell would dearly love to trade market share with Red Hat in the Linux market. Red Hat, however, isn't happy with at least one of Novell's chosen strategies for getting there: Cloning.

Red Hat Inc and Novell Inc will soon face more competition from a small rival, Ubuntu Linux, in the market for open-source software programs that run server computers.

Red Hat Inc. and Novell Inc. will soon face more competition from a small rival, Ubuntu Linux, in the market for open-source software programs that run server computers.

More than 90% of all commercial Linux server subscriptions are from Novell and Red Hat, with SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES) and Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), respectively. A Gartner report gives Red Hat more than 60% of the paid Linux market, and Novell more than 30%. Why is Red Hat the Linux market share leader?