SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop (SLED) is perhaps best known as the distro whose owner Novell, in 2005, signed an extremely unpopular patent-protection deal with Microsoft. From that moment on, Novell was essentially dead to those that prize the free software aspects of Linux.
Advertisement:
read more

Novell is lying about the treasonous patent deal (more than ever before) just 3 years after signing it

Novell released SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 11 (SLED 11) at the same time it rolled out SLES 11. We found that the desktop bundle (which we tested on an HP EliteBook 2530p notebook system) includes features that render a look and feel similar to past versions of Apple's MacOS as well as some parts of Windows 7 beta we've tested.

Novell reports greater losses, but how much has it embellished things?

On the back of defending the agreement this week, Novell did as promised and published details of its landmark November 2006 Linux partnership agreements with Microsoft.

The slow, toe-in-the-water approach by PC makers to the Linux desktop continued on Wednesday, with Dell (NSDQ:Dell) and Novell (NSDQ:NOVL) formalizing a deal to ship Dell OptiPlex 330 and 755 desktops preloaded with Novell's SLED 10, to commercial accounts in China.

Novell only makes publicly available to anyone, in free access (here and here), only the source code for the packages "as of release", e.g. as on the physical media for SLED 10 SP2, for instance! There is no way to get the sources for the updated packages, unless you're a customer!... Is this GPL-compliant? IANAL, but based on the GPL Compliance Guide, it looks like it's not.

Dell presents a dual-O/S solution, but it uses Novell's SLED, which is not free

In case there’s anyone left out there who doesn’t get that the UMPC (Ultra Mobile PC) is a big deal for the Linux desktop consider that arguably the most important business Linux desktop, Novell’s SLED (SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop) 10 SP2) is now available on MSI’s (Micro-Star International) new Wind Notebook.