Novell: Community Wants OpenSUSE Foundation

Open source commentators were suspicious when news emerged that openSUSE will move to an independent foundation, during the acquisition of Novell, which currently supports openSUSE development.

But the move is in line with the wishes of the openSUSE community, will be properly funded, and does not represent any fading of Novell’s interest in the Linux version – or any lack of involvement by Novell’s prospective owner, Attachmate.

That is the view of Jos Poortvliet, Jos Poortvliet, openSUSE Community Manager at Novell, who contacted us to give some background to the move, which he says dates back well before the Attachmate deal was announced.

Comments were misrepresented

“There has been some concerns expressed about the transition of openSUSE to a foundation,” said Poortvliet. “But these concerns have mispresented what has been going on.”

The atmosphere around Novell has always been heated. The company courted controversy by partnering with Microsoft on open source, and when Attachmate announced its intention to buy the company, more intrigue emerged, as a   consortium backed by Microsoft agreed to buy some Novell patents – which some feared might relate to Unix, the OS closely related to Linux.

The news of that openSUSE would spin out added to concerns. “Over the last few months, I’ve frequently pointed out the vulnerability of important open source projects that are supported and controlled by corporate sponsors, rather than hosted by independent foundations funded by corporate sponsors,” warned standards lawyer Andy Updegrove.

Poortvliet told us he’s not seen any cause for concern, and he should know: “I am the openSUSE community manager and I interact with the community, as well as being another contributor not just in marketing, but in a variety of other areas as well.”