Curtains go up on UnitedLinux

By Matt Whipp

Posted on 12 Sep 2002 at 13:01

First public beta for release end of the month.

UnitedLinux, the Linux server edition of the SuSE, TurboLinux, Conectiva and Caldera coalition will offer a 'closed' public beta of version one at the end of September, with the boxed version scheduled for the end of November.

UnitedLinux will provide the underlying technology for each company's own branded Enterprise Server edition which will bear the slogan 'powered by UnitedLinux'. The different versions will be differentiated by any additional software supplied by each company and the type of support. A new version will come out every year, and each of these will be maintained with bug fixes and patches for two years. A spokesperson for SuSE told us that typically a large corporation will buy the product under a roughly five year contract.

The Enterprise Server edition will support most platforms, with initial support for IBM e-Server platform, we were told.

The benefits of UnitedLinux is that it offers 'the most standards-compliant technology,' along with support from ISVs and IHVs, said Jasmin Ul-Haque, Commercial Director for SuSE. She added that 'there were problems with Linux in fragmentation... UnitedLinux stays above any fragmentation'.

Red Hat, UnitedLinux's closest competitor, has been invited to join the UnitedLinux initiative. Its reluctance to do so has not been any cause for concern: 'It's simply not in Red Hat's strategy right now,' we were told, although the door will remain open for Red Hat to join.