Novell's move to create an application stack out of proprietary and open source software will help to remove one of the last barriers to more widespread adoption of Linux, analysts have predicted.
The bundle, announced earlier this week, comprises version 9 of Novell's SuSE Linux enterprise server, release 4.0 of the open source JBoss application server, and Oracle's proprietary database and Real Application Clusters software.
The offerings will run on HP BladeSystem BL20p or BL30p servers and ship under the auspices of Novell's Validated Configuration Programme in the third quarter of this year.
In most corporations, Linux is still used predominantly to run edge of network machines such as Web or firewall servers. But the fact that Novell has become the first vendor to provide a pre-packaged, pre-integrated and pre-tested software bundle is likely to encourage uptake in other areas of the enterprise, especially as other suppliers are expected to follow suit soon.
"A few years ago, the challenge for people was to understand that the GPL was not evil and they were not going to get sued for using Linux. Then the biggest area of debate was the cost of adoption, but that is largely moved on," said Gary Barnett, a research director at Ovum.
The next obvious issue was support. Tackling this "is definitely important to the OS becoming a mature and non-controversial alternative," said Barnett.
While Barnett acknowledged that it was possible for organisations to build their own home-grown technology stack incorporating proprietary, in-house developed and open source software, he said that it was still "monumentally" difficult to do and generated huge support issues through a lack of accountability.
"Managing a self-selected vendor stack can be a real nightmare because you end up with the classic issue of buck-passing," he explained.
As a result, while Barnett doesn’t expect the new offering to "light the blue touch paper" of adoption in relation to mainstream business applications, he believes it will help in "taking the brakes off".
The next big phase in terms of uptake, he believes, will involve encouraging more software vendors to port their products over to Linux and to embed other open source technologies into their own software portfolios.
"That's going to be complicated very much by licensing terms and the road ahead is not going to be completely smooth, but adoption by ISVs really is central to taking open source infrastructure software to the next level," Barnett said.
Nonetheless, he does expect Novell's bundle to appeal to large organisations that have acquired open source technology through the back door and want to consolidate the number of products in place and regain more control of their environment.
Neil Ward-Dutton, a director of MWD Advisors, though, believes that the offering will mainly be of interest to Novell's traditional medium-sized customer base.
"It is useful for those wanting to introduce new Web applications, but who are not prepared to go open source for the whole stack. They want the comfort of the certification and services of a major vendor and this will help many customers consider Linux in roles they would not necessarily have before," he said.
