Novell Boosts Linux Push With Ximian Buyout
Boston-based Ximian has garnered a cult status among some open-source fans for its desktop, groupware and management software.
"This acquisition allows us to pursue our shared goal, and that is to reduce the barriers to Linux adoption in the enterprise," said Ximian co-founder and Senior Vice President Nat Friedman, in a prepared statement. Friedman will stay on at Novell as vice president of research and development of Novell's newly formed Ximian Services business.
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Miguel De Icaza
Friedman and Miguel de Icaza helped develop the GNOME and Mono projects and will continue their leadership roles in both of those at Novell, according to a statement issued Monday Morning.
De Icaza, CTO of Ximian, will now carry the same title in the new Novell business unit.
The Mono project is an open-source pooling of tools and related resources to offer interoperability with applications built on Microsoft's .Net foundations. The GNOME project seeks to build a full open-source desktop that would offer the tools and desktop applications now typically found on Windows desktops running Microsoft Office.
The news comes within days of LinuxWorld Expo in San Francisco, where IBM, Hewlett-Packard and other powers are expected to continue their push to entrench the open-source operating system in companies of all sizes (see story).
Since Novell's acquisition of Cambridge, Mass.-based Cambridge Technology Partners two years ago, more and more of its executives are now based--and more corporate activity is happening--on the east coast, where Chris Stone, vice chairman and office of the CEO at Novell, and Chairman and CEO Jack Messman are based. The Ximian purchase is an indication that the shift east is continuing, observers said. Novell remains headquartered in Provo, Utah.