Oracle Eyes Novell

By Greg McNevin

April 18th, 2006: In the wake of all the recent Linux activity, Database heavyweight Oracle is reportedly considering producing its own Linux distribution or potentially acquiring Novell.

An interview with Oracle CEO Larry Ellison in the U.S.Financial Times has brought the company’s musings to light, with Ellison saying he has had his gaze on Novell for some time.

“I'd like to have a complete stack," Ellison told the FT “We're missing an operating system. You could argue that it makes a lot of sense for us to look at distributing and supporting Linux.”

Ellison is also apparently looking at Red Hat as an alternative, however his comments in the FT indicate otherwise: “I'm not going to spend $5 billion, or $6 billion, for something that can just be so completely wiped off the map.”

Either way moving to Linux makes a lot of sense for Oracle. And considering Novell’s latest Windows-challenging release, SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 10, an acquisition could give Oracle an important boost for a Microsoft challenge.

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