Submitted by JP (not verified) on Mon, 2008/06/23 - 13:38.
There are a number of "SLES clones", however none that compete (like CentOS) with SLES directly. Take SGI's Altix - it is a clone with the SGI spin and is used exclusively for SGI hardware. They do not compete with Novell directly, but SGI enhanced their SLES clone to make it better on SGI's hardware.
There are several others and these clones are for fixed function or highly specialized environments (IBM Blue Gene). That is why you never hear about them. You see, RedHat cannot claim this because their distribution is to generic to allow for such high end purposes.
Novell's business model allows for companies to make money and not compete directly with SLE for support dollars (most actually take advantage of Novell's superior support).
Not quite the case - clones do exist!
There are a number of "SLES clones", however none that compete (like CentOS) with SLES directly. Take SGI's Altix - it is a clone with the SGI spin and is used exclusively for SGI hardware. They do not compete with Novell directly, but SGI enhanced their SLES clone to make it better on SGI's hardware.
There are several others and these clones are for fixed function or highly specialized environments (IBM Blue Gene). That is why you never hear about them. You see, RedHat cannot claim this because their distribution is to generic to allow for such high end purposes.
Novell's business model allows for companies to make money and not compete directly with SLE for support dollars (most actually take advantage of Novell's superior support).