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As most of you know, Microsoft

and Novell have made a "deal" and have created a partnership which according to both is designed to be good for the customer and build better integration between Microsoft and Linux and between the concepts of proprietary software and open source.

The good news... (???)

Novell really believes that the deal is good for the consumer. Currently it is very possible that a large company with a very visible Linux infrastructure (perhaps moves away from Windows, usually they are moves away from Unix) could be sued by Microsoft for patent infringement based on what and how they are using open source software (and obviously GPL'd software).

Novell feels that the best solution to the problem is to make sure that Linux users are protected from large scale Microsoft litigation.

That sounds pretty good from a company perspective. No more fear that Microsoft is going to cut off your support or special sales discounts because of your use of Linux. No more fear of massive lawsuits and long drawn out court battles. No more fear of your primary Linux supplier (e.g. Novell) getting destroyed by Microsoft's massive patent arsenal.

Good for who??

Well... again, Novell's take is that the customer is the one that benefits from all of this. However, it assumes that the customer is running SUSE Linux.. ONLY with regards to Linux.

I'm not a big Red Hat fan. I think they sit on large piles of cash, and do NOT do as much as they could to contribute to open source development, especially on the enterprise side (my opinion of course). I'm not saying they don't contribute. I just think that too many of them are watching their potential stock valuations rather than trying to make Linux better.

Novell, on the other hand, is trying very hard to win the hearts and minds of the techies as well as the non-techies... well.. at least until now.

Bottom Line

People don't make deals with Microsoft and win. Well.. financially, they sometime win (e.g. Citrix), but certainly a loss with regards to personal values, ethics and all around doing what is "right". Microsoft typically deals in "win-lose" scenarios. Microsoft is no friend to Linux. They have made it quite clear that their goal is the eradication of everything BUT Windows in the enterprise space. This means that eventually, Microsoft MUST take down Novell.

The deal Novell made does not protect Novell from Microsoft using their normal monopolistic practices to tear apart Novell.

What Should We Do?

Well... we shouldn't make up conspiracy theories about what the partnership means or implies. I think the best thing to do is to wait. Time will show the true intent of man's heart.

SUSE is an excellent Linux distribution. Some companies may take comfort in the Microsoft deal... who knows. Might generate some much needed revenue for SUSE. Might not. Hopefully it does not mean that a Linux vendor has given in to the lies that Microsoft says. Or.. it could be that Novell has been duped. In which case, Red Hat's dire prediction about them being the only real player left after one year could come to pass. Back to Site Blogs