Microsoft/Novell

James Knott james.knott-bJEeYj9oJeDQT0dZR+AlfA at public.gmane.org
Wed Nov 8 02:07:48 UTC 2006


John McGregor wrote:
> Much has been made here and elsewhere about the doomsday pact that
> Novell made with Microsoft and how it bodes evil for Linux in general.
> However, I have the gut feeling that Novell and only Novell found itself
> in the deep shit. Today I came across this press announcement on Linux
> World for Suse Enterprise Server 10 (originally publishedat
> approximately the same time as Novell states the negotiations with
> Microsoft began). Here is a selected quote form the article that is
> particularly telling:
> 
> "The company also announced the Open Workspace Suite, a software package
> which includes GroupWise collaboration, ZENworks and Open Enterprise
> Server. Users of the Novell Open Workspace Suite can deploy either
> Windows XP or SuSE Linux Enterprise Desktop on their workstations or
> laptops.'
> 
> My bet is that this goes way beyond Samba and getting it to work
> required that Novell go wading in the Microsoft minefield. In the
> process, Novell gave Baldy, whose favourite hobby is spewing
> vituperative fud, enough ammunition to keep him happy for a long time.
> For the rest of us, simply avoiding Novell's solution (like the plague
> it is) will keep us well away from Microsoft's designs.
> 
> The full article can be found here:
> http://www.linuxworld.com/news/2006/032006-novell-suse-linux.html

While I have also been concerned, one thing I've noticed is that MS is
paying Novell far more than Novell is paying MS.  Novell is not paying
for patents.  It is paying for a protection rac^H^H^H^H^H^H an agreement
not to be sued, should any MS patents be violated.  The agreement also
covers making some things work better with Windows etc.  My read of the
various articles shows that it's not the doomsday scenario many make it
out to be, though I'm still suspicious of MS.  It also appears that this
was started just before Bill Gates announced his planned retirement.
Any connection?

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