I'm getting cold feet about Microsoft's latest so-called Linux victory. The software giant said on Monday that Walmart, the supermarket giant, was migrating from RedHat Linux across to a combination of MS/Novell software.

It was the fourth deal Microsoft has shouted about since it started doing business with Novell in the autumn, following wins with Credit Suisse, AIG and Deutsche Bank.

But this 'win' doesn't feel quite right. Walmart owns Asda in the UK, and, what with Walmart and Microsoft being global companies, it only seemed right to want to know how Asda were going to start utilising Novell open source infrastructure.

Both myself and Andy McCue at our sister site Silicon.com" have been on the case for more information. But we've both been met by a stony silence.

Microsoft's UK publicists knew little of how Asda would benefit. When pushed, they said they couldn't answer my questions.

Asda said I'd need to speak to their US parent. Walmart wouldn't speak to me.

Usually companies jump at the chance of publicising their partnerships, so this stony silence is starting to concern me.

Is Walmart really getting many benefits from Microsoft/Novell? Or is it all just one big publicity stunt?

It's just a bit ironic that Microsoft's chief operating officer Kevin Turner is a former vice president of Walmart.