Breaking news: Novell tries to get back its open source glow

In a furious piece of image-management, Novell seems to be trying to undo some of the damage it has done itself in the eyes of the open source community through its partnership with Microsoft, by announcing another alliance – this time with the Electronic Frontier Foundation. The EFF has a good rep in the open source world – being against all curbs on free and open information and software (the clues in the name) – and has come out against DRM, and US government attempts to monitor air passenger information. So why they have decided to tie-up with Novell – the company that recently jumped into bed with Microsoft in deal that was underpinned by patent manoeuvrings that will never see the light of day, is a bit of a mystery. We'll rattle some cages tomorrow for you and see if the EFF has a convincing answer.