Open Sauce Software
Tasty titbits from people using Linux and other open source software in business.
Wednesday 20 August 2008, 9:14 PM
Novell - Microsoft deal extended
Who would have thought the Novell-Microsoft deal would lsat this long?
It originally seemed to be Novell inviting its customers to cave in to Microsoft's unsubstantiated patent claims against Linux. Two years on, those patent claims are still unsubstantiated (and someone tell me - are they ever likely to be?), but the Novell deal is still with us.
It's now about integration between Novell's open source and Microsoft's worlds - and some commentator see it focussing more on issues like helping IT shops integrate rival virtualisation and document interchange technologies.
Myself, I think that virtualisation and document interchange are multi-platform by definition, so how much work is there really in those areas?
Whatever, it's $100 million (sorry, £50 million) that Novell can draw on, and a growth for one part of the open source world.
It originally seemed to be Novell inviting its customers to cave in to Microsoft's unsubstantiated patent claims against Linux. Two years on, those patent claims are still unsubstantiated (and someone tell me - are they ever likely to be?), but the Novell deal is still with us.
It's now about integration between Novell's open source and Microsoft's worlds - and some commentator see it focussing more on issues like helping IT shops integrate rival virtualisation and document interchange technologies.
Myself, I think that virtualisation and document interchange are multi-platform by definition, so how much work is there really in those areas?
Whatever, it's $100 million (sorry, £50 million) that Novell can draw on, and a growth for one part of the open source world.
PreviousComments on this post
Novell still needs to watch their back, MS has a track record of playing the black widow role, or getting more in return than is given.
