Microsoft and Novell: Harmony or Heartache?
16th Nov 2006, 10:05 GMT
Microsoft and Novell sent tremors through the open-source world -- and much of the business software market -- when they announced a deal to make Windows and SuSE Linux work better together. Some compared the deal to Nixon's landmark trip to China, then one of America's two arch-rivals; others wondered whether the pact was as bad an event as Watergate. By now the specifics of the deal are well known: Microsoft and Novell will find ways to help Windows and SuSE Linux interoperate, to better ease the minds of CIOs who, more and more, have begun to support both platforms in the enterprise. Neither will prosecute the other's customers for patent infringements, which gives Novell's SuSE Linux Enterprise a leg up over Red Hat Linux, its chief competitor. According to research firm Gartner, Microsoft will spend almost $450 million over the life of the agreement, including $240 million for 350,000 Novell certificates. Microsoft also will recommend Novell's version of Linux to customers looking to deploy Linux in their companies. Yays and Nays Who likes the Microsoft-Novell deal? Microsoft does, and Novell seems to agree. Many analysts have noted (albeit with certain qualifications) that it could make life simpler for CIOs faced with two competing platforms, and perhaps less expensive for the companies that pay to use them. In a published research note, Gartner's George J. Weiss and John Enck wrote: "The immediate value offered by this agreement is an assurance by the two companies not to assert their patents against each other's end-user customers, while respecting the provisions of the general public license." They added that Red Hat users will not be affected -- at least not yet -- by the Microsoft-Novell announcements, "since the technical road maps must still be hammered out." Down with Novell! But not everyone is happy. Many of the dissenters are well-known open-source...
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