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Microsoft and Novell strike deal!
As the Wall street Journal publishes, Novell and Microsoft have struck a deal regarding Linux. In itself the deal seems odd since Microsoft looks like it is willing to “sell” Novell Linux. And Novel in return is paying Microsoft money for “patents” which makes users of Suse (Novell) Linux clean in regards of lawsuits from Microsoft.
The really interesting part though is the mention of a shared research facility. Could this mean that Novell Linux will work nearly seamless in Microsoft environments? Will they disclose and hep Novell to work and interoperate on a native level with Active Directory and Exchange?
I know the true OSS fans out there are going to be all skeptical and even “hurt” by the deal BUT this could give Linux a way of showing its true power. Think about it, you get Novell Linux and all of a sudden you can connect to your Windows network seamlessly. Where would be the reason to shell out so heavily for Windows? And if the “connectivity parts” become more free (as in beer), other Linuxes might use them…the future might not look QUITE as bleak as some might hink. Of course it also might be…
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[…] Looks like novell responded back to the community with an open letter. Reading this letter it is as I said before about the integration of MS Services and i still think it is that way that Novell is trying to get interoperability with Microsoft products. I am as much against the MS “standards” as the next guy however if noone takes the step and makes some kind of deal with them we can never get anything to cooperate. And face it 90% of all corporations use Windows in a large scale. Do i have a problem with how they aprached the whole thing? Absolutely. but still in the long run I do think this will benefit Linux in some sense. What happens , for example, if Novell works with Microsoft? Microsoft just handed their “secret” protocol documents over to the EU commision. Now Novel can take these documents and if they build new technology based on, say Samba, they will ahve to opensource it. however with a cooperation with Microsoft the new software might be created faster? This would mean within a couple of years we could have linux machines talking to exchange (nicely, not OWA) or to AD or whatever. I know the hardcore OSS fanatics do not want anything to do with this but form a corporate stance (I am tlaking corporation!! not 100 employees) it is a necessity. The one thing Microsoft has done well so far is providing their product for the ENTERPRISE with features that the ENTERPRISE wants/needs. Linux is lagging behind because it cannot speak Microsoft and mostly developers are working not for ENTERPRISE products (i will get flamed for this one!). If novell can provde in the long run the bridge for the “gap” then why not? there wouldnt be a reason not to tryand/or deploy Linux in a larger scale if it could talk to the exchange erver perfectly or to the AD or all the other neat little things. In the end this is all just speculation but I think there might be some truth in it. I spoke with a friend of mine that work closely with Suse/Novell (no not just with the OS but with the company) and even he hinted at this. He said “You know what, it just all comes down to business, if Novell is the first to provide this functionality they will get business. If they open sthe source code then, thats fine but they will be the first ones and they will have the resources within Microsoft to make things work smoothly!”. And I have to agree with him. from a OSS persective I can see where the skepticism comes from but from a corporate view I have to say, if it turns out that way a lot of things might change. EMail this post to a friend […]