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Welcome to virtuallinux.org. You are currently reading the article "Microsoft-Novell Deal: Nightmare In Linux Land". All articles on virtuallinux.org pertain to the ongoing assult on the worlds greatest Operating system. Continue on reading about "Microsoft-Novell Deal: Nightmare In Linux Land"
Microsoft-Novell Deal: Nightmare In Linux Land
Posted on Saturday, February 03 2007 @ 14:53:11 EST by linuxwiz |
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The open source community lashed back, but was it right?
When Microsoft and Novell announced their Linux agreement last November, it knocked the open source
community for a loop, and some hit back hard. "The Microsoft message
here is clear. 'I can pick and choose among the players and bribe
whomever I want,'" says Francois Banchilhon, CEO of Mandriva, a Linux marketer.
That's harsh, but not untypical of the online postings that have
proliferated since the deal was disclosed. And while a big customer win
and a new Linux support organization may serve to blunt some of that
criticism, they haven't answered all the questions the deal has raised.
In November, Microsoft and Novell pledged to work together for the next
five years on SUSE Linux, which Novell acquired in 2003. Microsoft and
Novell promised to improve system interoperability and create new virtualization
tools. Microsoft agreed to purchase and resell or distribute
"certificates" for SUSE Linux, upgrades, and support. Also, the two software
makers inked a software-patents covenant to the effect that Microsoft
won't be able to sue Novell's customers for any potential infringements
of Microsoft's patents, and vice versa. Hundreds of millions of dollars
will change hands between Microsoft and Novell over the next three
years, with a net balance of $118 million going to Novell.
Marc Potter, director of business development for Redjuju, a Novell
reseller, admits to feeling alarmed when Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer
and Novell CEO Ron Hovsepian appeared side by side on his PC screen.
"My first thought was, 'Oh, no. Microsoft just bought Novell,'" he
says. But Potter now favors the agreement, on the grounds that
Microsoft's willingness to "step to the plate for Linux" has reassured
some of his customers.
And not just his. Wal-Mart said two weeks ago that it has tapped
Microsoft and Novell to provide open source Linux software for use in
the megaretailer's internal computing and Web site
operations. Under the agreement, financial terms of which weren't
disclosed, Microsoft will provide Wal-Mart with SUSE Linux Enterprise Server and an undisclosed number of support certificates. The plan is to use SUSE Linux as a platform to connect a number of systems, Wal-Mart says.
"We have wanted information technology vendors to deliver true interoperability and IP
assurance between multiple platforms for some time now, and we are
pleased that Microsoft and Novell are committed to fulfilling that
need," Nancy Stewart, Wal-Mart's CTO, said in a statement. According to
Novell, the Microsoft partnership has distributed more than 35,000
subscription certificates for SUSE Linux Enterprise Server.
DEAL WITH THE DEVIL
Still, for many Linux developers, Novell's agreement with Microsoft
represents a deal with the devil. One theory posits that it's a ploy by
Microsoft to destroy the open source movement by pitting one Linux
distributor against the rest of the Linux community. It "is clearly
true the agreement sets SUSE apart from the rest of the crowd," says
Mandriva's Banchilhon.
Not so, says Novell, which was instrumental in establishing the Linux
Foundation, a new support organization fashioned from two predecessors:
the Free Standards Group and the Open Source Development Labs. "The
fact that Novell was a founding member of the FSG and the sole major
commercial Linux distributor in OSDL ... demonstrate the commitment we
place on standardization to prevent fragmentation," said Markus Rex, VP
of services strategy for Novell, in a statement.
Some Linux developers believe Novell is being victimized by Microsoft,
unwittingly or not. "If you see Microsoft start to bully [other] Linux
vendors for [intellectual property] licensing, Novell will have a hard
time recovering in the open source community," says Kevin Carmony, CEO
of Linspire, which markets a desktop version of Linux. Some interpret
the patent covenants as a sign that there's Microsoft intellectual
property in Linux, a frightening thought for open source advocates.
Novell denies this contention.
Some in the open source community have taken Novell to task for
violating the spirit, if not the letter, of the GNU General Public
License, which describes how open source software may be used. Bruce
Perens, primary author of the GNU
contract, has organized a petition urging Novell to recant the
patent-protection part of the deal with Microsoft. The day after the
deal was announced, developer Rich Morgan posted a letter accusing
Novell of violating the GPL and calling for a boycott on his Open
Addict Web site.
Morgan later posted a response to the boycott letter from Novell senior
VP John Dragoon. According to Morgan's blog, Dragoon wrote: "As to your
belief that we have violated the GPL, we disagree. We have made no
admission of patent violation within Linux and would take no action
that knowingly prevented us from selling and supporting SUSE Linux. We
have been a long time supporter of the Open Source community and its
many efforts to create and distribute world class Open Source software.
We remain committed to that goal."
The Microsoft-Novell deal didn't come out of thin air. Two days before, Oracle
had announced that it would be rebranding Red Hat Linux and providing
its own support at half the price of Red Hat's. Raven Zachary, an
analyst with the 451 Group, predicts the Novell deal, and Oracle's move
before it, spell consolidation in a fragmented Linux market. Linux
versions most likely to survive include SUSE, Red Hat, Debian, and a
Debian-based distribution from Canonical known as Ubuntu, he says.
There may be other, less obvious, implications. As developer Morgan
noted on his site: "There are still many unanswered questions which are
not likely to be answered any time soon because of [nondisclosure
agreements] Microsoft implemented surrounding the deal."
Source
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