Microsoft and Novell have agreed a Windows/SUSE Linux interoperability deal.
The first issue is the win-win for the customer. As the CTO of Goldman Sachs said at the press conference, the agreement means that making interoperability work is now shifted from the customer to the vendors. For any large enterprise with a heterogeneous server environment, this is a significant decrease in the IT burden.
The main focus of the effort will be on the server back-end. The two companies will create a joint research facility to create virtualization solutions, web services for managing virtual and physical servers, and document format compatibility between OpenOffice and Microsoft Office.
Regarding the second issue, when commercial businesses work co-operatively, it is normal practice to deal with each other’s patent rights by exchanging them. The problem for the parties in this case is that Linux is, of course, open source. They have resolved this conundrum by a combination of an upfront payment from Microsoft to Novell (ostensibly reflecting the larger size of Microsoft’s product shipments), and ongoing royalty payments by Novell to Microsoft based on a percentage of Novell’s revenues from open source products. The exact figures have not been released, but it now means Microsoft will earn revenue on SUSE Linux – not an eventuality one would have predicted.
The final issue has to do with the indemnity Microsoft is offering to Novell customers, which is protection from patent claims. Despite the volumes spoken on this and the concerns of the open source community, there are no patent claims by Microsoft against Linux. In any case, other enterprise Linux distributors already have their own customer insurance policies against potential intellectual property problems with Linux, so it is a case of fear, uncertainty, and doubt from Microsoft, but Linux users should have no fear whichever distribution they choose – the choice should be made on sounder ground.
The Microsoft-Novell agreement promises to deliver new virtualization solutions for Windows on SUSE Linux and vice versa. This will benefit their customers and give Novell a boost in the enterprise Linux market.
Source: OpinionWire by Butler Group (www.butlergroup.com)
