Microsoft and Novell Open Interoperability Lab

An anonymous reader writes to mention that the Microsoft and Novell Interoperability Lab in Cambridge, Massachusetts opened today. The lab is supposed to allow both Novell and Microsoft developers to work together for better interoperability between SUSE and Windows Server. "Located in Cambridge, the 2,500-square-foot lab and workspace will be home to a combined team of the best and brightest Microsoft and Novell engineers focused on making Windows Server and SUSE Linux Enterprise work better together. The first priority for the lab team will be to ensure interoperability between Microsoft and Novell virtualization technologies. Additional work will include standards-based systems management, identity federation and compatibility of office document formats."

Comments

itsatrap?

[Anonymous Coward]

I predict that this will get tagged as "itsatrap"--Microsoft has a history of joining efforts only to undermine them later. (E.g. "embrace, extend, extinguish")

Having said that, Microsoft, like many gigantic corporations, has several "personalities" in the sense that different divisions may be operating on different guiding principles that don't necessarily mesh with each other. In this case, for instance, I'm willing to believe that the MS engineers joining this interoperability effort will genuinely do good work towards making MS products work with Linux in a smart and efficient way. So, I can see a lot of good coming out of this.

Yes, we should be wary of any attempt by MS higher-ups to subvert this process and use it to break interoperability (or to make Linux look "unfit for business" or whatever)... but to some extent I'm willing to give MS another chance here.

Re:itsatrap?

[Experiment 626]

Of course it's a trap. Imagine you were walking along and you saw a bear trap on the ground, with a trip wire beside it leading to a gas canister. A cage is suspended over it by a rope, and there's a sentry gun mounted nearby. You might think, "this is a trap", unless you were a Novell executive, in which case you would step into the the apparatus try to find ways to "interoperate" with it.

Re:itsatrap?

[SpaceLifeForm]

You failed to mention the money dangled over the trap.

This lab is the result of the Microsoft-Novell FUD agreement.

And at 2500 square feet, I.E., a 50x50 foot room,
the techs don't have a lot of room to interoperate.

It's a farce to appease the EU.

Re:itsatrap?

[michrech]

What's worse, MS really never had to do any of the work. All they had to do was document their protocols (and provide them in a GPL friendly way) so that the Samba folks (for example) could create *all* the software to make everything work. On top of that, MS could have reaped TONS of free positive publicity.

Though I am stuck using MS at work, and at home (for a couple games I like to play that aren't available/playable on any other platform), and don't really mind using the products (because, in this case, they are the right tool for the job), I very much dislike the company (in the way it does business... I'm sure at least some of the people that work there are great people otherwise...)

Not to be flippant, but wouldn't a "smart and efficient way" include a decision on the part of Microsoft to stop "not interoperating"? Seems to me that over the years they've actively and repeatedly pursued a course that was designed to maintain monopoly and thwart interoperability of any sort.

Re:itsatrap?

[_Sprocket_]

Yes, we should be wary of any attempt by MS higher-ups to subvert this process and use it to break interoperability (or to make Linux look "unfit for business" or whatever)... but to some extent I'm willing to give MS another chance here. I am also hopeful. But I am also highly skeptical. Such an outcome is very possible but would go against a long standing history. At this point, it would take some extraordinary steps on Microsoft's part to demonstrate that there is no trap. I believe it is entirely possible for them to do it. After all, IBM of all entities has made such leaps. A key to their credibility is the license and projects they work with.

Microsoft has learned a lot about business from IBM in the past. Let's see if they can follow those footsteps going forward. I hope they do.

Re:itsatrap?

[Anonymous Coward]

And at 2500 square feet, I.E., a 50x50 foot room,
the techs don't have a lot of room to interoperate. Might not be so bad. Maybe the room is 10x250. Perfect for some impromptu geek sports events. ;-)

Awesome!

[140Mandak262Jamuna]

Now you can autospace like in Word5 or do pagebreak Wordstar style! OOXML coming to Linux!!

Peer or puppet?

[alext]

An obvious benchmark to track is the number of changes going into the Windows Server product for compatibility vs. those going into Suse Linux.

If Suse has to make all the running it will be pretty obvious who is wearing the trousers (as we say).

Re:Peer or puppet?

[projectmalamute]

I would assume the changes will mostly be on the Suse side. All of the information MS needed to interoperate with Linux has been openly available for years, if MS wanted to play nicely with Linux they already would.

Isn't it interesting...

[xednieht]

how tomorrow's lawsuits start?

We're at phase two already?

[Weaselmancer]

Phase one - embrace.

Phase two - extend.

Phase three - extinguish.

Been good knowing you, Novell.

Who is running this?

[Epeeist]

Looks like the ideal job for Miguel ;-)

Priorities

[RAMMS EIN]

``The first priority for the lab team will be to ensure interoperability between Microsoft and Novell virtualization technologies.''

That is definitely not the place I would start. First of all, I hardly think interoperability in virtualization is the most important, and secondly, as far as I know, we already _have_ interoperable virtualization.

Instead of virtualization, I would start with file formats and move to protocols from there.

Of course, neither of these would be issues if there were standards and both parties adhered to them.