Has the Novell/Microsoft Deal Made a Difference?

willdavid writes "The deal between Microsoft and Novell was announced a little more than a year ago, and it's hard to judge what impact the deal has really had on the marketplace (if any). The two groups claim to have signed up 30 new customers (including heavyweights like Costco and Southwest Airlines), but it will still be some time before any real changes will be felt. 'Regardless of what impact the deal has triggered in the marketplace over the past year, ultimately it's about meeting market requirements. "The fact is that the vast majority of businesses do not want homogeneous IT infrastructures," Pund-IT analyst King said. "Instead, they want to be able to better and more easily manage their IT assets no matter what hardware or OS platforms they buy. Microsoft and Novell deserve congratulations on their one-year anniversary, but the needs of Linux and Windows customers are as much responsible for the partnership as the companies themselves."'"

Comments

The one video that sums

[holloway]

The one video that sums up this patent deal is this one by Eben Moglen

Re:The one video that sums

[NickFortune]

So why not take the money, and laugh all the way to the bank?

Because there are more than just MS and Novell involved. And because there are issues of trust at stake.

Look at it this way: suppose you find out I've been talking to your neighborhood thief. Suppose you find out that I've taken money from him to keep lookout while he robs your house. Suppose I then turn around to you and say "it's all right, your house has good locks, he's never going to get. Why shouldn't I take his money and laugh all the way to the bank?". Would you find that reassuring?

Most people would not, I think, and rightly so. I've given no indication that, if the thief did get in, I would do anything to stop him; I've shown a willingness to collaborate with lawbreakers in your town; and I've demonstrated a worrying willingness to betray my associate that suggests I may betray others just as lightly. Hypothetically speaking, of course.

In Novell's case, they've demonstrated a worrying disdain for the community that developed most of the software they sell, and they've given themselves a financial incentive to include MS patents in the code they contribute. And in doing so, they've lost the trust of a large portion of the community, trust which may prove difficult to regain. And while it's true that doesn't seem to particularly worry Novell, the fact that they hold the community in such low regard is worrying in itself.

What it boils down to, I think, is that stratagems that work well in purely commercial environments don't always work so well in the world of free software. That, for my money, is "why not".

The only differences

[bl8n8r]

- More than 3000 people/companies have moved away from SuSE, OpenSuSE and Novell products [0]
- Novell is going to incorporate GPL3 [1]
- Vista still sucks

[0] - http://techp.org/p/1
[1] - http://www.linux-watch.com/news/NS3755005405.html

Re:The only differences

[slashnik]

I have moved from Suse to Kubuntu
I had always recommended Suse to beginners, not anymore.

Of Course It Has

[Anonymous Coward]

Microsoft is successfully splitting the Linux marketing into Dangerous Litigation Minefield and Peace of Mind Secure sides for the business world.

And the Linux/Open Source crowd have been in a mad rush to 'prove just how open minded they are' to the world, because 'Microsoft isn't ALWAYS evil, you know' and other such blather.

Instead of cutting Novell's air supply off with prejudice making it clear that any other distro that aids Microsoft in their Patent War against Linux/Open Source would be treated the same way, the open source crowd posted a few worthless +5 Insightful diatribes on Slashdot and other forums and then went right back to using Novell's Linux distros.

You should hear the utter contempt the folks at Microsoft in charge of taking on Linux have for you open source folks. Your Weakness sickens them.

Re:Of Course It Has

[fred fleenblat]

>> You should hear the utter contempt the folks at Microsoft in
>> charge of taking on Linux have for you open source folks.
>> Your Weakness sickens them.

What actually sickens them is that GOOG is trading at about $660/share.

Re:Not really

[h4rm0ny]

Heh! Mine now has debian on it. I'd like to say it was a direct result of the Novell-Microsoft deal, which was the major factor, but SuSE's hideous application launcher "start" menu was also a contributor. ;)

BLah BLah Blah more crapspeak

[PrescriptionWarning]

"The fact is that the vast majority of businesses do not want homogeneous IT infrastructures," Pund-IT analyst King said. "Instead, they want to be able to better and more easily manage their IT assets no matter what hardware or OS platforms they buy. Microsoft and Novell deserve congratulations on their one-year anniversary, but the needs of Linux and Windows customers are as much responsible for the partnership as the companies themselves.'"

I dont think any of that actually means anything. No really, it sounds like a bunch of Manager type talk but nothing concrete. All ideas and no real tangibles.

Has it made a difference? SURE!

[Chas]

It's caused a ton of friction between Novell and big chunk of the rest of the Linux community.

Novell Honor Roll diff

[schwaang]

Over the past year several of Novell's msGNU/Linux employees have left:
Robert Love - beagle, kernel, now at Google
Joe Shaw - beagle, not at ITA Software
Crispin Cowan and the entire AppArmor team (fired en-masse)
plus others I can't remember off the top of my head

Who of note is still drawing a Novell check?
Miguel de Icaza, mono
Nat Friedman, "chief technology and strategy officer for open source" (but mighty quiet lately)
Greg Kroah-Hartman, kernel

Re:Novell Honor Roll diff

[Enderandrew]

Michael Meeks, who seems to be working predominantly on Gnome and OOo stuff. He still gets a check from Novell.

Re:Novell Honor Roll diff

[apokryphos]

Novell has some 5000 employees. You find it odd that some have left? (only two have stated that they left because of any deal). Novell/SUSE have more developers working on the Linux desktop than anyone else; that's many core KDE, GNOME, OOo, GCC, Kernel, and ALSA developers. So, a _lot_ of people there of note :)

Re:Novell Honor Roll diff

[apokryphos]

Figures on what? In terms of contribution to the Linux desktop? I'm not sure there is any competition. While Red Hat is fully pushing the server into new avenues everywhere (which is of course great), SUSE are doing this on the server and the desktop. They have actively pursued the Linux desktop and have taken it very seriously, as you can see by their acquisitions of Ximian and SUSE. There is simply no other company that even really competes with the same level of consistent contribution throughout the whole desktop.

Measure?

[Enderandrew]

How do you measure the impact?

How many companies have been terrified to look at Linux now that Microsoft is screaming that Linux users are violating patents? Didn't SCO use the same tactics, and everyone berated them for it? SCO's stolen code they wouldn't point out is the same as the unlisted patents that Microsoft feels are violated.

Novell paid to license patents, and in doing so, they cast a shadow of guilt on all Linux distros. Can you quantify and put on a pie chart a FUD factor? Can you count how many users move from one distro to the other, when we don't have counts in the first place?

And what of the other distros that ended up signing deals as well?

Re:Measure?

[Enderandrew]

I've read the exact verbiage of the deal, as well as Novell's FAQ about the deal.

It simply says that Novell paid to license patents, and the ambiguity is notable. It doesn't have to clearly say that Linux violates Microsoft patents, Microsoft wins with even just a shadow of doubt here. If they can make corporations wary, then it will be enough to keep them from using Linux.

I work in a moderately sized IT department for a local company these days, and most of the IT staff here say things like "it is against the law to use any GPL programs for commercial use", etc. Even the suggestion or rumor is enough to scare people away permanently often enough.

Yes it has....

[segedunum]

...to Microsoft. Let's see:

• Has it stopped Microsoft from picking on Novell and stealing their customers, as Novell have hoped? No.
• Is Novell lame and incompetent enough to try and get its biggest competitor to try and sell its own software?! You bet.
• Given Microsoft the platform to claim that Linux and open source software infringes their patents? Check.
• Given Microsoft access to Novell's customers to tell them about said infringement? Check.
• Allowed Microsoft to sell a sanctioned version of Linux, in amongst a network controlled by Windows Domain Controllers as per the agreement? Check.
• Allowed Microsoft to accelerate the move of Netware to Windows, via some meaningless SLES installations? Check.
• Where's the interoperability? Is Microsoft contributing to Samba 4? Is it contributing to anything else? No.
• Is Novell flushing the rest of itself down the toilet in the long run? Yep.

Re:Marketplace has spoken

[Divebus]

Ballmer? Is that you?

CHAIR!

It has made Microsoft the largest Linux OEM

[WGR]

I was talking to a Novell sales support person this evening. I asked him what the effect had been of the Novell/Microsoft deal and he replied that Microsoft is now Novell's biggest OEM partner, he said that Microsoft have sold ~60,000 SUSE licenses with support, at about $5,000 each. $300 million is not a laughing matter.

Microsoft has realized that there are some things that Linux does better than Windows, especially in the server area, and wanted to guarantee a piece of the action. So far they seem to have succeeded. Novell gets the support business, Microsoft gets to keep a customer..