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Has the Novell/Microsoft Deal Made a Difference?

Posted by Zonk on from the only-to-healdline-writers dept.

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."'"

5 of 120 comments (clear)

  1. The one video that sums by holloway · · Score: 5, Informative

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

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  2. The only differences by bl8n8r · · Score: 5, Insightful

    - 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

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  3. Re:Of Course It Has by fred+fleenblat · · Score: 5, Insightful

    >> 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.

  4. Yes it has.... by segedunum · · Score: 5, Interesting
    ...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.
  5. It has made Microsoft the largest Linux OEM by WGR · · Score: 5, Interesting

    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..