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Microsoft Paid Novell $356 Million in '07
Anonymous writes "At the end of this piece at Channelweb.com, it's reported that Microsoft paid Novell $355.6 million last year as part of their 'interoperability' deal. It's no small wonder, then, that Novell executives are saying the deal has been a huge success so far."
It'd be interesting to see if the money they got from their customers in '07 equals or exceeds that number.
If it doesn't, I'd think they have a somewhat skewed and short-sighted definition of success. Me, I'd call it getting paid off.
Weaselmancer
rediculous.
It illustrates that Novell can no longer be trusted to push Linux technologies beyond that which is offered by Microsoft.
Unfortunately, it's the government itself, through patents and copyrights, which is acting to perpetuate the existing monopolies.
A fair society shouldn't have the current intellectual property laws. Patents shouldn't be given to processes and methods, only to specific mechanisms. Copyrights shouldn't be given to trade secrets, only to open publications. No copyrights for executable code, unless the source code is also provided. No coprights for copy-protected material, because if you use DRM you don't need the protection of the law.
Many of us suspect that Microsoft is behind SCO. Could it be that Novell somehow has Microsoft over a barrel?
It may be that Novell hasn't sold its soul at all. It is really hard to see that Microsoft got any value for its money.
Years ago Corel was developing WordPerfect for Linux, and the along come Microsoft, and gave them a huge sum of cash to cease all development of WP for Linux, and now look at where they are now...Novell is going to suddenly realize years down the road that they really did sell out, and there's no going back, and it's obvious that the owners of the company don't give 2 shits, so now Microsoft will find some way to weasel Linux from the world. Yay for interoperability...whatever the hell that means, and what is involved!
Actually, I think it's a whole non-issue at the moment, until the waters are less muddy, and only time will tell that.
For interoperability, Novell SLES is pretty pleasant. I work for the NHS in the UK, and moving hospitals away from being almost pure Windows is not an easy thing. SLES fills a lot of niches that Windows currently fills (file server, database platform et.), for a fraction of the cost. One of the things I'm working on is to make greater use of SLES. And if you point to Red Hat, and say "Well, they do the same product, except they're more idealistic", Red Hat don't have a current deal with the NHS (where Novell do, and provide fantastic pricing).
Couple that with eDirectory, Identity Manager etc. and you've got a lovely heterogenous infrastructure to play with.
I like Novell. Yes, they took money from the Beast. However, the Beast is currently being watched very carefully, and has a lot of other (probably unexpected) battles to fight.
I tend to run Ubuntu and Debian for home use (and quick build servers/firewalls). But in business, you need to bring a lot of other factors in. And for something the size of the NHS, alas, you can't always choose the idealistic route. Pragmatism and practicality are large factors.
As long as SLES keeps on being a great product, performing well, and being a really low cost product (for a commercially supported enterprise grade OS), I'll keep on using it.
What do we even know anymore? How deep does MS go in the USA?
Does Microsoft's Monopoly Power Extend to Government and Media?
I can't help but think of the claims by Novell's Miguel de Icaza that "OOXML is a superb standard" and Novell's further support for OOXML. (For example, they joined the national standardization committee in Switzerland and probably also other countries and voted in favor of OOXML without having previously participated in the technical discussion of the specification's serious shortcomings.)
What proportion of Mozilla's income is from Google via Firefox searchbar?
If it is more than a third,is this also suspicious?
This idea was invented by Shampoo.
"patents and copyrights are what entice entrepreneurs to make improvements"
So, let me tell you about this opensource thing...
"our protection of intellectual property is one of the elements that has made us the prosperous society that we are"
Our 'protection' of intellectual 'property' has kept us as far less prosperous society than we could have been.
Competition is what drives innovation and the evolution of technology. Handing out intellectual monopolies slows that innovation and evolution. Protecting someone from competition makes them slow and inefficient; to realize exactly how inefficient you just need to look at the former Soviet state-run businesses, or other state-protected monopolies in the west.
Just imagine the world we'd be living in today, had technology been allowed to develop competetively. Imagine the medicines we'd have if 'protected' pharmacorps couldnt spend 80% of their revenue on administration and marketing. Imagine the operating systems we'd have if most of the resources spent on them didnt get tied up in a single company that cant even produce a product better than their last one after six years (nevermind being outevolved by a rag-tag bunch of companies and individuals working in a _competetive segment_ with _unprotected_ software).
Patents and copyrights are a blight upon the economy and upon innovation.
A "confession" by Ron Hovsepian that "Linux" contains Microsoft IP, even though Microsoft has yet to prove any infringements exist.
How? By paying Microsoft a ROYALTY for each copy of SLES that it sells Novell is making an implied statement that its distro contains MS IP.
Ballmer called the payments "an IP bridge". He could have said the payments were an admission of guilt.
Microsoft has a problem though. They've been claiming that Linux violates their IPs for several years now. The law requires that they inform infringers of the exact infringements so that damages can be mitigated. Microsoft has not done that.
Running with Linux for over 20 years!
If you have a stubborn boss who castigates "anything but windows" the same way they'd treat a hostile alien, you may very well be jeopardizing your job, or career, if you even suggest something as downtime-inducing as installing a different OS.
Especially since it would involve making unauthorized modifications to your boss's or your company's property.