Posted on 11/06/2006 2:04:41 PM PST by Bloody Sam Roberts
Microsoft and Novell signed a historical partnership, that could not have been possible a year ago. Is that the beginning of the end for Novell?
It seems the negotiations have begun more than six months ago, but have been kept secret until now due to the importance of this matter for both parties: the open source community on one hand and the proprietary software companies on the other.
First of all, the folklore mentions that “the road to Hell is paved with good intentions”. Don’t be naïve to think that the Novell-Microsoft alliance will produce something good. At least not for Novell or the Linux community in general.
When the joint announcement was made, MS’s CEO Steve Ballmer spoke first, saying the companies were announcing "a set of agreements that will really help to bridge the divide between open source and proprietary software." Ballmer said that Microsoft and Novell will collaborate in three major areas: virtualization, management, and document compatibility. In addition to its collaboration efforts, Microsoft is slated to assist Novell in the marketing and distribution of SUSE Linux.
Yeah right… Have you ever seen a company the size of Microsoft making noble and altruistic gestures for one of its greatest rivals? And without any (specific) profit?
“Novell anticipates the agreement will increase demand for SUSE Linux Enterprise, although they are not putting out any formal estimates. Through the improved interoperability and patent protection offered as part of this agreement, both Novell and Microsoft anticipate increased business opportunity through both best of breed product solutions and market differentiation.”
“The patent agreement signed by Novell and Microsoft was designed with the principles and obligations of the GPL in mind,” says Novell, while Eben Moglen, general counsel for the Free Software Foundation, says that the requirement to pay a royalty goes against the GPL. "If you make an agreement which requires you to pay a royalty to anybody for the right to distribute GPL software, you may not distribute it under the GPL." He added that Section 7 of the GPL "requires that you have, and pass along to everybody, the right to distribute software freely and without additional permission."
The interoperability stuff- I don’t mind. It’s a good thing: IDC projects the overall market for virtual machine software to be $1.8 billion by 2010, and the overall market for distributed system management software to be $10.2 billion by 2010. I also like having interoperability between OpenOffice and MS’s Office. But when I think all these positive (at first sight) implications of this partnership are just the tip of the iceberg, I begin wondering what has happened with Microsoft that determined such a close relationship with the Penguin in such a short time.
I recall an apparently insignificant event, which happened this summer, in June. Martin Taylor, head of the Windows Live and MSN marketing project, suddenly resigned the very day when Windows Live Messenger was launched officially. Until now, no details have been made public about what reasons Taylor had to resign from such important position in such critical moment (Microsoft named Taylor corporate vice president of Windows Live and MSN marketing in March 2006, after 13 years inside the Redmond Corporation. Taylor was also a close friend and adviser to Microsoft’s CEO, Steve Ballmer, who named him in the past head of the “anti-Linux” department).
Since then, MS made a lot of surprising steps towards the open source community, starting with the Open XML-ODF file translation, at the beginning of July. The Open Document format (ODF) is a totally free alternative to Microsoft’s Office suite, which is of course proprietary software and you have to pay for it. The main supporters for the ODF are Sun Microsystems, IBM and Novell, and a bunch of other smaller companies, organizations and institutions all over the world. Here are some excerpts from MS’s declarations at that time, concerning the interoperability between the two formats: “expanding on its customer-focused commitment to interoperability”, “a response to government requests for interoperability with ODF because they work with constituent groups that use that format”, “to accelerate document interoperability and expand customer choice between Open XML and other technologies.”
But why the sudden change? Microsoft never seemed to care about your options before; they just wanted you to buy their software, no matter how good or bad it was. Moreover, a Microsoft official condemned the Open Office project itself and its achievements, saying that “it is 10 years behind the Office suite” produced at Redmond. And now they are “in bed with the enemy”? How come?
Just as I have anticipated at the moment of the ODF-Open XML announcement, that was not the only approach MS made concerning Linux and the open source. So the Novell-Microsoft partnership is not such a big surprise.
We have recently witnessed Oracle’s move in the business, a clear shot in the back of the head for its former closest partner Red Hat. What will stop Microsoft from doing the same thing about Novell in the future?
After a period of “love and friendship”, Novell will probably have the same fate other partners of Microsoft had in the past. Zune is one example: from former ally, Creative turned to rival, while MTV has its days numbered with its URGE joint venture, since MS launched a separate music download service for its MP3.
A private company lives from profit. Promoting SUSE as the open source alternative in virtualization must bring money for Microsoft. And not just some money, but a lot of money. Otherwise, the reason for keeping the agreement alive is dead. Unless Microsoft has a bigger and more devilish plan in mind concerning Novell and Linux…
I can’t believe Torvalds: "If they start sending me patches, I'll take them as long as they have sign-offs."
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If SUSE dies this way or another, now or later, it shouldn't be a surprise to anyone.
MS getting its fingers in a pie is generally not a good thing. Hopefully, MS is doing this only as a hedge against goverment (and corporate) adoption of requirements for non-proprietary data formats.
If Novell cannot continue to adapt (add any benefit), then their fate lies in the later part of the adapt or die motto.
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