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Now, let's look at Novell's history for a minute, shall we? Didn't Novell smack SCO up side the head with its claim that SCO owes it the money the Unix company has been using for its never-ending lawsuits? Didn't Novell hit SCO where it lived with its claim that SCO never actually bought Unix's IP(intellectual property)? Wasn't Novell one of the companies that founded the OIN (Open Invention Network) with the goal of sharing Linux patents without charging for royalties? The answers are yes, yes, and yes.

Novell Inc. on Nov. 7 published additional details about its agreements with Microsoft Corp. concerning Windows and Linux interoperability and patents. It seems the company is receiving an up-front payment of $348 million from Microsoft, for SLES subscription "certificates" and for patent cross-licensing. In Novell's Form 8-K submission to the SEC (Security and Exchanges Commission), Entry into a Material Definitive Agreement, the company states that "Under the Business Collaboration Agreement, which expires January 1, 2012, Novell and Microsoft will market a combined offering. The combined offering will consist of SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES) and a subscription for SLES support...

Red Hat general counsel, Mark Webbink has some pretty tough comments regarding last week's announcement of the Microsoft/Novell collaboration effort to promote interoperability and support between their respective platforms.Between last week and this one, it is clear that the two largest software vendors in the world perceive Linux to be at least on the same plane as they are. [Microsoft and Novell] have got to respect what we have done. Having said that, does Red Hat think either of them has taken the right approach, now that Microsoft and Novell have made 'Microvell'? They've gone off the road a bit,...

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...

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...

Microsoft has announced a partnership with Novell and will help promote Linux. This is stunning. This is like Red Sox fans announcing they're going to root for the Yankees. Microsoft has spent ten years bashing the free-of-charge open-source Linux operating system and trying to kill it. Now Microsoft is making nice.

Microsoft Is Set to Give Linux a Boost Through Partnership With NovellBy ROBERT A. GUTH November 2, 2006 2:59 p.m. Microsoft Corp. is entering into an unusual partnership with Novell Inc. that gives a boost to the Linux operating system, a rival to the software giant's Windows software, according to people familiar with the companies. Under the pact, which isn't final, Microsoft will offer sales support of Suse Linux, a version of the operating system sold by Novell. The two companies have also agreed to develop technologies to make it easier for users to run both Suse Linux and Microsoft's...

Excerpt - Microsoft Corp. is entering into an unusual partnership with Novell Inc. that gives a boost to the Linux operating system, a rival to the software giant's Windows software, according to people familiar with the companies. ~ snip ~

Linux leader Red Hat’s stock price recovered slightly Friday, but its market value has still dropped 30% since Oracle announced on Wednesday that it will offer lower-cost support of its applications running on Red Hat.

While it wasn't quite the Linux announcement that had been expected, Oracle Corp.'s latest move will definitely see the company butt heads with the leading distributor of the open-source operating system Red Hat Inc. Oracle will offer "full support" for Red Hat's Linux distribution to both Oracle and non-Oracle customers, Larry Ellison, chief executive officer of Oracle Corp., said Wednesday. He was giving the closing keynote at his company's OpenWorld conference in San Francisco. Ellison was widely expected to announce an Oracle-branded version of Linux. He kicked off the rumor mill about such a development back in April when he...

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Software radical Richard Stallman helped build the Linux revolution. Now he threatens to tear it apart. The free Linux operating system set off one of the biggest revolutions in the history of computing when it leapt from the fingertips of a Finnish college kid named Linus Torvalds 15 years ago. Linux now drives $15 billion in annual sales of hardware, software and services, and this wondrous bit of code has been tweaked by thousands of independent programmers to run the world's most powerful supercomputers, the latest cell phones and TiVo video recorders and other gadgets. But while Torvalds has been...

Repeat after me: "There is no Oracle Linux." I don't care how many times you hear stock analysts say that Oracle is about to launch its own Linux. It's just not going to happen. Spread the word: digg this story The latest example of wishful thinking comes from Jefferies & Co. analyst Katherine Egbert, who wrote on October 13, "Our independent checks in the past two weeks indicate that Oracle seems to be close to introducing its own software 'stack.'" Jefferies, an investment bank, then cut its price target on Red Hat from $24 to $21. Red Hat's stock price...

Novell is changing the file system software used by default in its Suse Linux operating system, aligning with rival Red Hat and moving away from a project whose future has become entangled with the fate of a murder suspect. Novell said Thursday that new versions of Suse Linux Enterprise will use ext3 as the default file system, important foundational software that manages how data is stored on hard drives. The change demotes the current default, ReiserFS, to a secondary, though still supported, option. ReiserFS has been under the control of Hans Reiser, a programmer who this week was arrested on...

O ye great and knowledgeable FReeper Technogods.... We're looking to considerably expand our home network and I've been toying with the idea of a "thin client" setup, not only for the sake of expense but also for ease of upkeep and administrative supervision. I've spent many hours in the last several weeks reading about how to build a server for small business/educational settings, and I'm starting to get information overload. One article will seem terrifically informative -- but written 5 years ago. Another will have some great cutting edge ideas, but little of the "how to" specifics I need. My...

Vista Licenses Limit OS Transfers, Ban VM Use By Gregg Keizer, TechWeb Technology News Microsoft has released licenses for the Windows Vista operating system that dramatically differ from those for Windows XP in that they limit the number of times that retail editions can be transferred to another device and ban the two least-expensive versions from running in a virtual machine. The new licenses, which were highlighted by the Vista team on its official blog Tuesday, add new restrictions to how and where Windows can be used. "The first user of the software may reassign the license to another device...

Capping a monthlong investigation, Oakland police arrested the estranged husband of a missing Oakland woman Tuesday on suspicion of murder. Police said they have evidence to suggest that Nina Reiser, 31, who went missing Sept. 3, is dead. Her body has not been found. "All avenues led us to Mr. Reiser being responsible for the death and disappearance of Ms. Nina Reiser," said homicide Lt. Ersie Joyner.

Linux or open source seems to thrive wherever Left governments rule. And as Kerala schools log Microsoft out and boot open source systems, Linux world is buzzing with excitement over possibilities in the communist-ruled states. Though West Bengal and Tripura have to go whole hog to adopt a free software model, ideological closeness is more than evident. Kerala, most insiders’ feel, is turning out to be Richard Stallman's happiest hunting ground. His personal vibes with Velikakathu Sankaran Achuthanandan, even from VS's pre-chief minister era, are in play. It’s a picture watching the duo cozying together in a similar attire —...

Excerpt: At the moment, I'm ticked off because the Debian community's recent hissy-fit over the Mozilla Corp.'s trademarked Firefox logo has led them, and others, to forking the Firefox code to avoid the use of the logo. Gnutella, part of the Free Software Foundation's GNU Project, is creating "the 'GNU/Linux' version of same, to be dubbed 'IceWeasel.'" This may, or may not, become the logo-free version of Firefox that Debian will ship in its next distribution. Regardless of how this turns out, the Firefox "bug" has been removed from Debian. What are these people thinking! It will mean more work...

In the ongoing saga of SCO v. IBM, one peripheral question has been the extent of Microsoft's financial support for SCO. Groklaw has dug up an interesting bit of data in the case, namely that Microsoft supposedly promised venture capital firm BayStar that they would guarantee their multimillion-dollar investment in SCO.Buried in IBM's recent motion for summary judgment against SCO is a Declaration from BayStar general partner Larry Goldfarb. Near the beginning of the long-running legal soap opera, BayStar invested $50 million in SCO. In exchange for their investment, BayStar received 20,000 shares of preferred stock in SCO.In his declaration,...