Microsoft makes Linux pact with Novell
The companies said Thursday they will collaborate on development of
specific technologies, for example to help Microsoft's Windows, a
proprietary operating system, work with Novell's Suse Linux, which is
based on open-source code. On the business side, they will promote each
other's products.
Steve Ballmer Steve Ballmer
In addition, the software makers have struck a deal on patents designed
to give customers peace of mind about using Novell's open-source
products, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer and Novell CEO Ronald Hovsepian
said at an event here.
"This set of agreements will really help bridge the divide between
open-source and proprietary source software," Ballmer said.
The impetus for the arrangement was to make it easier for software
buyers to run both Windows and Linux-based systems, Hovsepian said. "We
came together to focus on giving you, our customers, the choice," he said.
The companies will create a joint research facility at which they will
build and test new products, and work with customers and the open-source
community. The focus will be on three technical areas: virtualization,
Web services for server management, and Microsoft Office-OpenOffice.org
compatibility, the company executives said.
Ron Hovsepian Ron Hovsepian
Novell favors the open-source Xen virtualization software as a
foundation to run multiple operating systems in separate virtual
machines on the same computer; Microsoft is working on its own
alternative, code-named Viridian. Virtualization raises the prospect of
different operating systems simultaneously running on the same server.
The companies will work together on optimizing their virtualization
technologies, said Jeffrey Jaffe, Novell's chief technology officer.
Novell will offer a version of Suse Linux Enterprise Server with
optimized virtualization features for Windows Server Longhorn;
Microsoft, in turn, will sell a version of the upcoming Windows server
product that is optimized to run the Novell software in a virtual
environment, he said. Neither company, however, will sell the other's
operating-system product.
"Microsoft is taking a significant step toward being a better
open-source citizen," RedMonk analyst Stephen O'Grady said. And among
Linux companies, "Novell is likely to receive a significant boost in
attention and credibility, and Red Hat will have to further defend its
position as the de facto Linux supplier."
Additionally, Microsoft will officially recommend Suse Linux Enterprise
for people who want to run both Windows and Linux. It will distribute
coupons for maintenance and support for Novell's Suse Linux Enterprise
Server operating system. Microsoft and Novell will help each other's
customers with support, transferring people over to the other company's
help staff if needed.
The two companies also said they will provide each other's customers
with patent coverage for their respective products. Moreover, Microsoft
said it will not enforce its patents against individual, noncommercial
Linux developers.
"Today, Novell is the only company in our industry that is able to
provide the customer not only with the code to run Linux, but also with
a patent covenant from Microsoft," Brad Smith, Microsoft's general
counsel, said at the event.
In addition, Microsoft promised not to assert patents against developers
being paid to create code for OpenSuse, Smith said.
Money is flowing both ways for the patent agreement, Smith said,
including an "up-front balancing payment that runs from Microsoft to
Novell, reflecting the large relevant volume of the products that we
have shipped and an economic commitment from Novell to Microsoft that
involves a running royalty."
However, the alliance won't affect Novell's antitrust suit against
Microsoft, one source familiar with the plan said. The suit, filed in
2004, alleges that the software colossus used anticompetitive practices
that hurt Novell's earlier WordPerfect office suite business.
Microsoft executives repeatedly said that customer demands provided the
impetus for the partnership. "The customers were telling us to find a
way to address the patent issue directly so they wouldn't have to figure
out how to deal with it themselves," Smith said.
For Bill Schrier, chief technology officer for the city of Seattle, the
arrangement means that Suse Linux is now an option.
"We don't use any open-source products today and one reason is because
of the intellectual property issues," he said. "In this case, where
Microsoft says they won't assert their patents, it makes Linux more
attractive to us."
Schrier also has other wishes for the partnership, none of which has to
do with open source. The Seattle city government uses Novell's GroupWise
for e-mail and Netware for file and printer sharing, but uses Windows on
desktops and servers. "The two environments don't mesh very well," he
said. "With this announcement, I hope they will fix that."
Some in the open-source community find aspects of the deal troubling,
however. Eben Moglen, the attorney for the Free Software Foundation that
created and oversees the General Public License (GPL), said that it
could conflict with a provision in that license.
"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," Moglen told CNET News.com on Thursday. Section 7 of the
GPL "requires that you have, and pass along to everybody, the right to
distribute software freely and without additional permission."
Microsoft and Novell declined to detail the financial side of their
agreements. Novell, however, will have to report details soon because
they are material to the company's earnings, said John Dragoon, Novell's
chief marketing officer.
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