Novell-Microsoft: The Honeymoon's Over

Michael J. Jordan, Linux Online Staff

November 22, 2006

It looks like the Novell-Microsoft dalliance is going to last about as long as one of Britney Spears' marriages. Novell, playing the role of Kevin Federline in this story, has been jilted. It also seems apt to call Microsoft the 'Britney' of the saga - so famous despite no evidence of any redeeming qualities. Steve 'Britney' Ballmer just couldn't resist doing what he does best - bad mouthing Linux. According to the Microsoft CEO, Linux is chock full of he and Bill's intellectual property. He confirmed what a lot of people were suspecting that the Novell agreement really meant: SuSE is the only brand of Linux that people will be safe with. Those who have chosen other flavors had better get a good lawyer. Now Novell, who has to be all things to all people - a good friend to the Linux community and a faithful partner to Microsoft - has been put between the proverbial rock and the hard place. On Monday, they offered an alternative spin on Ballmer's patent threats in an effort to wipe the egg of their face.

As they say, I hate to say I told you so, but .... I told you so.

If there is a wisdom of crowds, the crowd known as the Linux Community sure is wise. The ink wasn't even dry on the November 2nd agreement when people were already warning about what a bad idea it was. The ocean of IT is full of floating debris - the companies that Microsoft has torpedoed after having entered into agreements with them. Start ups risk becoming the chum their patent lawyers will feed on. In this case, it didn't take long at all for Microsoft to show its true colors.

We've heard the patent thing before, so we shouldn't be surprised. Ballmer's statements are straight from the SCO playbook, but while SCO is the mouse that roared, Microsoft is the animal where the real roars come from. In these days, where the click of a mouse can be patented, it is a genuine cause of concern. There are three sets of three letters that are keeping a full scale patent war between Microsoft and the Linux community from breaking out: IBM, the GPL and the DOJ. Big Blue would probably go to bat for us. The GPL will probably prevent Novell from working as a proxy for Microsoft. And the threat of them playing sneaky patent games to eliminate their only viable competition might have a now slightly changed power structure in Washington taking notice of monopolies again.

But it's really a shame that we have to be talking about this. And it's truly too bad that Novell couldn't resist this deal. Thought it was definitely in their best short term interests, we'll see how this plays out in the long run. It's true that Microsoft could have made these threats without Novell even entering into the picture. But it's disappointing that Novell would let Microsoft get so close to us. Now they're a little too close for confort.

Michael J. Jordan is the webmaster of Linux Online. He can be reached at Michael.Jordan**AT**linux.org