No wonder people were confused. See “Open Letter to the Community from Novell” and “Microsoft Statement on Novell Agreement”.
Update: Here are a few more links:
- ZDNet blog: “This Microsoft-Novell partnership’s not all it’s cracked up to be”
You know a partnership isn’t all it’s cracked up to be when the parties involved need to spend more time explaining (and defending) themselves than actually delivering on what was promised.
- ZDNet/David Berlind: “Novell and Microsoft enter into late night spitting match over $40M ‘IP payoff’”
Something has apparently gone terribly awry in the recent legal pact between Microsoft and Novell. No doubt, as it was signed, hands were being shaken and there was some agreement over the messaging that would go out once the agreement was made public.
- ComputerWorld blog: “Novell to Ballmer: No patent problems here (and stupid CIO)”
- InfoWorld: “Beware of Redmondians bearing gifts: What’s really behind Microsoft’s interoperability agreements?”
The reality is that for every Windows Server that Microsoft doesn�t sell, it is in danger of losing the entire stack, the services, and the applications on top of it.
