They probably thought about that, but imagine the backlash they would get if they went to opensource. It would be far more secure than the products they are already selling and supporting.

People may wonder why they have bought a product that was supposed to be secure and stable, then they bring another product out that suppasses everything, they might feel like they have been given the rough end of the pineapple.

(emphasis mine)

I'ved loved what Novell has done in the SCO cases. I had high hopes for what they could do for business desktop Linux adoption. This despite many naysayers (not just Linux detractors) and the fact that apparently Novell drove away some of the key Suse people. But in this case I have to assume that either Novell (and in particular Hovsepian) has no idea what they have done, or perhaps, like Caldera before them they have gone over to the dark side. In light of what they've done and the hopes I had for them I find this very, very sad, but until proven wrong, I don't feel any other view is rational. I think most likely that this came about from Hovsepian's ignorance or naivete. Shortly after he took over his present position he gave a speech or interview which caused many to question whether he understood the business Novell was now in. And unless they have some very clever trick up their sleeve that is far from obvious, I think they just signed their own death warrant.

But make sure you you also pay attention to MS's reply to Novell's open letter.

If Novell's letter can be taken at face value, the letter adds credence to what I was saying about naivete. Novell's story line is that they went to MS for interoperability (which of course MS has been able to provide any time they would have wanted ...) and MS insisted on the patent deal.

Uh hugh!

Yeah, that story line says Novell was snookered. Novell forgot to bring a very long spoon when they decided to sup with the devil. At least if you can believe Novell's position in that letter.

NOVELL AIDS MICROSOFT?
Press Release -
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:
Sarah Charf
Microsoft Corporation
(206) 882-8080

REDMOND, Wash. -- April 10, 1995 --

In a joint press conference early this morning, the Chief Executives of Microsoft and Novell revealed that their companies had been working together to increase Microsoft's dominance of the computer industry. In a secret partnership with Microsoft, Novell has been strategically acquiring Microsoft's major competitors in the software industry and ruining them.

The relationship goes back a number of years, according to Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates. "[Digital Research's] DR-DOS 5.0 was ten times the operating system that MS-DOS 4.01 was. We couldn't even steal technology fast enough to compete. That was when we first contacted Novell." Under direction from Microsoft, Novell then purchased Digital Research, a small California company best known for its CP/M operating system.

Novell CEO Bob Frankenburg continued, "We let the developers release DR-DOS 6.0, which unfortunately was a success, but then we jumped in with both feet. By the time we were done with it, Novell DOS 7 wouldn't even interoperate well with NetWare!" All development on Digital Research's product was subsequently halted in September 1994.

Frankenberg also explained their second target. "When it became obvious that Windows NT wouldn't be able to hold a candle to Unix, it was agreed that Novell should buy Unix Systems Laboratories from AT&T to destroy it." The destruction of Unix was accomplished by Novell's pushing of the UnixWare abomination and by carefully planned licensing fiascoes. "Once the damage was complete, we pushed it off on SCO [Santa Cruz Operation] last month."

The latest joint venture was the destruction of Microsoft's competition in the Windows application market.

"Under the guise of creating a rival suite, Novell bought up Wordperfect and Quattro Pro," Gates explained. "With our direction, all OS/2 development was halted and significant bugs were introduced in the release cycle. [Microsoft] Excel wasn't half the spreadsheet that Quattro Pro was when Borland owned it, and look at us now!"

Novell's intention to sell the PerfectOffice Suite was announced on October 30. "We're done," said Frankenberg.

When asked about the prospect of competition from the new software giant created by the IBM/Lotus merger, Frankenburg replied, "We expect IBM to do a better job of destroying Lotus than we could have ever done."

Many industry insiders were taken by surprise. "It explains a lot," said Hewlett Packard employee Mike Lund. "We never could figure out what the hell Novell thought they were doing with Unix."

Brutal.

Ahh man, I LOVED DR-DOS!!! It ruled.

LOL. That was a good story, joewee.

Great read, thanks

in a way this has a strange stroke of criminal genius. the linux kernel is owned by Linux Torvalts and He lets everyone use and modify it for free. same for all development projects. novell doesn't actually own the software, just uses and modifies it for free like everyone else. novell sell intellectual property rights that novell doesn't own. steve balmer got ripped off. I want to sell the brooklyn bridge to steve. He seems naive enough to buy it from me.

I see all this panic of Microsftoft suing all Linux users.
The door swings both ways.

Novell & Microsoft both!! signed a pact not to sue one another over patent violations.

Why is everyone so adamant that this deal concede Linux is violating MS IP. As in the same thought process Microsoft is admitting they are violating Linux patents

MS is protected from Novell lawsuits, Does MS violate any of the Open Source consortiums Patents?


The Open Source Patent Consortium consists of names such as
IBM, Google, AMD, Sun, Novell and Red Hat.
all have contributed Patents and offers of Prpotection of their Open Source Interests

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OSDL

Sooo then, ¿why not we all just protest it signing the Bruce Perens petition to Mr. Hovsepian? For those interested, Bruce's view might worth a look (and a sign):

http://techp.org/petition/show/1

This is wrong!!! The signed a deal not to sue each others customers. They are free to sue each other whenever, if ever...

At first I was against this deal, but I then realized that Novell is not doing so well; they are hurting for cash. I do not see how Microsoft can edge its way into Linux, there are just so many large companies that make billions off of Linux. These companies: Oracle, IBM, Red Hat, Novell, on and on. Novell is a publicly traded company and as such is beholden to the shareholders not the Linux community. If a business is doing poorly, they need to do something about it. Novell just simply made a deal so that they could SHARE their patent portfolio with Microsoft and Microsoft with them. Suse is a KILLER distro and if something will make it possible for Suse to continue, I am all for it.

Microsoft really can not do anything against the Linux community. There are just too many businesses and governments that Microsoft will have to go through, they would be in essence cutting their nose off to spite their face. Novell has proven their dedication to the Open Source and Linux community, if they get interoperation to work, then everyone benefits. Lets give them the benefit of the doubt for the time being.

Besides, Microsoft is not the innovator that they claim to be, they have reached their peak and their user base has been declining in recent years.

Perhaps we are circling the wagons too soon.

Don't you think it presumptious to protest if you dont use Novell products?

Of course it is, usaf_sp, it is as much as all those voices that almost rage in anger and jokes against a deal that doesn't care much to them either (nobody take it personal). That was just an answer in a _tired mood_ of myself, I was not circling my wagons, it was just my strange way to say things in a non-native language. In the end, I just wanted to bring an insider's opinion (Bruce's), regrettably did it with my strange mood at that time.

Well, there is when I start to circling my wagons, might be paranoia, surely. 'Cos I don't believe that will be a lawyer's struggle against businesses & governments; instead, I think it will be a lawyer's and their patents packages against community patents... much more hurtful. When companies make this kind of deals they add packages of patents to fight legally against other patents when they find it useful for their businesses, and that always had the capitalist-monopolist double flavour. Anyway as you say, going against that right now is not giving the benefit of doubt. We all that have our fight -in one way or another- for the benefit of the free information infraestructure, are hoping that when a fight for freedom have to start, will not be too late for achieving a victory.