* The Microsoft-Novell deal is just weeks old, and already contentions public statements are flying
With friends like Microsoft, who needs SCO?
This is what Novell and the open source community are learning just a few weeks after Microsoft and Novell made their historic intellectual property an code interoperability deal.
Speaking at a conference of SQL database users in mid-November, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer made it clear that his company’s embracing of Novell SUSE Linux is not a universal show of altruism to Linux technology.
“The fact that [Linux] uses our patented intellectual property is a problem for our shareholders,” Ballmer said to the crowd. “In a sense,” he added later in the talk, “you could say anybody who has got Linux in their data center today sort of has an undisclosed balance sheet liability.”
Ballmer stated Microsoft’s stance that Linux infringes on Microsoft’s intellectual property. The only Linux users not in violation of this are, through the recent Novell deal, SUSE Linux users. Everyone else: put that law firm on speed dial.
So with the Microsoft-Novell deal just weeks old, contentions public statements are already flying between the two companies.
“We disagree with the recent statements made by Microsoft on the topic of Linux and patents,” said Novell CEO Ron Hovsepian in an open letter. “Importantly, our agreement with Microsoft is in no way an acknowledgment that Linux infringes upon any Microsoft intellectual property. When we entered the patent cooperation agreement with Microsoft, Novell did not agree or admit that Linux or any other Novell offering violates Microsoft patents.”
Novell is now realizing how slippery the slope is with its Microsoft deal, given that company’s position on Linux and open source, and the fact the lifeblood of Novell’s Linux offering – and, some would argue, the future of the company itself – depends on the open source community.
Answering the Hovsepian statement, Microsoft had this to say:
“Microsoft and Novell have agreed to disagree on whether certain open source offerings infringe Microsoft patents and whether certain Microsoft offerings infringe Novell patents … We at Microsoft respect Novell’s point of view on the patent issue, even while we respectfully take a different view.”
It’s easy to see this Microsoft-Novell saga becoming more rancorous and out-of-control in the near term. (Remember when SCO began suing its own customers running SCO/Linux shops?) It’s hard to see how the Microsoft-Novell pact will make it easier and cheaper for enterprise IT professionals to run a mixed Windows/Linux network.
