The deal that Novell made with Microsoft is looking more and more bizarre (the two companies appear to have slightly different versions on their respective Web sites) with each passing day and it appears that the new chums are already falling out. Novell’s CEO, Ron Hovsepian, published an open letter declaring that Novell completely disagrees with Steve Ballmer’s assertion that Linux infringes on Microsoft’s intellectual property:
We disagree with the recent statements made by Microsoft on the topic of Linux and patents. 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.
There’s no doubt: This is going to get ugly …
