The former anti-Linux poster child, Microsoft, is now lending a helping hand to the process of converting users to the open source operating system. The Redmond company announced the extension of its 2006 Windows-Linux interoperability agreement with Novell, with a strong focus on China. Together, Microsoft and Novell will attempt to catalyze the migration of unsupported Linux users on the Chinese market to supported SUSE Linux Enterprise operating systems. The Redmond company has already applauded People's Insurance Company of China Group, The Dairy Farm Company and Dawning Information Industry for jumping on the Windows-Linux interoperability wagon and acquiring SUSE Linux Enterprise Server three-year support subscriptions.

"It's very encouraging to see that our business and technical collaboration continues to resonate with customers around the globe. Both Novell and Microsoft are committed to furthering this alliance, and we couldn't be happier with the results to date. PICC, Dairy Farm and Dawning exemplify the benefits our strengthened alliance provides for the international IT community," stated Ron Hovsepian, president and CEO of Novell.

The Microsoft and Novell agreement is essentially focused on building a bridge between the companies' respective open source and proprietary operating systems, but also on offering intellectual property assurance for companies with heterogeneous environments. Specific for China, the duo will also focus on the high performance market, supporting dual-boot configurations involving SUSE Linux Enterprise Server and Microsoft Windows Compute Cluster Server, but also cross-platform virtualization scenarios with Windows Server 2008 with Hyper-V and SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 with Xen.

"We recognize that our customers want to use Microsoft products in heterogeneous environments, and therefore we are pleased to offer this option to meet customer needs in one of the leading global markets," added Ya-Qin Zang, Microsoft corporate vice president and chairman of Microsoft China. "We are very pleased with the initial response in the Chinese market to our joint offerings for IP peace of mind and technology interoperability in such areas as virtualization and high-performance computing."