14 DAY TRIAL // On November 2, 2006 Microsoft and Novell announced a collaboration agreement focused on Windows and Linux interoperability and support. Subsequently, the two companies came under fire because the partnership also covered the duo's patented products, in addition to the business and technology. "We're excited to work with Novell, whose strengths include its heritage as a mixed-source company. Resolving our patent issues enables a combined focus on virtualization and Web services management to create new opportunities for our companies and our customers," Steve Ballmer, Microsoft CEO said at the time.
"We jointly believe that our business and patent agreements make it possible to offer the highest level of interoperability with the assurance that both our companies stand behind these solutions," stated Ron Hovsepian, president and CEO of Novell back in 2006 in support of the initiative. Well, at the end of the past week, Novell published its agreements with Microsoft on the Securites and Exchange Commission (SEC) website, making public the patent, business and technology terms.
Since the agreements were inked in November, Microsoft has been hard at work delivering in excess of 40,000 SUSE Linux Enterprise Server certificates. The Redmond Company is obligated through the agreement with Novell to recommend SUSE Linux Enterprise to all customers looking for both Windows and Linux solutions.
The terms made public by Novell, also include a reference to the upcoming version 3 of the GNU General Public license (GPL), designed for licensing the Linux operating system. Open-source advocates stated in the past that the next variant of the GPL would all but annul the Microsoft Novell marriage.
"If the final version of GPLv3 contains terms or conditions that interfere with our agreement with Microsoft or our ability to distribute GPLv3 code, Microsoft may cease to distribute SUSE Linux coupons in order to avoid the extension of its patent covenants to a broader range of GPLv3 software recipients, we may need to modify our relationship with Microsoft under less advantageous terms than our current agreement, or we may be restricted in our ability to include GPLv3 code in our products, any of which could adversely affect our business and our operating results," reads a fragment of the Microsoft - Novell agreement.