It wasn't until LinuxToday cited it that we noticed a curious conspiracy theory.

Microsoft realized with XP that the NT kernel’s days were numbered, which is why they talked of the complete rewrite that was to be Longhorn / Vista (and be wonderful and ship in 2003, etc). Well with all of the efforts that went into that, and Vista basically becoming what would’ve happened to Apple if it truly had shipped Copland, Microsoft finds itself in a bind. Obviously they need to support the product they shipped, which is where SP1 and its successors come in. However, I think we’ll see some behind the scenes action regarding their fight against OSF and the Linux folks and we’ll see how this evolves into the next version of Windows.

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Coincidentally, at that time, Microsoft paid for their “license” and apparently immediately set out on a cross licensing agreement with various Linux manufacturers over some IP they claim to have patents for, but won’t show the code (the SCO maneuver). Oddly enough, one of those vendors who they are working with on cross licensing is *Novell* who owns SUSE Linux and the UNIX source code. Now Microsoft has worked directly with two companies who at the very least claim to hold the UNIX code.

This type of analysis isn't quite so insane and it shouldn't labeled a "conspiracy theory" if there are logical arguments that can support it. Recall what we wrote about Vista/Longhorn and about Novell's 'inheritance' of UNIX from SCO. While Microsoft cannot ever own Linux (no-one truly can), UNIX is a different matter. Also, what if Microsoft ever decided to 'mix and match' code using Novell as a Linux developer/insider/subsidiary? Remember that SUSE Linux aligns with Microsoft's business model and interests. Microsoft receives an income percentage for Linux sales made by Novell.

It absolutely must be remembered that Novell is now dependent on Microsoft.