Several months ago, we explained the similarity between Corel and Novell.There's a great deal of resemblance there, but people tend to forget all about Corel's deal with Microsoft. As an anonymous reader put it some hours ago, "Do you want to see what Novell will be like in a few years? Look at what happened to Corel."

None of this is particularly new and this habit of acquiring competitors or influencing them from afar is nothing out of the ordinary. Take SAP for example and consider the information below. That ought to explain why SAP 'approves' Novell Linux (or "endorses" it).

THEIL: How close were you to getting bought by Microsoft?

[SAP's] KAGERMANN: Microsoft approached us about a possible merger late last year [but] after a series of talks called it off because it would have been too complex. There was never a deal on the table.

A few months ago, in the midst of Microsoft's bid for Yahoo, a suggestion came up urging for a SAP takeover. It's very clear that these companies are very close and SAP's Shai Agassi (more here), has even had his enormous share of attacks on Free software over the years. So why would SAP be interesting in replacing UNIX with Linux? And why Novell? Why after its certification for Red Hat? Quite simply, Microsoft plays a role.

For SAP to work with Microsoft and Novell would only be natural. It's a case of telling them to buy Linux only if they really have to and only to buy it from Novell ('Microsoft Linux') so that the money goes to Microsoft and a message is sent t say that "Linux is not free." Remember that Microsoft cannot extract money from UNIX or Red Hat.

In many ways, Novell is already Microsoft's Linux subsidiary. It may only be a matter of time before those companies get a lot closer. Need Novell receive the benefit of the doubt until that day? ⬆

"Our partnership with Microsoft continues to expand."

--Ron Hovsepian, Novell CEO