The sun no shines over Novell's head. Ever since the deceptive deal was made, its reputation has been gradually sinking.

Three weeks ago when Novell, Inc. announced a groundbreaking deal to partner with Microsoft to work on interop solutions between its Linux operating system and Microsoft's, shares jumped 16%. Since then, they have given up more than half of their gains, emphasized yesterday by a note downgrading the stock to "underperform" by Credit Suisse analyst Jason Maynard, who wrote, "We do not believe the 10% appreciation in the stock is sustainable."

Microsoft's parallel upgrade from the same analyst seems to highlight who the winner in this partnership is. Meanwhile, an item from bizjournal.com appears to suggest that Novell has just lost another executive. Less impact for Novell equates to diminishing credence in Microsoft's allegations and FUD.