Yom Yager, a Mac-oriented writer, reckons that Novell's deal may also punish Apple and have a negative effects on widespread interoperability and heterogeneity in the server room.

Microsoft has intentionally rendered unsafe all but one path to heterogeneity — that being the use of Novell’s SLES (Suse Linux Enterprise Server) in networks with Windows. By immunising Novell against future intellectual property actions, Microsoft has tacitly notified other players in commercialised open source that Microsoft sets the rules for Windows interoperability from now on.

The potential fallout of Microvell is enormous. I’ll grant that I may be overreacting, but I’m hearing voices in the wind that Microvell has the potential and intent to force serious changes in the market for non-Windows commercial system software. I have two major concerns. The first is what I see as Microsoft taking aim at Apple through Microvell. The second, which I address here, involves Advanced Server for Unix.

As a quick reminder, the formats war where Novell assists Microsoft may also 'punish' Mac users. If I were a Mac user, I would certainly take offence in Novell's selfish move.