BoycottNovell's attention was caught by some financial reports last night. Surprisingly, for us at least, they seemed more promising than before. What was also eye-catching in an upgrade by JMP Research is the fact that MarketWatch refers to Novell as "New Microsoft partner". But is it a two-way partnership? As we recently explained, it's akin to a defenceless kid paying protection money to the bully. We are beginning to find some examples of this.

Yesterday we found this new story where SUSE Linux servers are claimed to be a victim. They may have gradually become obsolete due to Microsoft's tactic of making software Windows-centric. It is time for Novell to wake up and smell the coffee. It hasn't a friend; it has liaised with an unethical foe. Here's a fragment from a rather long and detailed explanation that we urge you to read.

We all know Microsoft views Linux as a serious threat and will do just about anything to discourage its use. But why would application vendors who actually face competition from Microsoft help it out in this regard? That's what one reader was wondering after discovering that his customers could no longer use a Linux server with their favorite accounting packages.

[...]

The reader believes that Microsoft is behind this. "I think this is a calculated move by Microsoft to stop Linux's increasing market share in the server market, and help increase their own," the reader wrote. "I think the developers are enabling this behavior, and in fact may be called co-conspirators in assisting Microsoft in their attacks against non-Windows server systems. I find this outrageous behavior by the developers and have already informed them of my and my clients' displeasure in forcing them to make outlays for something they didn't need, for server software they didn't want, and for the additional outlays that lay for my clients in the future.

[...]

Is this one more Redmond conspiracy against Linux, or is something else going on here? No doubt Microsoft is delighted with the way this works out, but what I don't understand is why Intuit and Sage would both go along with it. Why would two major application vendors, who compete against each other and also face a threat from Microsoft in that space, restrict their customers' choices to the benefit of Redmond?