One major promise which was included in the Novell/Microsoft deal was interoperability. It remains to be seen if any progress is made towards this goal. Having spoken to Jeremy Allison recently, it seems evident that he does not truly believe in the interoperability prospects coming from the deal. According to a recent interview of his, this seems rather justified. When interviewed by Chris DiBona (of Google) a couple of months ago, he said he had been told that the Microsoft team implementing SMB2 were ordered to "f**k with Samba". This quote comes from the section ranging between 33m30s to 39m00 in the audiocast. It is probably just one among the factors he has to weigh before deciding to leave Novell.

Another rotten impact of the so-called 'interoperability' agreement is mitigation at the European antitrust. Some even fear that none of this is bound to become a reality. To quote a recent article:

“Consider the publication and execution of a joint Microsoft-Novell roadmap as the critical missing piece of this agreement, with the potential to make or break its long-term value,” the pair wrote.

The companies promised a first roadmap in March. If there’s no document by then, look elsewhere for your next opportunity.