The Novell/Microsoft deal plays a role in the relationship between two companies which have been fierce rivals (if not enemies) for many years. We advise that you have a glimpse at this new article, which makes an very interesting point. Apart from its main focus that is the SCO litigation, the author seem to suggest that Microsoft, having supported SCO's fight against Novell (among others), uses the deal to defend itself from further litigation.

SCO Group Latest News about SCO Group is going down. Microsoft, Sun Microsystems and the greedy investors that abetted SCO in its campaign to loot Unix and Linux vendors and their customers have abandoned ship.

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As for the payment made by Novell, it validates the arrangement as a business contract by setting up an exchange of consideration. I'm not a lawyer, but I believe that if Microsoft just handed a bouquet over to Novell to prevent Novell v. Microsoft, Microsoft could later welsh on the deal by contesting the alleged misdeeds that Novell used as leverage.

In other news, Canada's channels are advised to consider Suse Linux.