Microsoft's 'big plans' for Novell are nothing new and, as a matter of fact, they go back to 2006 when Bill Gates stated:

"We're also letting Novell give something that you get in the commercial model, but you rarely get otherwise, which is the indemnification, just like we always do with every copy of Windows. So we're pioneering some things here."

Yes, they certainly pioneered a method of threatening Free software.

Linux.org isn't afraid of doing some finger pointing by suggesting that Novell is part of the gig which started this whole mess.

The Novell-Microsoft pact has made us all aware that we can be clubbed over the head by a Microsoft intent on protecting what it calls its "intellectual property"

Meanwhile, the FSF suggests that the new GPLv3 draft is imminent, but the final release is still delayed. The intent is to leave Novell, which adamantly argues it can comply with the GPL, out in the cold.

The GPL 3 drafting process was thrown for a loop by the surprise pact Novell and Microsoft announced in November. The deal includes a patent covenant that critics fear will give Novell and its customers a legal immunity not shared by other developers. The GPL's author, FSF president Richard Stallman, quickly pledged to patch loopholes in the GPL 3 draft to prevent such tactics.