On several occasions in the past, Linus Torvalds spoke about the Microsoft/Novell deal, but rarely has he criticised the deal unlike, for example, Mark Shuttleworth, who is clearly vocal and sometimes even angry. An interesting Article from LinuxWorld seems to be taking Linus to task. It argues that Linus should set aside a purely-technical agenda and use his influence to assist Linux, which would otherwise be subverted.

Last week, for example, Steve Ballmer confirmed many users' fears by saying the company wants compensation from anyone who isn't using Novell's Suse or a distribution provided by one of its other partners. That's a lot more direct than couching its alliance with Novell as an exercise in interoperability. It means that if you don't use Linux in a way that Microsoft approves, you face potential litigation. Someone needs to provide a response to that. Who better than the operating system's creator?