”Give it some more months to 'cook', so to speak. It's a timebomb. “If Novell-type deals were not a big danger to Free software and GNU/Linux, I would not stay up all night writing something that essentially criticises a Linux company and creates so much backlash against me. Did you know that I was running SUSE at home and at work exclusively before the deal? Trust me, If you look deep at these deals and know the situation intimately, then you find an SCO-to-be in your hands. Give it some more months to 'cook', so to speak. It's a timebomb.
Companies that signed deals with Microsoft were doing bad financially (even Novell had trouble with Fargo Bank just before signing the patent deal). They needed a warm shoulder to lean on. When they run low on funds, they'll become what one person called "a new shill" (just like SCO). He said that on November 4th, 2006.
One source says tells us that it holds Justin Steinman personally responsible for a lot of the damage to Novell, but the source is not aware of his involvements before the Novell/Microsoft negotiations began. There were some hints about this in a podcast from Dan Bricklin. Speaking of Dan Bricklin, in his approach towards the Groklaw community, reasons were given why Nat Friedman and Miguel de Icaza should not take much blame (contrast to what was suspected elsewhere).
As for the present and future. I've been collecting a lot of inside information about Novell recently. It's damaging. Some of it I cannot publish safely (well, not yet anyway). The information is not a case of bashing or humiliation; rather, it's a case of disgusting marketing technique where Novell uses fear as a marketing tool. Microsoft and Novell are actually much closer than people imagine. ⬆