Bonum Certa Men Certa

Why Novell Teamed Up with Microsoft for a Web Hijack

Silverlight stack
Miguel&Novell's vision of GNU/Linux (image from the public domain)



It became increasingly clear quite a while back that Big Vendors will make repeated attempt to gain control over the Web, all thanks to the nature of the Web. There was great resistance to this, especially when binary extensions such as ActiveX [1, 2, 3] and Shockwave were introduced and made a nuisance through undesirable ubiquity.

Inevitable perhaps is a case where Mozilla will have to respond to new needs and do so while honouring the very same adherence to standards and open source ideals that made the company strong in the first place.

A couple of days ago, Mozilla outlined a future direction for Firefox, already making a mention of Firefox 4. You can find the article here or just read the fragment below, which ought to suffice.

Beard's philosophy is this: The browser needs to evolve. Beard believes the browser concept hasn't fundamentally changed in 10 years. It's still an isolated piece of software, he says. Mozilla Lab's push is to blur the edges of the browser, to make it both more tightly integrated with the computer it's running on, and also more hooked into Web services. So extended, the browser becomes an even more powerful and pervasive platform for all kinds of applications.


Another almost simultaneous blog post speaks about Mozilla's Prism and how it compares to Adobe's and Microsoft's proprietary alternatives. Bear in mind that neither Adobe nor Microsoft support GNU/Linux at this stage (Adobe makes promises to GNU/Linux users, citing some time "later this year"). Anyway, have a look:

Adobe, Microsoft and Mozilla are platform vendors. Adobe pushes Flash, Microsoft pushes .Net and we, at Mozilla, push the Open Web. And recently, Adobe has announced AIR (Adobe Integrated Runtime), Microsoft has announced Silverlight and some people at Mozilla are working on Prism. Why these three organizations have been doing this recently? To extend their application development platforms (and leverage their numerous developers) to places where it is either weak or non-existent before:

1. Adobe pushed Flash from the browser to the desktop with AIR 2. Microsoft pushed the .Net stuff from Windows to the browser 3. Mozilla pushed the Open Web technologies from the browser to the desktop

So, in a way, Adobe and Mozilla moves are the same, except that Adobe promotes their proprietary technologies, while Mozilla promotes the Open Web and make its applications easier to use and more integrated with the desktop.


Novell aligned with the second among these three, choosing platform discrimination and software patents by doing so. Recall yesterday's post on downstream licenses and code binary blobs. This is by no means an encouraging sign, yet it's a path Novell was willing to take in exchange for Microsoft's cash injection, which was apparently needed.

“...Microsoft pushes its selfish 'agenda' -- so to speak -- and forces it upon GNU/Linux as a whole via Novell.”This relationship between Novell and Microsoft is a very important one to watch because Microsoft pushes its selfish 'agenda' -- so to speak -- and forces it upon GNU/Linux as a whole via Novell. Anything that comes from Novell must therefore be accepted only with a good dose of skepticism. We were told by a Linux journalist yesterday that we are not the only one to be worried about this situation, which left him "crabby".

Novell's relationship with Microsoft goes beyond just the borders of these two companies. Consider the recent story about SUSE, SAP and Intel for example. Also watch what came up last week. Two Microsoft partners, Novell and the monopoly-abusing Intel, had quite a presence at Microsoft's OSBC. Here, see for yourself:

Roger Levy, the general manager of Novell's open platform solutions business group, agreed that customers choose their operating system based on what they feel they would get with it.

Being able to customize the operating system and still preserve its key attributes while being supported is the model of the future. "The open-source community happens to do support very well," Levy said.


There is nothing too suspicious here, but since when do Intel and Novell speak for GNU/Linux? In a Microsoft-funded conference, it's likely that we will see a lot more of this in time to come. They'll redefine the game which is based on their own convenience, ideology, philosophy, business goals, interpretation, obligations to other companies (notably Microsoft) and many other factors.

Recent Techrights' Posts

Representing and Speaking for Animals
If I ever choose to take this matter to tribunal with animals-centric NGOs on my side, it'll get some press coverage for sure
The UEFI 9/11 - Part II - Campaign of Censorship and Defamation Against Critics
In dictatorships, humour serves an important role. It's tragic.
How Not to Build Software
code forges that need a Web browser perhaps fill some 'niche' demand
GAFAM and "MATA"
The use of dark humour there hopefully helps illuminate what a lot of "modern" technology became like and how it interacts with human civilisation (to what ends and whose gain)
Flying in 2025
worse than ever before
 
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, August 30, 2025
IRC logs for Saturday, August 30, 2025
This is What Google News Has Become
Moments ago
The Slopfarm WebProNews Has Turned Google News Into a Laughing Stock Full of Plagiarism by Slop
If Google News dies of neglect, that's one thing. It's starting to seem like active neglect by Google is a form of participation.
Do What is Moral, as What's Legal Isn't Always Moral
Do what's objectively moral, no matter the costs and the risks
Slopwatch: Google News Assisting Plagiarism and Anti-Linux FUD, Serial Slopper Rips Off Linux-Centric Journalists
This makes the Web a much worse place and lessens the incentive to do journalism
Links 30/08/2025: NVIDIA Fakes Results to Hide a Bubble Already in Implosion Phase, Data Breaches Galore, Important Win for Workers' Union in Canada
Links for the day
In Kazakhstan, Yandex Estimated to be 20 Times Bigger Than Microsoft
Bing is measured as down this month
Shutterstock Not Enough? The Register MS Uses Slop Images in Articles (Seemingly More and More Over Time)
Cost-saving trajectory amid office shutdown?
Gemini Links 30/08/2025: Games, PostmarketOS, and Slop
Links for the day
Links 30/08/2025: Imgur Uproar and Many Ukraine Updates (Mediazona Reports Over 200,000 Russians Died for Putin)
Links for the day
Birds Are Not "Pests and Vermin", Privacy is Not a Crime, and GNU/Linux is Not 'Hacking Platform'
I could not help but think of Free software analogies
The Sites Should Be Very Fast Again
That issue is now resolved
Activists, Including Technical Activists, Need Not Pursue Affirmation
Techrights doesn't play or participate in a "popularity contest"
The UEFI 9/11 - Part III - Chaos is Scheduled to Happen Second Thursday of September (No Matter What the Microsofters Tell You)
The clock is ticking
Downplaying the Impact of "UEFI 9/11" is a Losing Strategy
we won't publish much whilst on holiday
Government Sites Should Run Free Software
Not proprietary bloatware with buzzwords
LLM Slopfarms Take No Breaks
When people run sites by bots they don't need to worry about "breaks"
GNOME Having a Meltdown Again
Thanks and farewell to Steven Deobald
Gemini Links 30/08/2025: Low Tech and Hunchbin 1.0.6
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, August 29, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, August 29, 2025
Financiers and Sponsors of the Slop Hype (Pyramid Scheme Waiting to End, Bubble That Will Inevitably Implode)
It's also burning the planet
Slopwatch: Fake Articles About "Linux", Google Helps Ponzi Schemes and Slopfarms in Google News
Slopfarms are a real pain
Gemini Links 29/08/2025: Retiring at 62 and URL Filtering HTTP(S) Proxy on Qubes OS
Links for the day
Links 29/08/2025: Lisa Cook Sues Convicted Felon and Backdoor Mandate in UK Resisted
Links for the day
Links 29/08/2025: Arti 1.5.0, War on Public Health (CDC), and Slop 'Bros' Made to Pay for Their Mass Plagiarism
Links for the day
No, 4Chan is Not Fighting for You by Lawyering Up Against Ofcom (UK)
Don't mistake proto-fascists for people who "fight for you". They don't.
In Many Places in the World Vista 11 "Market Share" is Going Down, Not Up
In some countries Windows is already down to third place or lower
More Microsoft-Connected Layoffs, at Least Third Time This Month! (Also Another Death on Campus)
Microsoft as a "gaming" company is where studios, projects, games, and even developers come to die
Slopwatch: Fake Articles About "Linux", Slop Images in VentureBeat, Linux Foundation Spam Made With LLM Slop and Slop Images
The only relief or upside - if any exists - is that the pace of slop was down a bit this week
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, August 28, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, August 28, 2025
Gemini Links 29/08/2025: Poems, Games, and Java 25 Performance
Links for the day