Novell and Microsoft may stubbornly insist that they are separate entities while openly describing themselves as "partners". As we pointed out several times before, those two companies seem to be getting only nearer as time goes by and here is an illuminating new bit.

In the following press release, Novell and Microsoft are mentioned tightly as though they are one. Watch this:

BtoB's March issue names the top business-to-business agencies in the U.S. PJA is included along with large agency winner BBDO and mid-sized agency Doremus, both in New York. The magazine recognized PJA's creative work for clients Novell/Microsoft, Trend Micro and TriZetto.

Also on the same day, the following announcement of Interop 2008 did not neglect to mention those two, albeit separately.

Attendees can demo future products and exhibitors include: Microsoft, Cisco, VMware, Motorola, Novell, APC, McAfee, WebEx, Dell and more.

In reality, Microsoft continue to grab decent market portions from Novell's aging cash cows. The following new announcement is just yet another example.

IT Services is also planning the removal of the Novell login, moving to Microsoft Active Directory and a new network authentication login that will help keep the university’s network safe.

[...]

Landry said in his broadcast that those departments, such as organizations on campus that share specific Novell drives, will be transferred over to a new Microsoft file system by the beginning of summer.

To put things in perspective, when Novell wins a SUSE deal, Microsoft gets paid for it. In the example above, Microsoft hurts Novell's profits. It's truly a one-way relationship. How can Novell be pleased?

Meanwhile, Novell's new press booster, namely Zonker, continues to do some legwork. It turns out that he's a publisher at OStatic now. It's worth keeping an eye on this because of the Om Malik relationship (he AstroTurfed for Microsoft in exchange for payments). ⬆