04.04.08

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What if a Microsoft-owned Novell is Only a Matter of Time? (Sys-Con Op-Ed)

Posted in GNU/Linux, Microsoft, Novell, Windows, Xen at 6:37 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

Voices of Sanity or Voice of Insanity?

It is no secret that Microsoft uses a lot of GNU/Linux, but it keeps exceptionally quiet about it. For obvious reasons, had people known that even Microsoft chooses Linux as a tool to get the job done, what customer would ever choose Windows?

When Novell entered its partnership with Microsoft, some people called the company “Microsoft’s Linux department” and partly with sarcasm they said that SUSE became “Microsoft Linux”. Since then, Novell has probably grown closer to Microsoft rather than distance itself from it. There is a lot of evidence to back this assertion. Novell is now calling Microsoft a "partner", doing its legwork and even joining its corporate circles.

Microsoft’s plan to just acquire the Open Source threat is nothing new. It’s a case of forcing it to assimilate to the New Trust. It’s a case of building consensus around Microsoft’s management and corner everyone who does not comply with the Trust.

“Novell is one company where assimilation to Windows and obedience to Microsoft has become more complacent.”There are cases where there is resistance to assimilation, in which case Microsoft just needs to bring its former employees or loyal supporters into the board of companies resisting takeover or compliance. The Citrix acquisition of XenSource, which serves Microsoft very well and bears a resemblance to Yahoo's current proxy fight (even the mainstream press acknowledges that it is a “proxy fight”), is only one example of this.

Novell is one company where assimilation to Windows and obedience to Microsoft has become more complacent. The company almost practically depends on its rival/partner (frienemy) and it is not a reciprocal relationship. Microsoft just exploits Novell, whereas Novell relies on this exploitation for coupons and other benefits like priority in deals.

Only yesterday, the following article appeared. It speaks about the possibility and the business sense behind Microsoft acquiring Novell. Do have a look.

Microsoft & Linux: At What Point Is It Cheaper to Just Buy Novell?

Microsoft no longer sees itself as simply a Windows company. One recent indication of this is their determination to buy the LAMP-centric (Linux/Apache/MySQL/PHP) Yahoo! Instead of migrating all the tried and tested Yahoo! services over to a Windows server infrastructure, wouldn’t it be simpler to establish Microsoft Linux through the acquisition of Novell?

As Novell continues to shrink (layoff expected), one has to wonder if Microsoft can buy a weaker Novell. At the moment, Microsoft weakens Yahoo in a variety of ways (driving away staff, damage to image, lawsuits by proxy, attack against existing board members) until the bid/price suits the value. The heading of this site happens to be “boycott Novell”, but what if Novell ever became an integral part of Microsoft? █

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