"Our partnership with Microsoft continues to expand."

--Ron Hovsepian, Novell CEO

ON MICROSOFT'S BEHALF, Novell has already caused so much to harm the Free software community. It turned its back on the GNU GPL, leading to a domino effect that has had Turbolinux and Xandros sell out and Linspire close shop. This also fueled FUD attacks on GNU/Linux, appeased regulators for no good reasons, enabled Microsoft to exclude competitors from virtualisation [1, 2, 3] and so forth.

What has Microsoft done for Novell recently? Well, other than those payments that perpetuate exclusion and enable further harm such as OOXML, how does Microsoft repay? Standing out in the news this week was the following report about Brighton Council tossing Novell out. In whose favour? Microsoft.

Brighton & Hove City Council is moving its IT infrastructure onto a single network that will provide Microsoft software for all its 4,500 staff.

The council previously had a number of disparate servers and IT systems including a Lotus Notes email system and Novell networking technology.

It appeared in several on-line magazines in the UK.

Novell's special partner is also publishing whitepapers that directly compare (and dismiss) Novell's products. Here is the latest example from 4 days ago. It's a case study.

The company was using a Novell-based networking and e-mail system, which it found increasingly challenging to integrate with its business and IT applications from other vendors. As a result, the company decided to standardize on Microsoft technologies, migrating to Active Directory€®, Microsoft€® Exchange Server 2007, and the 2007 Microsoft Office system.

When will Novell realise that its no-compete-like clause/agreement with Microsoft is an abomination? Microsoft asks Novell to take a nap while its 'robbing' its core business, which accounts for about 80% of Novell's revenue.

Novell won't survive by following this route because its cash-generating produces run dry and it's allowing this to happen. It's almost as though Novell gave up and handed away leadership. ⬆

Is this a future?