Is it a Linux discount, a Microsoft discount, or both?

Perhaps -- but only perhaps -- this is what IBM wanted. Several weeks ago we mentioned how Novell was going to keep Red Hat out of the mainframe. It's not a definite thing, but the same strategy from Novell definitely lives on.

Novell Chops Tags on SLES for IBM Mainframes Novell says it’s going to “simplify” pricing and discounts on SLES for mainframes for the rest of the year. That means it’s going to cut prices by 33%-47% by offering a three-year subscription for the price of a two-year subscription or a five-year subscription for the price of a three-year subscription. The discounts apply to workload consolidation from non-System z platforms and renewals of existing SLES subscriptions.

Where is IBM in all of this? Big Blue hardly ever protested against the verbal assault from Microsoft last May. It never protested against the Novell/Microsoft deal. In many ways, IBM is part of this mess and it's believed to be among those that destroy Free software because they want to reform it for software patents, corporate control, and other antithetical things that require some 'taming'. In many ways, it's not much better off than Nokia. ⬆

“People that use Red Hat, at least with respect to our intellectual property, in a sense have an obligation to compensate us.”

--Steve Ballmer