Summary: The Microsoft-Novell duo still uses "IP assurance" as a method to market the Microsoft-taxed SLE* at the expense of RHEL

IN THE following new public exchange of words, Novell not only brags about Microsoft Moonlight but along with Microsoft it also carries on using FUD tactics against Red Hat [1, 2, 3, 4], fueled by the whole “peace of mind” pitch. David Meyer from ZDNet UK has got it covered:

Speaking with ZDNet UK after the presentation, Croney said there was "a general feeling within Microsoft that the Microsoft-Novell alliance has produced better results than anticipated and this is reflected in the broadness of the alliance, and the increased focus on different technological components that were not anticipated at the outset". He pointed to the work on Moonlight — an open-source implementation of Microsoft's Silverlight rich media technology — and directory federation as examples of this.

[...]

Whereas a fundamental element of the Microsoft-Novell deal was Microsoft's agreement to not sue Novell over alleged IP infringements in Linux, Croney said "Red Hat have not tried to address the IP assurance issue at all".

That was an "IP Expo" and this is how Novell markets itself. In response to Red Hat's latest market statistics, Novell is now pulling some figures from IDC (Novell pays a lot of money to IDC [1, 2]).

This week there’s been several reports from Red Hat about their momentum and share in the Linux market. They’ve made some very specific claims that we have to correct.

Novell's PR people were careful not to repeat Red Hat's claims, which SJVN addresses in this new post.

Novell's PR manager Ian Bruce has a different take. In a Novell blog, Bruce wrote, "First, to borrow an analogy from the old car rental business, we should acknowledge that in the Linux market Novell is definitely 'Avis' to Red Hat's 'Hertz:' we're in second place and we try harder."

The Avis analogy was used before. ⬆