Rumour: Microsoft Executives-Run Company to Buy Novell (Updated)

Dr. Roy Schestowitz

2010-07-02 14:59:57 UTC
Modified: 2010-07-02 18:25:27 UTC

EMC and Microsoft

Summary: Defensible rumours have begun floating about, saying that VMware's deal with Novell will become more than just a collaboration deal

SEVERAL weeks ago we wrote that VMware, which is run by former Microsoft employees after EMC's intervention, might buy Novell.

There are now concurring rumours about it:

This week I’ve had some questions from people on how this “Strategic Partnership” between Novell and VMware, could be the first step to VMware buying Novell or a number of products from Novell. This got me thinking on if that could really be an interesting move for VMware.

The VAR Guy cites the above and writes:

VMware and Novell: Merger Rumor or More?

The speculation won’t go away. Several companies apparently have bid to acquire Novell. Some pundits think VMware is among the bidders. Why’s that? The short answer involves a mutual enemy called, um, Red Hat (assuming you believe the rumor).

[...]

The VAR Guy wonders: Does VMware see the market similarly? If so, does that mean VMware is willing to pay $2 billion or more to acquire Novell? Plenty of open source pundits are speculating about a potential VMware-Novell merger or acquisition.

The Microsoft booster links to both of the above [1, 2]. As we explained twice last month, VMware is against Red Hat [1, 2]. A takeover of Novell would put former Microsoft executives like Maritz on top of Novell. ⬆

Update: Sam Dean considers this takeover unlikely.

Comments

Agent_Smith

2010-07-04 17:05:36

What if this comes to happen ??? Unless VMware is sitting on a gold mine, it's like 2 billion US dollars thrown through the window. They'll buy Suse ??? And so what ??? Novell bought Suse, only to weaken the distro, more and more. The only upper hand is the virtualization business, which VMware does best, try to get into Red Hat's space. But, I don't think they have the expertise to do that. 10 Novells and M$ can't do ONE Red Hat. Sure they can get in the way, but I guess it will flop, as Novell's Suse is not a successful brand as it once was (before Novell)

Recent Techrights' Posts

Getting Better After 20 Years: Exactly two months from now this site is turning 20
Gemini Links 07/09/2026: Music Composition, Free Stuff, and Self-hosting Git Repos: Links for the day
Silent Layoffs, Cool-down, and Cool-off: How GAFAM and IBM Operate (the Law Doesn't Apply to Them): Laws? What laws?
Links 07/09/2026: Slop Trashes Memory of Parton, Flock Surveillance Infuriates Everyone: Links for the day
EPO Hiding Cocainegate and Abandoning Transparency (Even Access to Very Basic Information is Denied): The EPO isn't just becoming like a private for-profit corporation. It's also becoming more secretive.
Richard Stallman Has Resurrected Lost Updates: We didn't ask about it
SLAPP Censorship - Part 174 Out of 200: Cascading Scandals and a Path Towards Much-Needed, Long-Awaited Reform: Reform the UK's law, not "Reform UK"
EPO's Gema Requena Sempere (PD People) Contacted Regarding Children With Disabilities: In the coming week we may be in fruitful contact with some media regarding EPO scandals
Over at Tux Machines...: GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, September 06, 2026: IRC logs for Sunday, September 06, 2026
People Who Enforce the GPL Banned From Linux Foundation Board (After Bribes From Prolific GPL Violators), Now They're Banned From Giving Talks at Events: about the "LF" ('Linux' Foundation)
Gemini Links 06/09/2026: The Slop Plagiarism 'Holy War' (Hype, Scam, Scheme), Burning CD-Rs, and Hardcopy Mono: Links for the day
Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) Inaction and Incompetence - Part IV - Insufficient Resources in the Face of Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) by Lawyers: it's about 120KG
OpenStreetMap is the Future, Dictatorship is the Past: OpenStreetMap helped us check maps for transport, various overlays with addresses, and there was 0% reliance on GAFAM or "Google" anything
How Strikes at the European Patent Office Are Seen by Striking Staff in Berlin, Germany: We have some more EPO scandals to cover later this year and next year
Association for Computing Machinery Cites Techrights in Relation to GemText and Gemini Protocol: published yesterday, Open Access
Links 06/09/2026: More XBox Trouble (Microsoft Unrest, Many Silent Layoffs This Month), John Duffy as Next USPTO General Counsel: Links for the day
Gemini Links 06/09/2026: Avoiding 'Smart' 'Phones' and Setting up Gemini for the First Time: Links for the day
Links 06/09/2026: Sabotage by Slop and "What Happens If 'Open' 'AI' Dies?": Links for the day
How Back Doors Became the 'Normal' or 'Norm': "We also allowed a lethal monoculture to fester"
Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) Inaction and Incompetence - Part III - The SRA is Vastly Worse Than Brits Realise, We Have a "Wild West" in London: In the next part we'll begin looking at correspondence with the SRA
SRA and Manslaughter: How the SRA Contributed to Agony in Proprietary Software Scandals With Clear Misuse of "Without Prejudice": Trying to prevent the public from finding out the criminal stuff that went on, resulting in many deaths
Canonical (or Ubuntu) Rejecting IRC Isn't the Widespread Trend: Internet Relay Chat (IRC) adoption still growing by some yardsticks
SLAPP Censorship - Part 173 Out of 200: Two Years: It was exactly 2 years ago that we filed lawsuits against Garrett
Linux of America: We could not help but notice GNU/Linux in North America yesterday
Over at Tux Machines...: GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, September 05, 2026: IRC logs for Saturday, September 05, 2026
Gemini Links 06/09/2026: Internet Limiting (Limited Time Allotted) and Solar MiniServer: Links for the day
Eight Months of Strikes in EPO, Organised by the Staff Union (SUEPO) Also in Berlin: In Berlin, only one member of staff voted against the action plan
Links 05/09/2026: "Let’s Stop Buying New Phone" and 'Open' 'AI' (Proprietary Slop) Drowning in Lawsuits: Links for the day
Gemini Links 05/09/2026: Polarization, Warped Maps, and Emacs rectangle-number-lines: Links for the day
Software Freedom, Even If Difficult to Attain Due to Outside Pressure, Does Make You Happier: Peer pressure and opinionated employers can make friends and staff more miserable if they dictate bad software
You Can Run GNU/Linux on a Desktop/Laptop for 1,000+ Days Nonstop: To me, the long uptime is a way of "marketing" GNU/Linux as robust and stable
Profiting From Global Warming (and Making More Money the More You Cause Warming): Unregulated bank and pyramid scheme
SLAPP Censorship - Part 172 Out of 200: The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) Complicit in the SLAPPs by Inaction (Didn't Even Study Any Evidence, Only Wasted Time and Budget): "SRA placed into special measures due to 'disappointing standard of leadership'"
China Does Not Need American (US) Products Like GAFAM's: China has abundance of technical things it can leverage to preserve its autonomy
RMS Didn't Make Enough Backups: Making backups is important
Refresher: Why EPO Staff is on Strike This Year (Aside From the EPO Acting Like a Corrupt, Above-the-Law, For-Profit Corporation That Violates Its Own Charter): One core issue at the EPO is erosion of purchasing power
Gemini Links 05/09/2026: Fireflies, Shore Pine, and ASCII Art: Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...: GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, September 04, 2026: IRC logs for Friday, September 04, 2026