Microsoft and Novell: a new milestone in the history of open-source?
An example of extremely unusual collaboration was demonstrated by Microsoft and Novell . The companies have entered into a package of agreements on cooperation in the field of compatibility of their products.
Representatives of the companies talk about cooperation in three areas - technical, marketing and patent. According to the “technical” agreement, new technologies will be developed that will enable interaction between programs and web services in Windows and Suse Linux environments. In terms of marketing, the company will help promote the partner’s products. In accordance with the patent agreement, Microsoft will protect Suse users from patent claims on their part.
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer says: "This package of agreements will help to establish an excellent interaction between open-source and commercial software."
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The motive for concluding agreements, say the representatives of the parties , was the desire to help their clients to maximize the possibilities of using software and managing servers. It is known that many users use heterogeneous systems, switching between programs and network services developed for Windows and Linux. “We want to give our customers a choice,” says Novell CEO Ronald Hovsepian.
The development center, which partners plan to open, will work on creating and testing new products, interacting with commercial customers and the open-source community. Particular attention will be paid to three areas - virtualization, server-side web services and the compatibility of MS Office and OpenOffice documents.
Currently, Novell uses Xen virtualization technologies that allow you to run virtual environments and use them to use two operating systems on one computer. Microsoft is working on its own technology - Veridian. Companies will collaborate in optimizing these technologies: Novell will offer Suse Linux Enterprise Server OS with optimized virtualization for Windows Server Longhorn, and Microsoft will sell server solutions optimized for Novell software.
In addition, Microsoft will recommend Suse Linux Enterprise to its customers who want to use Windows and Linux in parallel. The company will also distribute special coupons for technical support for Linux Enterprise Server.
As part of the agreement, developers will not be afraid of patent claims: Microsoft is not going to hinder independent developers of non-commercial software solutions for Linux, as well as those who execute orders to develop solutions for OpenSuse .
The parties do not disclose the financial details of the agreements, however, Novell plans to do so soon: these details relate to the financing of the company, which Novell is obliged to publish by law.
Despite this “reconciliation”, Novell does not plan to withdraw its application submitted to the antitrust authorities back in 2004 (the company complained about Microsoft’s incorrect actions regarding WordPerfect). Nevertheless, even in this case, we have an alliance of two irreconcilable rivals, whose struggle lasted for almost 20 years.
Moreover, this alliance may open a new era in the relationship between the open-source community and commercial firms. It is difficult to say whether Microsoft’s motives are as good as Steve Ballmer claims, or whether it is an attempt to create a favorable image to the antitrust authorities of various countries, primarily the EU. It’s hard to say if the deal would have happened if at the press conference we had to shake not Steve Ballmer and Ron Hovsepian, but Bill Gates and Ray Nurd (former head of Novell, who declared war on Microsoft). However, collaboration will certainly improve Microsoft’s image in the eyes of customers and help spread open-source platforms — and this is the most important result for all users.
Representatives of the companies talk about cooperation in three areas - technical, marketing and patent. According to the “technical” agreement, new technologies will be developed that will enable interaction between programs and web services in Windows and Suse Linux environments. In terms of marketing, the company will help promote the partner’s products. In accordance with the patent agreement, Microsoft will protect Suse users from patent claims on their part.
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer says: "This package of agreements will help to establish an excellent interaction between open-source and commercial software."
')
The motive for concluding agreements, say the representatives of the parties , was the desire to help their clients to maximize the possibilities of using software and managing servers. It is known that many users use heterogeneous systems, switching between programs and network services developed for Windows and Linux. “We want to give our customers a choice,” says Novell CEO Ronald Hovsepian.
The development center, which partners plan to open, will work on creating and testing new products, interacting with commercial customers and the open-source community. Particular attention will be paid to three areas - virtualization, server-side web services and the compatibility of MS Office and OpenOffice documents.
Currently, Novell uses Xen virtualization technologies that allow you to run virtual environments and use them to use two operating systems on one computer. Microsoft is working on its own technology - Veridian. Companies will collaborate in optimizing these technologies: Novell will offer Suse Linux Enterprise Server OS with optimized virtualization for Windows Server Longhorn, and Microsoft will sell server solutions optimized for Novell software.
In addition, Microsoft will recommend Suse Linux Enterprise to its customers who want to use Windows and Linux in parallel. The company will also distribute special coupons for technical support for Linux Enterprise Server.
As part of the agreement, developers will not be afraid of patent claims: Microsoft is not going to hinder independent developers of non-commercial software solutions for Linux, as well as those who execute orders to develop solutions for OpenSuse .
The parties do not disclose the financial details of the agreements, however, Novell plans to do so soon: these details relate to the financing of the company, which Novell is obliged to publish by law.
Despite this “reconciliation”, Novell does not plan to withdraw its application submitted to the antitrust authorities back in 2004 (the company complained about Microsoft’s incorrect actions regarding WordPerfect). Nevertheless, even in this case, we have an alliance of two irreconcilable rivals, whose struggle lasted for almost 20 years.
Moreover, this alliance may open a new era in the relationship between the open-source community and commercial firms. It is difficult to say whether Microsoft’s motives are as good as Steve Ballmer claims, or whether it is an attempt to create a favorable image to the antitrust authorities of various countries, primarily the EU. It’s hard to say if the deal would have happened if at the press conference we had to shake not Steve Ballmer and Ron Hovsepian, but Bill Gates and Ray Nurd (former head of Novell, who declared war on Microsoft). However, collaboration will certainly improve Microsoft’s image in the eyes of customers and help spread open-source platforms — and this is the most important result for all users.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/4651/
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