From the “They said it would never happen dept” comes news today that Microsoft have signed a deal with Novell!
The deal has been summarised into three main points by Dana Gardner:
- Under a technical cooperation agreement, Novell and Microsoft will work together in three primary areas to deliver new solutions to customers: virtualization, web services management and document format compatibility.
- Under a patent cooperation agreement, Microsoft and Novell provide patent coverage for their respective customers, giving customers peace of mind regarding intellectual property issues.
- Under a business cooperation agreement, Novell and Microsoft are committing to dedicate marketing and sales resources to promote joint solutions.
The timing of this deal is curious, coming as it does only a few short days after Oracle announces its enhanced support for Linux!
Looks like a competition to see who can love Linux the most these days, doesn’t it?