A 5-Year Deal With Microsoft To Dump Novell/SUSE 174
Nicholas Petreley writes, "Wake up little SUSE, wake up. No, that's not good enough. Wake up SUSE customers, wake up. Novell is jeopardizing the future of Linux for its own short-term rewards. If you want to see Linux flourish, let alone survive, after Novell's five year deal with Microsoft expires, I suggest we make an alternative five-year deal with Microsoft. In this case, our part of the deal is to spend the next five minutes, months, or years migrating away from every shred of Novell/SUSE software in our home, office, or enterprise."
ATTN EDITORS:Thread problem (Score:4, Informative)
Looks like replies are broken, perhaps data-base limitation, see LiquidCooled's post here [slashdot.org]
How About a Third Option (Score:5, Informative)
Perhaps there's a third option: SUSE will contain code covered under Microsoft patents, since Microsoft is helping both the distribution and Windows interoperate better, which might mean breaking a few of its own patents, since Microsoft has that right.
How about a fourth? The article thinks Novell is spreading FUD. Maybe out of this deal is code for use in other linux distros, but Microsoft is helping to energize SUSE given how much money was dumped into Novell.
Now for a fifth: the article referenced in this post is just spreading FUD. It's the typical, "It stinks of Microsoft so it must be bad." I don't see how better interop is bad.
Re:Lets Get Biblical? (Score:3, Informative)
Is it really that bad that Microsoft and Novell made this deal?
No, but at the article maintains...
And if you are a Linux booster, your first thought is that SUSE/Novell has sold its soul to the devil. But don't kid yourself; all arguments about patents and the GPL aside, the frightening thought is that Microsoft might steal ideas from Linux, wrap them in subtle obfuscations, and try to pass them off as original concepts that were natural outgrowths of Windows development. The thought that Linux and Windows might procreate... well, that's gotta be kinda shocking. But then again, doesn't this potentially lead to the Linux community getting a better look at Windows and perhaps pulling the same in reverse? In the end we end up with something that will probably be stillborn. As to the death of SUSE, I think the threat is greatly exaggerated.
Dont you get it? killing Novell is what MS wants (Score:1, Informative)
This 5 year deal with novel is nothing more than a smoke screen.. they are counting on our hatred of Microsoft to blind us and have the same exact reaction you're having right now... a call to boycott Novell... then Microsoft wins... don't you understand? Novell dies... as does SUSE along with them, and there is one less distro for MS to deal with... and for a 5 year thing to burry a company $350 mil is not a bad deal... Trust me, they would get what they wanted for cheap.