Submission + - Microsoft-Novell: Has The Deal Made a Difference? (internetnews.com)
willdavid writes: "By Sean Michael Kerner (Internetnews.com):
It was just over a year ago that Microsoft partnered with Linux vendor Novell, turning the Linux world on its ears.
The companies now claim that they've signed 30 new customers to the deal, including Costco Wholesale Corp., Southwest Airlines Co. and the City of Los Angeles. How much impact the deal actually has had on the marketplace is, however, still up for debate.
The deal between Novell and Microsoft allows interoperability between Windows and Linux and provides a patent covenant, ensuring Microsoft will not sue Novell's SUSE Linux users over alleged intellectual property infringement by open source applications.
Regardless of what impact the deal has triggered in the marketplace over the past year, ultimately it's about meeting market requirements.
"The fact is that the vast majority of businesses do not want homogeneous IT infrastructures," Pund-IT analyst King said. "Instead, they want to be able to better and more easily manage their IT assets no matter what hardware or OS platforms they buy.
"Microsoft and Novell deserve congratulations on their one-year anniversary, but the needs of Linux and Windows customers are as much responsible for the partnership as the companies themselves. "
http://www.internetnews.com/bus-news/article.php/3710096"
