This is INDEED strange. "Microsoft Is Set to Give Linux a Boost Through Partnership With Novell" I don't know what else to say..... wtf? From the article:
Something sinister this way comes. I knew I didn't like Novell so much before, and now even less so. I expect to see some "embrace and extinguish" tactics out of MS on this. Wheee. Unfortunately for Microsoft, Linux is not a company, so it can't be manhandled in the same way that MS has crushed earlier competition.
Whatever the outcome, Novell only stand to lose. Microsoft won't enter an agreement without their best interests at heart. As AT said, 'embrace, extend and extinguish'
When I first read about this I wasn't sure if it was a hoax or some sick joke, but now it's official. I'm not really sure that this will have any real effect on either windows or linux (except redhat getting sqaushed). Sounds like it is more of a truce to get the two systems to talk to each other and share files. Probably won't be a big deal in the end.
Yeah, because Microsoft has spent so much time and money trying to get Windows to work with Linux, since you know, the source code for Linux isn't available or anything. And Linux really hasn't made any effort at all to be compatible with Windows. Stupid open source commies!!! In reality, simply using open standards in the first place would have immediately made sharing files between any OSes a simple and trivial affair from which everyone could benefit! But as it stands, Microsoft is merely trying to pervert any standards which exist (even their own!) so that you'll have to perpetually spend money on the latest version of MS software. This is an obvious fact to anyone who knows anything at all about the IT industry.
EEE kind of happened with Microsoft and Netscape. In the 90s, when Netscape Navigator was a major browser they were being threatened from Microsoft's IE which came bundled with the OS for free. Netscape however wasn't making most of it its money from the browser market, but from the server market. If MS dominated the browser market, they could use the monopoly to distort the web standards (HTML and HTTP) and then lock them out of the server market.
While I do like SuSe, I can't forgive Novell for their awful Netware OS. It's such a pain to use. If any Linux-affliated company would form the unholy alliance, it'd be Novell. Netware competes with Windows ME for my OS nightmares. I think AT's point is punctuated by Vista. Change is necessary, but Vista really stinks in the pig manure sense...
