In a November post on the Novell-Microsoft partnership agreement signed last November 2006, I asked if we will see a slew of court cases from Microsoft against various Linux vendors. So far, that hasn't happened yet. I hope it will never come to pass. So, as of this time, nothing negative has arisen from the Novell-Microsoft pact.
On the positive side, the unlikely partners are working on making virtualization of Windows and SLES on each other's platforms a reality. In a Jan. 31 post on Port 25, Microsoft's Sam Ramji wrote that the companies are looking for technical people to work on a Joint Interoperability Lab focusing on "interoperable virtualization between Windows and SLES (Suse Linux Enterprise Server)."
Just this past week, the two companies announced more details of their technical collaboration plans. Aside from virtualization, web services-based management tools for Linux and Windows, directory and identity interoperability between Novell's eDirectory and Microsoft's Active Directory, and compatibility between OpenOffice.org's OpenDocument and Microsoft's Open XML document formats were identified as the areas where the two companies will focus on.
Since November, Novell's stock price has been up 8.13% and Microsoft down 2.7. Although we can't attribute the behavior of the stocks to the pact alone, it would seem that Novell has benefited more from it than Microsoft, if we go by stock price alone.
On the other hand, Novell competitor RedHat's stock has been up 36.82% for the same period. Again, although it seems that Novell may have benefited from the pact, negative impact on the stock price of RedHat, still the leading supplier of Linux servers, has been virtually nonexistent.
In December 2006, eweek reported that some 16,000 of the 70,000 SUSE licenses that Novell gave Microsoft for distribution to the latter's customers under the pact have been scooped up by clients such as Deutsche Bank, Credit Suisse and AIG. This is the main reason for the Buy recommendation issued by independent institutional investment bank First Albany Corp. on Novell shares. A Buy recommendation means that the stock may have a potential return of 10-20 percent.
From the above, and true to prediction, Novell is benefiting from the deal. If positive things keep happening, the protests over the pact might eventually go away. It will be the customers, whether Microsoft's or Novell's, that will ultimately benefit. Whether the rest of the Linux and the open source community will also benefit is doubtful. But so long as it doesn't set back the open source movement, the pact might eventually be accepted, albeit grudgingly.
Technorati Tags: Novell, Microsoft, Linux, Windows
On the positive side, the unlikely partners are working on making virtualization of Windows and SLES on each other's platforms a reality. In a Jan. 31 post on Port 25, Microsoft's Sam Ramji wrote that the companies are looking for technical people to work on a Joint Interoperability Lab focusing on "interoperable virtualization between Windows and SLES (Suse Linux Enterprise Server)."
Just this past week, the two companies announced more details of their technical collaboration plans. Aside from virtualization, web services-based management tools for Linux and Windows, directory and identity interoperability between Novell's eDirectory and Microsoft's Active Directory, and compatibility between OpenOffice.org's OpenDocument and Microsoft's Open XML document formats were identified as the areas where the two companies will focus on.
Since November, Novell's stock price has been up 8.13% and Microsoft down 2.7. Although we can't attribute the behavior of the stocks to the pact alone, it would seem that Novell has benefited more from it than Microsoft, if we go by stock price alone.
On the other hand, Novell competitor RedHat's stock has been up 36.82% for the same period. Again, although it seems that Novell may have benefited from the pact, negative impact on the stock price of RedHat, still the leading supplier of Linux servers, has been virtually nonexistent.
In December 2006, eweek reported that some 16,000 of the 70,000 SUSE licenses that Novell gave Microsoft for distribution to the latter's customers under the pact have been scooped up by clients such as Deutsche Bank, Credit Suisse and AIG. This is the main reason for the Buy recommendation issued by independent institutional investment bank First Albany Corp. on Novell shares. A Buy recommendation means that the stock may have a potential return of 10-20 percent.
From the above, and true to prediction, Novell is benefiting from the deal. If positive things keep happening, the protests over the pact might eventually go away. It will be the customers, whether Microsoft's or Novell's, that will ultimately benefit. Whether the rest of the Linux and the open source community will also benefit is doubtful. But so long as it doesn't set back the open source movement, the pact might eventually be accepted, albeit grudgingly.
Technorati Tags: Novell, Microsoft, Linux, Windows
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