Microsoft and Novell enter an agreement on Linux

Under the agreement, Microsoft will provide sales support for Novell's SUSE Linux distribution. More importantly, the companies will also create a joint research facility where they will be working together on improving the interoperability between SUSE Linux and Microsoft Windows operating systems, including:

• Virtualization
• Web Services for managing physical and virtual servers (this builds, of course, on top of the Virtualization framework)
• Document format compatibility (between Open Office and Microsoft Office)

Here is Reuter's news posted on the WSJ:

http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/technology/tech-microsoft-novell.html?_r=2&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

Here are some links from Microsoft's PR site:

http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2006/nov06/11-02MSNovellPR.mspx

http://www.microsoft.com/interop/msnovellcollab/default.mspx

http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/exec/steve/2006/11-02NovellInterop.mspx

Novell has a dedicated site with plenty of information about the deal too:

http://www.novell.com/linux/microsoft/

Wanna know what some people is thinking? Digg has about two full pages (right now) for a simple search on Novell Microsoft (including plenty of comments):

http://www.digg.com/search?area=all&age=7&sort=new&s=novell+microsoft&submit=Search

Some other blogs posting about it:

http://www.neowin.net/index.php?act=view&id=35972

http://www.foogazi.com/2006/11/02/linux-software-on-windows/

http://opensourceblog.itproportal.com/?p=203

http://mrwavetheory.blogspot.com/2006/11/microsoft-and-novell-foes-now-friends.html

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20061102-8141.html

And sooo many more. I shall stop though, or otherwise google might consider this post to be just a link farm.

So, my opinion? This is great, great news!

Not only this is great news because of this particular deal on itself and how both companies, their clients, their shareholders, individuals and other players can benefit from it, but also because it sets the record for the first big venture of its kind.

In other words, this will probably trigger other similar partnerships and stimulate more cooperation among different players in the industry as the market keeps opening itself and different organizations start doing business together at a more horizontal level. This will also be a very good boost for the market, brining new business and probably opening several opportunities to many other small players. It's just brilliant.