On Jan 2, 6:03 am, Roy Schestowitz <newsgro...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> ____/ Rex Ballard on Wednesday 02 January 2008 09:50 : \____
> > On Jan 1, 11:06 pm, Roy Schestowitz <newsgro...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> > wrote:
> >> Microsoft paid Novell $355.6 million in 2007 - Who's Novell's daddy?
> > One of the problems here is that we really don't know the true nature
> > of the agreements between Microsoft and the other vendors. We do know
> > that Microsoft paid a LOT of money to Novell, Red Hat, and other major
> > commercial Linux vendors.
> About Novell's deal, a lot is known after they filed documents with the SEC
> (the last one being 100+-page long). It's very clear to see that Novell f* up
> big time and sold some other people's blood for money. The Easter filing
> revealed a lot of stuff that ought to annoy many developers. Other filings
> make it clear that Microsoft /BOUGHT/ OOXML support from Novell. In turn, it's
> reasonable to assume that Novell brought the OOXML 'disease' to projects like
> GNOME. As I said a moment ago, Novell f* up big time.
I did look up the December 2007 10-K filing.
For reference:
http://yahoo.brand.edgar-online.com/fetchFilingFrameset.aspx?dcn=0000950134-07-026037&Type=HTML
or
http://tinyurl.com/2cnxqu
Looking at the whole deal, it looks like Novell actually got a pretty
good deal, and Microsoft paid dearly.
Microsoft had a big problem with Virtualization. Novell was a big
supporter of Xen, and Windows XP ran quite efficiently as a Xen
client, but this meant that users had to install Linux as the primary
operating system.
Microsoft has been trying to find ways to make virtualization more
'platform neutral' allowing users to configure Xen clients from
Windows, even if there has to be a "common kernel" that isn't
Microsoft's.
Novell agreed to let Microsoft use some of the same technology that
Novell uses to configure Xen clients. Remember, SUSE Linux has a very
nice little Xen configuration tool that has a nice GUI interface.
Microsoft has also been having trouble in the server market, because
of their weak virtualization solutions. In many cases where
virtualization is used, Microsoft server VMs have to be hosted on
Linux systems to get efficiency.
But to get Novell's help, they had to pre-purchase a number of SUSE
Licenses and agree to sell them to OEMs who could offer a virtualized
server solution. Furthermore, Microsoft had to agreed to this package
on an exclusive basis, Microsoft can't offer Linux/Windows combined
platforms other than SUSE until 2012. Not a bad deal. SUSE got $214
million in cash, plus Microsoft has to spend $60 million on marketing,
and $34 million to train their sales staff in selling the new combined
virtualized platform.
Microsoft also had a problem if ODF was standardized. Microsoft
didn't have a workable ODF implementation, and was going to have a
really hard time implementing one. Microsoft also didn't want to end
up getting into another lawsuit with Novell over Clayton Act
violations (which Microsoft settled quickly after the judge ruled in
preliminary judgment that Microsoft actions and contract terms were
violations of the Clayton act.
Novell had been a contributor to Open Office, they had ODF experience,
and they were willing to help Microsoft implement an ODF display
engine, in exchange for more details on how to properly convert Office
documents to ODF format, probably under terms that would permit
disclosure to OpenOffice.
Microsoft made a similar deal with Sun Microsystems, and Sun did
provide a "patch" to Office that would allow Microsoft to import and
export ODF documents, but didn't support a full ODF rendering engine.
Microsoft was caught between a rock and a hard place. IBM has an ODF
engine (Notes 8 and Symphony), Sun has an ODF engine (OpenOffice and
StarOffice), and even Corel has an ODF engine. Meanwhile Microsoft
does not have an ODF engine, but Novell seems to think they can
deliver one.
It looks like Novell may also be working with Microsoft to make a
better version of WINE, something that could let Windows use the Linux
kernel, which is faster and more efficient, yet would also support the
full and properly licensed Microsoft libraries and applications.
Microsoft has been having some real problems with Active Directory.
AD management is very labor intensive, and many customers with
heterogeneous environments are requiring that AD be configured in
"compatibility mode" which makes it work with any LDAP configuration
system. Novell has one of the better LDAP management packages, and
appearantly, Novell is willing to help coordinate the schemas so that
AD is more standards compliant.
Conspicuously missing is any mention of client platforms. Did Novell
agree to stop going after the OEMs? Or perhaps Novell is still openly
and aggressively courting OEMs like HP, Dell, Lenovo, and Acer, on a
nonexclusive basis, with the intent of using Clayton act and Sherman
act rulings to force Microsoft to allow the OEMs to install
virtualized desktops.
Microsoft still has some big problems. Novell has a great GUI
interface for configuring and managing Xen clients, but they don't own
Xen. Microsoft still has to cut deals with Xen developers, or their
representatives.
Microsoft may have to give up a lot of control over the kernel in
order to get a good Xen compatible "Host" solution. There are efforts
underway to come up with a common "microkernel" which will support
Xen, VMWare, and several other virtualization solutions, and
essentially make ALL of the other platforms "Clients", and in order to
get the agreement of all the players, it has to be Open Source, but is
more like an LGPL type license (can be called from proprietary
kernels).
Of course, the agreement expires on 2012, so this could be Microsoft's
plan for a "next generation" version of Windows (or whatever they
decide to call it) and may be a more viable alternative to trying to
write an entire kernel in C#.
It is very close to "Microsoft Linux", but at least it isn't a
proprietary derivative product.
I noticed that Novell also purchased 100% of a company called RedMojo,
which they purchased for about $9.7 million cash, plus $0.2 million in
merger, and transaction costs. VMWare has similar virtualization
resource management technology, but this would be a useful extension
to Xen.
Also interesting:
It's worth noting that Novell also reported a 69% growth in it's Linux
related revenue. In addition, they seem to be doing well with their
ZenWorks product, which provides software management tools for BOTH
Windows and Linux.
If the other Linux vendors are realizing similar growth in their Linux
related revenue, it's a good trend. There is a good chance that with
all the FUD surrounding the Microsoft contract, which has now been
cleared up to a certain degree by the 10-K filing, that Novell's
growth may have been lower than avererage, that other Linux related
vendors were experiencing even faster growth rates, and that Novell
could experience even faster Linux related revenue growth as a result
of these disclosures.
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