Don’t believe it? Just watch.

Patents being exchanged, promises with regards to products, etc.

This makes Novell (at least) the 4^th company which falls into the very same trap. Previously in the series:

• Sun Microsystems
• SCO

The links above contain side-by-side comparisons.

InternetNews.com presents a short summary of a promise that was previously mentioned among the comments.

Nearly three weeks after Novell’s deal with Microsoft over patents, Novell developers are saying that one key part of the agreement is not enough.

During an online discussion the company held yesterday, developers said they are leery of phrasing about legal protections. They are now working with Microsoft on some improvements.

This fresh press release from Novell certainly changes the tune. No longer does Novell boast bringing SUSE Linux to schools and governments. For a change, Novell considers Windows as part of its infrastructure.

Whether it’s surprising or not probably depends on whether you have been a skeptic or a supporter or the deal. As Shane pointed out last night, Ron Hovsepian perceives that as the company’s new strategy and direction. On the face of it, Novell intends to virtualize Linux within Windows.

Dana Gardner shrewdly points out that Novell has developed a culture of secrecy, which in its own right justifies some of the criticism that’s directed at the so-called Open Source company.

Based on the Microsoft-Novell deal and its fallout, the entire industry is getting a close look at how open technology communities and companies work, according to Gardner. “The notion that a vendor can have a secret or fuzzy pact with another vendor doesn’t work when the community is instant and global and seamless,” he said. “You need to be pretty open and thoughtful about your announcements.” The same factors served to minimize recent industry concerns about Microsoft’s vague claims of intellectual property rights to Linux, which were the cause of some disharmony between the two software giants last week. “If you’re going to work in a community, you need to recognize you’re exposed,” Gardner said. “Sleight of hand doesn’t work, and ambiguity will be exposed and discussed.”

Whether it’s a reasonable assessment of not, that’s what Roblimo seems to suggest.

I also worry as much as anyone about Novell cozying up to Microsoft. Not many software companies lay down with that particular lion and walk away with their lambskin coats intact. Perhaps Novell will, but in a match between predator and prey I tend to bet on the predator. Call me silly or call me a realist; your name-calling will not hurt me — especially if I stay far, far away from Novell in case I become dependent on its products and they all start sporting a Microsoft logo (and carrying Microsoft-style usage restrictions) one day. Even Ubuntu, much though I love it in everyday use, seems to have problems with Free Software Purity. So I guess I need to turn to Debian… Microsoft is apparently getting ready to do something with Linux. We don’t know what, but if the company’s past history is any guide it won’t be pleasant. Novell either is or isn’t involved, and may or may not survive its attempt to cuddle up with The Beast in its den, so I must avoid it, too.

As Shane has just pointed out, to Novell, Hula is no more. Allow me to elaborate. The Hula project, one of the most promising among Novell’s Open Source initiatives, has been axed for a reason. This probably didn’t require much persuasion from Microsoft, either.

The quick synopsis is, Novell no longer has anyone working full-time on Hula. As a team we have spent some time looking at where the Hula project is and the opportunities in the market and in the end we had to conclude that we couldn’t justify investing at the same level in Hula going forward. So those of us who have been developing Hula full-time will be moving on to other roles and to other parts of the company.

This particular death knell reminds me of Microsoft’s recent deal with A9. It brought down services from A9 that competed with Microsoft directly or indirectly. This is not based solely on word of mouth. Reporters have cited competition with Microsoft services as the reason why A9 services had to be halted and their operation/maintenance retracted entirely. That happened just a couple of months ago. The aggressive new strategy appears to involved acquisition of/partnership with competitors, which in turn takes down competing projects (services and products).

Novell has turned its back on commitments to Open Source projects. I advice the OpenOffice team to find a new home because the only projects that I see surviving or flourishing is Mono (.Net). It does not affect the cash cows and it gives Microsoft control over developers in both worlds.

Paul Murphy from ZDNet speculates that one mysterious part of the deal, namely distribution of SUSE by Microsoft, will actually work to Microsoft’s advantage.

Strategically this is pre-positioning for a strike at IBM in anticipation of an SCO settlement, but it’s also something else: a case of winning with the right hand, while winning with the left too.

I will let you judge this for yourselves.