Microsoft Paid Novell $356 Million in '07 147
Anonymous writes "At the end of this piece at Channelweb.com, it's reported that Microsoft paid Novell $355.6 million last year as part of their 'interoperability' deal. It's no small wonder, then, that Novell executives are saying the deal has been a huge success so far."
Customers? (Score:5, Insightful)
It'd be interesting to see if the money they got from their customers in '07 equals or exceeds that number.
If it doesn't, I'd think they have a somewhat skewed and short-sighted definition of success. Me, I'd call it getting paid off.
Don't trust them (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Don't trust them (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Two ways to control corporations (Score:3, Insightful)
Unfortunately, it's the government itself, through patents and copyrights, which is acting to perpetuate the existing monopolies.
A fair society shouldn't have the current intellectual property laws. Patents shouldn't be given to processes and methods, only to specific mechanisms. Copyrights shouldn't be given to trade secrets, only to open publications. No copyrights for executable code, unless the source code is also provided. No coprights for copy-protected material, because if you use DRM you don't need the protection of the law.
Was blackmail involved? (Score:2, Insightful)
It may be that Novell hasn't sold its soul at all. It is really hard to see that Microsoft got any value for its money.
Re:Don't trust them (Score:5, Insightful)
i actually pity them. been partners of any sort with ms just seems to be the kiss of death.
Re:Don't trust them (Score:5, Insightful)
Novell at the moment may not be the most faithful to the GNU ideals at the moment, but I wouldn't go as far as to say that Novell "can no longer be trusted".
This is looking like what happened to Corel (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:What do the SUSE people think of this? (Score:5, Insightful)
For interoperability, Novell SLES is pretty pleasant. I work for the NHS in the UK, and moving hospitals away from being almost pure Windows is not an easy thing. SLES fills a lot of niches that Windows currently fills (file server, database platform et.), for a fraction of the cost. One of the things I'm working on is to make greater use of SLES. And if you point to Red Hat, and say "Well, they do the same product, except they're more idealistic", Red Hat don't have a current deal with the NHS (where Novell do, and provide fantastic pricing).
Couple that with eDirectory, Identity Manager etc. and you've got a lovely heterogenous infrastructure to play with.
I like Novell. Yes, they took money from the Beast. However, the Beast is currently being watched very carefully, and has a lot of other (probably unexpected) battles to fight.
I tend to run Ubuntu and Debian for home use (and quick build servers/firewalls). But in business, you need to bring a lot of other factors in. And for something the size of the NHS, alas, you can't always choose the idealistic route. Pragmatism and practicality are large factors.
As long as SLES keeps on being a great product, performing well, and being a really low cost product (for a commercially supported enterprise grade OS), I'll keep on using it.
game over? (Score:1, Insightful)
Does Microsoft's Monopoly Power Extend to Government and Media? [anonymouse.org]
Re:what did Novell give in return? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:NASDAQ:NOVL Total Revenue (Score:3, Insightful)
If it is more than a third,is this also suspicious?
Re:Two ways to control corporations (Score:5, Insightful)
So, let me tell you about this opensource thing...
"our protection of intellectual property is one of the elements that has made us the prosperous society that we are"
Our 'protection' of intellectual 'property' has kept us as far less prosperous society than we could have been.
Competition is what drives innovation and the evolution of technology. Handing out intellectual monopolies slows that innovation and evolution. Protecting someone from competition makes them slow and inefficient; to realize exactly how inefficient you just need to look at the former Soviet state-run businesses, or other state-protected monopolies in the west.
Just imagine the world we'd be living in today, had technology been allowed to develop competetively. Imagine the medicines we'd have if 'protected' pharmacorps couldnt spend 80% of their revenue on administration and marketing. Imagine the operating systems we'd have if most of the resources spent on them didnt get tied up in a single company that cant even produce a product better than their last one after six years (nevermind being outevolved by a rag-tag bunch of companies and individuals working in a _competetive segment_ with _unprotected_ software).
Patents and copyrights are a blight upon the economy and upon innovation.
Here's what Microsoft bought .... (Score:3, Insightful)
How? By paying Microsoft a ROYALTY for each copy of SLES that it sells Novell is making an implied statement that its distro contains MS IP.
Ballmer called the payments "an IP bridge". He could have said the payments were an admission of guilt.
Microsoft has a problem though. They've been claiming that Linux violates their IPs for several years now. The law requires that they inform infringers of the exact infringements so that damages can be mitigated. Microsoft has not done that.
Re:what did Novell give in return? (Score:2, Insightful)
Especially since it would involve making unauthorized modifications to your boss's or your company's property.