Is it Microsoft + Novell or Microsoft vs. Novell?

Mary Jo Foley notes some of the highlights of Microsoft's patent/interoperability deal with Novell, following Microsoft's own press release celebrating the deal. She says something, however, that I'm not sure I agree with:

Not surprisingly, Microsoft isn?t saying much about the part of its collaboration with Novell which has generated the most publicly outcry: The patent-protection component. The press release simply states that the 30 new customers are "join(ing) the ranks of all other Microsoft and Novell customers currently benefiting from the companies? collaboration to enable interoperability and IP peace of mind in mixed environments."

Actually, this is very surprising. I've started to notice a trend in all the announcements the two companies have made over the past year: Novell stresses interoperability while Microsoft beats its drum on patent protection.

Are the two companies talking about the same deal?

The answer, of course, is yes. But it's interesting to see just how divergent the two companies' angles on the deal are. (Just look at the press releases. The Microsoft quotes are always about IP, while Novell's are always about interoperability.) Novell was clearly fishing for a leg-up against Red Hat, and in the interoperability piece it has largely succeeded (even if the differentiation through interoperability is more chimera than reality).

Microsoft, for its part, want a patent/IP club with which to beat up on open source. In this it has largely failed. SCO was scarier than Microsoft's IP claims, because SCO was actually foolish enough to sue.

I've talked with some of the companies who have adopted SUSE based on the Microsoft/Novell deal. The patent/IP part is almost always an afterthought. If someone is predisposed to SUSE then it is a nice nudge, but it doesn't motivate deals. Not in most cases. (I understand that it was a compelling differentiator for Wal-Mart, though.)

Interoperability? That's more persuasive with customers (though I still think it's a largely bogus story). Novell markets this (sometimes distastefully), and it's having a positive effect on its business. Fair enough.

I wonder how long Microsoft will continue its efforts to try to cast the deal as about IP. It's not for Novell, it seems to me now. Microsoft did the deal to hurt Linux - there's no other explanation for it. It has no fiduciary duty to enable a competitor (unless its a weaker competitor against the Linux market leader, Red Hat). It has a fiduciary duty to kill that competitor.

But its efforts to do so through patent FUD are falling flat. All it's doing is shifting some Linux revenue from Red Hat to Novell or, worse yet, shifting potential Windows revenue from Microsoft to Novell. This can't last.

When Microsoft and Novell started dating, both seem to have expected different things from the relationship. Will they continue it if Microsoft doesn't get its way?

[Noah Clements]

Interoperability is the IP

It was Novell's willingness to honor Microsoft patents that lead to the work on interoperability between Microsoft and Novell (apparently Microsoft claims patents cover some aspects of their networking). I don't see how the two are incompatible. Microsoft says that if you honor their IP, you get x benefits (including interoperability). Novell says that they now have this great interoperability. That seems more like cause and effect.

Noah

[The_Decider]

Very wrong

This is not about respecting bogus IP claims. Novell never infringed on MS's bogus patents before so what changed? Nothing, this is just a tool for Novell to increase sales, and a FUD machine for MS.

Nothing more.

[Matt Asay]

Actually, that's not really the case

Red Hat honors Microsoft's patents. So do you. So do I. No one has any problems with Microsoft's patents. It's the phantom, threatened patents that I don't respect, and that Red Hat didn't cower to. Red Hat and Microsoft talked for a year about interop only to have Microsoft spoil it in the end with a demand on patents. Novell gave in on that one (for various reasons), but Novell has very clearly steered clear of fetishing Microsoft's patents since the deal was made.

[The_Decider]

Few people who understand software respect patents

It is a means to quash innovation in the name of profits.

Software patents are bogus on there face, all of them.