Novell joins Sun's Liberty Alliance Project

Novell, a company whose operating system for Intel servers was largely replaced by Microsoft Windows, has joined the Liberty Alliance Project to simplify how digital identity is handled on the Internet. Novell hopes to contribute its expertise in directory software, which keeps track of data such as usernames, passwords and computing resources a person is allowed to use, the company said Monday.

Sun Microsystems spawned the Liberty Alliance Project, with powerful early partners bolstered by the later arrival of AOL Time Warner and American Express. Microsoft has indicated that a warmer relationship is possible, as long as the effort doesn't turn into a Microsoft-bashing gang.