As part of the on-going agreement with Novell, Microsoft is identifying and converting unsupported users of Linux to the latest versions of Suse Linux.

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Continuing to dabble with the ‘dark side,’ Ron Hovsepian, president and CEO of Novell said in a recent press-release, describing the outcomes of their alliance with Microsoft, "It's very encouraging to see that our business and technical collaboration continues to resonate with customers around the globe."

Colin Rice, IT director of the Dairy Farm said "The Microsoft-Novell collaboration helps to solve interoperability problems and creates a more harmonious IT ecosystem. We are confident that Microsoft and Novell would be able to provide the right level of support when we go ahead."  Dairy Farm is a leading pan-Asian retailer, including 7-Eleven in Hong Kong, Macau, Southern China and Singapore, and other well-known local brands.

As I see it, this is important.  To both companies.  Novell has long been criticised as being near the middle of a long, slow decline to oblivion.  Microsoft as being a proprietary vendor, out of touch with the needs of third-world countries and their low-budget IT needs; and particularly out of touch with non-customers; Linux customers in particular.

This collaboration will focus particularly on two specific aspects of Linux: firstly, high-performance computing featuring SUSE Linux Enterprise Server and Microsoft Windows Compute Cluster Server running in a dual-boot configuration and secondly virtualization based on cross-platform virtualization solutions featuring Microsoft Windows Server 2008 with Hyper-V and SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 with Xen technology.

It remains to be seen if Chinese users will embrace a flavour of Linux clad in a Microsoft jacket, or whether they continue to mix-and-match as they see fit, but this is definitely an interesting step along an uncertain path.

There are still another 44 months to go in this Novell – Microsoft agreement.  May we all live in interesting times.

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David Heath  Linux  Microsoft  Novell