Microsoft Making Millions Off Novell Linux
Submitted by srlinuxx on Wed, 01/02/2008 - 19:03.
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer once called Linux a cancer. Now, thanks to his company's alliance with Novell, he's probably labeling the open source OS as something much more benign.
Like, say, "Cash Cow!"
Evidence is emerging that Microsoft is making money, lots of it, from selling 'certificates' for Novell's SUSE Linux. Microsoft gained the right to distribute the certificates a little more than a year ago under a marketing and technical alliance with Novell.
As InformationWeek.com sister site ChannelWeb noted Monday, Novell in its annual report said that it received $355.6 million from Microsoft last year through their "Interoperability Alliance."
Novell in its 10K doesn't provide a more specific breakdown of the number ... but a spokesman confirms that $240 million of that is what Microsoft has remitted back to Novell for the certificate sales.
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Microsoft and Novell
Wow, MS made $240 million plus whatever mark up they have on those SUSE certs over a 12 month period.
I guess Bill can afford to send his kids to private school now.
MS makes more then that every few days selling their own OS and OFFICE, so I hardly think "Cash Cow" is exactly how their accountants or management is describing something that could easily be a rounding error on their balance sheet.
They bought them, they re-sell them, what's the problem?
Hey, M$ has bought those licenses from Novell a year back; they have managed to sell them on - what's the big deal?
Especially considering that witch-hunters everywhere considered the purchase of SUSE-Licenses by M$ as a 'bribe' to Novell back then; as if there was no chance nor intention on Microsoft's part to re-sell those licenses.
Other Distros Suffer Because of Novell
The Novell deal allowed Microsoft to make money from Linux distributions whose vendors did not even have a deal signed with Microsoft. That alone should justify resentment and protest against Novell.
Remember that Microsoft claims ownership of parts of Linux now. It calls that intellectual property, but it won’t say what it actually is. Like a coward, Novell sacrificed not only its own soul. It essentially sold the blood of Linux and Free software as a whole.
Oh, no; not again this Schestowitz...
No, it only justifies resentment against conspiracy theorists.
'Soul'? 'Blood'? 'Sacrifice'? I get the impression that you are trying to make a pseudo-religious thing out of it. That is by no means appropriate.
Come on; you're not even involved in Linux; you're just an embarrassment to the community with your slanderous propaganda.