Novell could be out of the Linux business

Posted Nov 3, 2006 11:37 UTC (Fri) by pdsdst (subscriber, #19395) [Link]

Novell probably did not have much choice at this point. The US patent mess is getting worse every minute and with a whole basket of lemons and insufficient funds this is probably the best deal Novell could make for their stockholders. After all, Apple is doing fine after yielding to their old enemy. I also think that large companies are too dependant on Linux by now for MS (or Oracle) to try to kill it off by destroying Novell, Red Hat and Canonical in one fell swoop without seriously hurting their own bottom line (and making it politically impossible for the EU to let them of the hook). MS as a company may act stupidly sometimes but I do not think they are seriously considering using their patents against Red Hat in the next few years (at least not until software patents are enacted in the EU). Friendly competition is usually much more rewarding for all involved and MS is still making a lot of money.