Microsoft throws support behind longtime rival Novell's Linux platform

In a bid to secure its place in the market for server software and perhaps burnish its reputation among users of open-source Linux, Microsoft today announced a wide-ranging agreement with longtime antagonist Novell.

"They said it couldn't be done.," Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer said in a statement. "This is a new model and a true evolution of our relationship that we think customers will immediately find compelling because it delivers practical value by bringing two of their most important platform investments closer together."

Ballmer outlined an agreement to support Novell's Suse Linux Enterprise open-source server software. The companies will also enable customers — mostly businesses and large organizations — to deploy both Microsoft's software and Novell's Suse Linux in parallel on computer servers.

"What's intriguing for me is Microsoft offering sales support of Suse Linux," said Laura DiDio, a research fellow with the Yankee Group. "This is almost like the lion and the lamb laying down together."

Novell's shares soared some 20 percent when The Wall Street Journal broke the story earlier today and closed up 15.7 percent, or 92 cents, at $6.79. Microsoft's stock lost 4 cents to close at $28.77.

The two companies also plan to improve the interaction between Microsoft's top-selling suite of Office software and a free alternative known as OpenOffice. This appears to be the only part of the collaboration with a potentially significant impact for consumers.

To encourage more companies to embrace Novell's open-source platform, Microsoft has pledged not to assert its patent rights over any of its technology that may be blended with Suse Linux.

DiDio sees this announcement, in concert with a major move last week by Oracle to horn in on Red Hat's market, as a major shift in the competitive $20 billion-plus marketplace for server software.

"One of the things that has scared everyone, from open-source aficionados down to other software vendors like Oracle and Microsoft, and IBM and Novell, is the fear that Red Hat was going to be so dominant that in effect it was going to become the Microsoft of the Linux space," she said.

DiDio said Microsoft's server products represent about two-thirds of the market. Linux software represents another 25 to 30 percent of the market, she estimated. Of that chunk, Red Hat, based in Raleigh, N.C., claims to own about 75 percent and "had basically played Pac-Man with [Sun Microsystems'] market share," DiDio said.

Microsoft's relationship with Novell, and the open-source community in general, has been strained at the best of times. At their worst, it has resembled the Sharks and the Jets from "West Side Story."

The history includes antitrust lawsuits, disparaging remarks from Ballmer toward open-source software in general, and vice versa, as well as a focused campaign by Microsoft to combat Linux by highlighting the costs to deploy and maintain the software.

"For so long, the fanatical element in the open-source community insisted on painting Microsoft as the Evil Empire, the Dark Side," DiDio said. "I'm sure that a lot of people are going to be confounded by this."

Today's announcement represents a détente, especially Microsoft's pledge not to assert its patent rights.

"Microsoft gets to wear the white hat and look benevolent, which is not the way they're usually cast in the tableau," DiDio said.

Benjamin J. Romano: 206-464-2149 or bromano@seattletimes.com. Material from The Associated Press is included in this report.