Posted 5:30 PM

Ray must be spinning...

Novell and Microsoft announced a technology agreement which seemed to throw Redmond's weight behind SuSE Linux as the preferred "flavor" for the Windows-based enterprise network. That's the quid. The quo is that both will cross-license patents to each other and their customers thus avoiding any fallout from the SCO situation (Microsoft is a closet backer of SCO in its fight against Linux).

Still, the timing has to be suspect. After all it was the recently deceased Ray Noorda who led Novell during the time it was Microsoft's biggest competitor and who vowed to take Bill Gates down a peg or two.

The big loser here, of course, is Red Hat. Coming on top of the Oracle announcement this could be the final nail in the coffin. Or, it could make the North Carolina company the darling of open source once again. Only time will tell.