10.01.07
Quote of the Day: Sam Varghese on Novell’s FUD Affinity
Another journalist (among several) protests against Novell’s actions, particularly the use of Microsoft FUD to its advantage.
Sam says:
That these claims also could be taken to mean that Novell is developing a non-standard Linux, one that is skewed only towards working with Windows, appears to have escaped Novell.
In other words, Novell has an “in” with Microsoft which Red Hat does not; Utah and Redmond are in bed together and Red Hat is an intruder.
Novell is quite clearly hoping that the long silence about the deal will slowly come to mean that people have accepted it and chosen to, in the words of Iraq invasion apologists, “move on.”
Do you hear that, Francis? People don’t forget. They just speak less.
Overall, it’s a good article from Sam and it is worth reading in full.
Highlight: Novell was the first to acknowledge that Microsoft FUD tactics had substance. Novell then used anti-Linux FUD to market itself. 
Highlight: Xandros let Microsoft make patent claims and brag about (paid-for) OOXML support. 
Highlight: Linspire's CEO not only fell into Microsoft arms, but he also assisted the company's attack on GNU/Linux. 
Highlight: Microsoft craves pseudo (proprietary) standards and gets its way using proxies and influence which it buys. 
Highlight: The invasion into the open source world is intended to leave Linux companies neglected, due to financial incentives from Microsoft. 
Analysis: Xen, an open source hypervisor, possibly fell victim to Microsoft's aggressive (and stealthy) acquisition-by-proxy strategy.