01.02.08
Matt Asay: “Novell [is] a Mere Vassal to Microsoft”
Despite Novell’s continued gagging attempts, Matt Asay carries on speaking about Novell’s suicidal move. Here is a portion of his latest remarks about something that we covered here yesterday.
With all due respect to Novell, I’m not sure scavenging in my top competitor’s pockets for lunch money is something to crow about. Interoperability is great. Being a vassal to Microsoft is not. (The word is appropriate, Novell - look it up.)
How can Microsoft removing Novell from effective Linux competition possibly be good for the market, or for Novell, long term? I understand that it’s a lot of money, and that’s great. In fact, I would assume that nearly every penny of Novell’s profit in 2007 came from Microsoft’s wallet.
But this isn’t a recipe for success. Microsoft does not have Linux’s best interests at heart. The minute Novell becomes more of a threat to Microsoft than Red Hat is, Novell will be shunted aside. In the meantime, Microsoft is Novell’s sugar daddy, making Novell a mere vassal to Microsoft.
“Shill”, “marionette” or “sockpuppet” make an apt analogy too. Microsoft is using Novell. Therefore, helping Novell is a case of further promoting Microsoft’s use of Novell. Microsoft maintains impact right inside Linux, via Novell, which serves as a proxy. █
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.