04.07.08
Novell Brings ‘Interoperability’ Pitch to the News
That’s what Zonkers are for
It is going to get a little harder to trust articles from Joe Brockmeier (better known as Zonker), especially if his journalistic integrity has the intersecting — if not conflicting — interests of Novell, which views itself as a Microsoft partner. Joe is now working at Novell, just a a gentle reminder.
Novell tries hard to ’sell’ the word “interoperability”, which it has been reciting for well over a year. It strives to rename or mis-characterise its embarrassing software patent deal, under which Novell pays Microsoft to have things working the proprietary way (with ‘Microsoft tax’) rather than the standards-based way. We will shortly supply another new example of this.
The other day we wrote about how Novell boosters use their positions of authority to push forward Novell’s agenda. By association, they help Microsoft as well.
Joe Brockmeier, who now works at Novell, is among the writers at Linux Magazines and he now pitches ‘interoperability’ (maybe taxoperability) in his article/interview “Making Interoperability Possible”. It’s not about standards.
It is important to begin to identify Novell’s ‘talking heads’ in the press. They can change public perceptions in Novell’s favour, at the exclusion of all others. █
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.