06.30.08
Novell Sleeps with Windows Vista Again
This has become a recurrent pattern that we highlighted in this Web site before (most recently here).
What a way to start the Novell newsletter for June. A reader who received it by E-mail has sent us a copy, labeling it “Novell recommends Vista.” Here is a screenshot we took:
Novell is hopefully getting its money’s SUSE coupons’ worth for all of that sucking up. What a way to be greeted as a Novell client.
Ironically enough, on the other side of the fence, Microsoft continues its verbal assault against Free/Open Source software. Way to go.
Microsoft starts a FUD war against open-source Symbian
That didn’t take long. Nokia announced just last week that it would be open sourcing Symbian, the world’s top mobile operating system by market share, and a few days later Microsoft has started a FUD war against the move.
The ironic thing in this Microsoft FUD offensive is that it’s using precisely the wrong example from open source to wage the war: Linux. While it could have found some examples of open source that fragments, is more costly than proprietary software, etc.,
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Try competing on the quality of your product. In mobile, Microsoft has always been an also-ran. This will not change until Microsoft stops believing its own FUD and actually invests more heavily in its mobile initiatives, by which I mean in its technology, not in its marketing. Windows Mobile has never been very good, even back in the early days when I competed with them while at Lineo. It’s time for an upgrade, Microsoft.
Novell seems kind and gentle towards Microsoft (it has to), but Microsoft continues to hate and combat a wave which it is unable to defeat. It’s a one-way relationship, for sure.
Skepticism aside, for those who ask themselves why we keep showing such examples, it’s the worry about closeness that could become an acquisition one day. It makes financial sense and the companies seem less separable as the months go by. █
“Our partnership with Microsoft continues to expand.”
–Ron Hovsepian, Novell CEO
Ian said,
July 1, 2008 at 1:24 pm
Um, I’d be willing to bet 95% of their customer’s installed desktop base is Windows. From a business standpoint, it would be pretty stupid to ignore your core business opportunities.