08.09.08
Posted in Novell, Ron Hovsepian, Security, Interoperability, HP, Mail, Identity Management at 12:48 pm by Roy Schestowitz
Virtualisation
Novell’s CEO will be a speaker fairly soon. His presentation will take place in New York.
Other keynoters include Marie Hattar, VP of network systems and security solutions at Cisco; and Ronald W. Hovsepian, president and chief executive of Novell. Hattar is expected to discuss trends in data centers and videoconferencing, and Hovsepian is expected to address the latest in virtualization.
Partners
Not much has happened with Novell in the past week, despite the LinuxWorld expo. There was this press release, however, which reveals another loose connection to Novell.
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07.31.08
Posted in Microsoft, GNU/Linux, Ron Hovsepian, Steve Ballmer, Office Suites, Mono, OpenDocument, SUN, Open XML, OpenOffice, FOSS, xandros at 4:59 am by Roy Schestowitz
Novell still leans towards Microsoft, too
Gavin Clarke is at it again. He does yet another Ramji/Microsoft glorification piece. This time, for a change, he adds this:
“We need to engage with Windows administrators - this stuff runs on Windows,” Ramji said.
For more from Ramji on how Microsoft surrendered sovereignty to the Open Source Initiative, on chief executive Steve Ballmer’s apparent rapprochement with open source - just don’t mention the “L” word - and how Microsoft won’t be open sourcing Windows, you can download George’s 11 minute podcast here.
Remember what Microsoft has in mind. As Steve Ballmer once shouted (and even damaged his vocal chords in the process), it’s “Windows Windows Windows”.
The Ramji/Clarke-like series isn’t an isolated incident and it never stops. Remember how Microsoft raves about its control of the press and its ability to push so-called (pseudo) ‘open source’ figures into the headlines. It even says so in a job description.
John Fontana does Ramji another glorifying piece, calling him a “guru”. And then there’s this:
Then it turned ugly.
The first questioner from the audience wanted to know what it would take for Microsoft not to claim patent infringement violations in open source code.
His inquiry was followed by whoops, whistles and thunderous applause.
The next question was about trust, as in why should we trust you this time? And the next referenced what the questioner called the “Office Open XML debacle” and accused Microsoft of using its power to buy international standards.
To explain what has happened here, consider this: Microsoft attacks Free software at the back and uses people like Ramji as a punch bag to absorb criticism and make critics of Microsoft look ugly (because, hey, Ramji didn’t say anything to aggravate, did he?). For similar reasons, female representatives are sometimes used to mitigate a verbal assault. It was a similar situation in OSBC 2008 [1, 2, 3, 4, 5].
Here is what Pamela Jones wrote recently about Microsoft’s attempts to bury memories of the OOXML fiasco:
Now, when it looks like the world really does want ODF instead of OOXML, surrogates are sending a dual message — first, that ODF has won, so OOXML isn’t worth fighting any more (and anyone who does is an “extremist” anti-Microsoft whiner), and two, that OASIS isn’t able to do a good job with ODF, so the same folks who brought you OOXML should take it over.
In the same vein, the message Microsoft delivers to us now is that Microsoft just loves open source and if someone complains about it (or — God forbid — insults ‘poor Ramji’), then that someone is “an “extremist” anti-Microsoft whiner,” to repeat the wording used above. It’s a moral shield which used to ensure that the Trojan horse can penetrate the very centre of Open Source City and then change its governance.
There is actually a lot more of the same in ODF/OOXML. Alex Brown [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21], for instance, played innocent a while ago by issuing an apologetic press release. Microsoft pulled the same type of stunt. The purpose was to shut up critics and make them look bad by pretending that Microsoft had already lost.
“The purpose was to shut up critics and make them look bad by pretending that Microsoft had already lost.”As Groklaw showed some hours ago, Microsoft lied. It was self-serving double-speak. Pamela Jones wrote: “If you believed the story put out that “ODF has won”, you may be in for a surprise. ZDNet Asia has some quotes from Oliver Bell, Microsoft Asia-Pacific’s regional technology officer, a CompTIA person, and a sales guy there, all touting OOXML as the dominant choice, due to it allegedly being the default format in Word. I’ll show you one example, but you’ll find it all of interest. Of course, what is available in Word is not the ISO format OOXML, despite what this article says.”
“CompTIA,” eh? Does it not matter who pays the wages there?
Also on the same subject, Novell continues bragging about its own version of OpenOffice.org. It won’t say out loud (with rare exceptions that it’s only for Novell’s paying customers. for whom it claims to have paid Microsoft for ‘protection\. Remember that this thing is filled with Mono hooks, VBA, and OOXML. Novell even makes the Windows version better than the GNU/Linux version. It was a promise made in the agreement between Ron Hovsepian and Steve Ballmer. Sun has many reasons to be displeased. Novell is with Microsoft. Novell supports Microsoft technologies like .NET and OOXML and nothing will change. █
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07.15.08
Posted in Microsoft, Ron Hovsepian, NetWare, Patents, IBM at 3:13 pm by Roy Schestowitz
That’s what partners are for
Novell’s business is in a sad situation. Its legacy component gets devoured more quickly than the minuscule new components grow. Like many other companies, Novell appears to be cutting down its workforce or moving overseas by announcing layoffs, to be followed by recruitment somewhere cheaper.
Almost the only person who benefits seems to be the CEO. Is it a reward for failing to reverse the trend? Darl McBride too received a pay rise after he had filed for bankruptcy (and possibly yet to face criminal charges).
One of the culprits in Novell’s demise is, ironically enough, also its exploitative partner. It’s a one-way relationship and here is the latest example.
National operations technology manager Ian Kirby says Novell’s GroupWise didn’t offer the necessary integration with the company’s document management software.
“When you’ve got an explosion in the volume of email, it’s a lot easier and quicker to drag and drop emails into a matter-centric folder, so each client is represented by a folder in the document management system and each matter is a sub-folder of that,” Kirby says.
So they move to Microsoft.
“IBM, like Microsoft, is a believer in intellectual monopolies and holder of even more.”To put things in perspective, whenever Novell is ‘permitted’ to deploy SUSE Linux for a customer, it must pay Microsoft for the privilege. When Microsoft grabs Novell territories, Novell receives not even a dime. It’s an abusive relationship that Ron Hovsepian entered willfully.
While on this subject of patent relationships, it’s worth bringing up another article from the news. Hovsepian’s ‘mother ship’, IBM, which may or may not have been a backer and pusher for the deal with Microsoft, continues to deploy the Microsoft-taxed SUSE in its mainframes.
Cognos, which IBM bought for $4.9 billion last November, bypassed three IBM operating systems (z/OS, z/VM and z/VSE) and instead chose IBM System z for Linux and Novell’s SUSE for its entrée into the mainframe market. An IBM mainframe version for Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is also in the works.
We previously wrote about the situation with Red Hat [1, 2]. It seems possible that the Novell/IBM relationship runs deeper. IBM, like Microsoft, is a believer in intellectual monopolies and holder of even more.
Had IBM rejected Microsoft’s ludicrous claims against GNU/Linux, then it would also steer away from Novell, which feeds its predatory rival (giving it both money and legal ammunition). █
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06.22.08
Posted in Red Hat, Microsoft, GNU/Linux, Novell, Ron Hovsepian, Mono, Patents, Patent Covenant, Samsung at 6:07 am by Roy Schestowitz
Unsurprisingly, the anti-Red Hat deal [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12] which Microsoft and Novell had signed did not leave Red Hat too happy. Nevertheless, the new CEO has not said much about Novell. In the following new article he finally explains the difference between Novell’s approach and Red Hat’s approach (as Charles recently did).
Tell me more about the settlement.
What was impactful and important about it was we not only protected ourselves and our customers, we protected all upstream and downstream use of the technology. A lot of times, not to pick on anyone in particular, but Novell in the Microsoft settlement didn’t protect all their upstream and downstream users. We’re not just protecting ourselves, we’re protecting everyone who uses that technology.
Are patent disputes a common problem for you?
It’s always one of the issues, how do you handle patents with open source, because of the necessity in open source to protect up and downstream. It’s a complex set of legal issues. We generally don’t run into it that much because open source is really good at working around patent issues. It doesn’t take up a lot of my time.
Red Hat seems to be tuned in to developers’ needs a lot more than Novell is, the latter being a mixed-source company [1, 2, 3, 4] with a non-Free (non-libre) mindset. As such, this self-serving attitude is only to be expected in the future. Remember:
“Our partnership with Microsoft continues to expand.”
–Ron Hovsepian, Novell CEO (2008)
If the following comparison is anything to go by, Novell is to Free software what Nokia is to open source.
SUSE used to be a solid and stalwart promotor of free and open source software. The commercial boxsets had the best and most extensive collection of manuals and tutorials in the field, showing it understood the need of new W2L migrators. For Novell it was good thinking to buy SUSE and use it to salvage it’s declining Netware business. Corporations are driven by other sentiments than the communities of developers, as the recent remarks of Nokia’s VP show. Corporations will enter into strategic partnerships to protect or expand their market share and thus the partnership between Microsoft and Novell does make sense. But I am also raising my eyebrows at the attempts spearheaded by Novell to port Microsoft-based technology (.Net and Silverlight) to Linux (Mono and Moonlight).
Speaking of Mono, Nokia’s gadgets and Microsoft sellouts, never forget Samsung + Microsoft, which we last mentioned yesterday. Samsung is one of the companies that pay Microsoft for Linux in its gadegsts. It’s better to avoid it. Mono is believed to be part of this deal [1, 2, 3], but there’s insufficient evidence. █
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06.01.08
Posted in Red Hat, Microsoft, GNU/Linux, Novell, Ron Hovsepian, Mono, NetWare, Asia, Open XML, Virtualization at 9:01 am by Roy Schestowitz
Novell and Microsoft for intellectual monopoly
By means of exclusion, Novell, which is helped by Microsoft, hopes to eradicate what exists and thrives in freedom. It wants to rip-and-replace what has proven difficult to compete against due to the nature of the GPL. Remind yourself of the fact that GNU/Linux distributions sometimes struggle to offer added value compared to their counterparts because everything is shared. That’s fine and that’s the manifesto.
“Novell is squeezing the GPL goose (Gnus?) for that last golden egg.”Novell continues to hope that features which are only available to Microsoft deal-signers and paying customers (e.g. patent-’protected’ Moonlight, Mono, binary shims, hypervisor compatibility, document translators, etc.) will force change. Novell wants to flip the Free Software table and rake in all the cash, even the soul of Free Software in the process. To use a famous parable, Novell is squeezing the GPL goose (Gnus?) for that last golden egg. It’s an insidious plan to lock down users, putting them at Microsoft’s mercy and Novell’s direct debit list.
The business plan is easy to see. Novell plans to phase out and conquer existing Linux deployments, some of which are not counted or administered by commercial entities. In essence, Novell fights Microsoft’s battles and thou shalt not criticise Novell for it contributes some GPL-licensed code at the same time. It’s the perfect cover-up from Microsoft’s point-of-view. It’s like spitting in the well while filling it with barrels. Ultimate goal: cleaning up all those ‘freebie Linuxes’.
Novell released some financial figures a few days ago [1, 2] and the overall message was telling.
“Our partnership with Microsoft continues to expand,” the CEO told the analysts yesterday. “We [have] announced an incremental investment in the China market to focus on converting unsupported Linux users to SUSE Linux Enterprise…We also expanded our technical collaboration agreement to simplify and standardize the management infrastructure needed for efficient Windows Linux management. To date, we have invoiced $157 million, or 65 percent, of the original five-year, $240 million agreement.”
The CEO also noted that, in a “deepening” relationship with German-based SAP, SAP recently announced the selection of SUSE Linux Enterprise Server as the only Linux distribution to run SAP Business All-in-One, a software solution targeted at SMBs.
As you can hopefully see, they work on ‘exclusives’. Microsoft helps Novell achieve this because many of the companies involved are close (and closed-source) Microsoft partners. Microsoft can influence them, financially or otherwise. It essentially turns SUSE into the once-mythical “Microsoft Linux” (that’s Steve Ballmer on the right, brainchild of Steve’s Ballnux). Increasingly we see the ‘Microsoft-approved’ list, not the FSF-approved list. Microsoft’s list is the antithesis of the latter, and it loves this very much.
There are some more tools of manipulation at play. Remember that Microsoft has plans of bundling hypervisor/s with the O/S to fight VMWare along with Novell and others [1, 2, 3, 4]. Ironically enough, as this new article from CIO interprets it, what Microsoft is trying against VMWare at the moment is similar to its former fights against Novell. This time, for a change, Novell is an ‘accomplice’, not a victim. Novell does the homework of the bully who once hit it with a baseball bat for lunch money.
But rather than demonstrate what else a customer could do with network management, groupware and other products that were bundled with the operating system, as Microsoft did, Novell focused on telling everyone how much better NetWare was than NT. Bad move.
[…]
It’s not far down the rathole yet, but VMware is reacting to the promise of direct competition from Microsoft —and existing competition from every vendor that can squeeze a Xen hypervisor into its product bundles—by focusing on the past rather than the future.
Assuming the following new survey is anything to go by, the main competition involving GNU/Linux on the server is between Novell and Red Hat.
One of the main findings from the survey is that, if current trends continue, servers running anything other than Red Hat, Novell Suse or Windows Server will become increasingly rare. A clear majority of those surveyed, 81 percent, ran Windows Server, with Linux (of the Red Hat or Suse flavours) the next most used OS, at 50 percent.
What might the aforementioned exclusions mean for the long term? Need it be mentioned that Novell signed the deal with Microsoft and shortly afterwards acknowledges that it had agreed for SUSE to be the slave on Windows hosts (virtualisation can safely be assumed the way forward)? That was just part of the negotiation. In other words — and also to sum this up in a way — Novell received Microsoft’s endorsement and money in exchange for the crown in the datacentre, higher priority to OOXML as a document format, and .NET as the API of choice. Why again do some people still support Novell? █
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05.31.08
Posted in Red Hat, GNU/Linux, Novell, SLES/SLED, Ron Hovsepian, FUD at 3:35 am by Roy Schestowitz
With ‘friends’ like these, who needs enemies?
It appears to be happening again and for someone at the level of Ron Hovsepian, doing so would seem to reveal a sign of weakness (inability to emphasise one’s own technical strengths).
“The basic idea is that you can’t tread and stomp on your suppliers.”It was less than a year ago that he said: “They [Red Hat] are an edge server strategy company with one product. We have a two-year lead on them for desktops.” Let’s get something clear here. Does Ron Hovsepian actually not know about Fedora, which is ahead in terms of the features it incorporates (it’s usually the most cutting-edge distribution)? It’s only fair to ask this because Simon Phipps warned a while ago that Ron Hovsepian does not keep track of his competitors.
Going back to those older remarks, does SUSE really have a lead ? GPL, anyone? The basic idea is that you can’t tread and stomp on your suppliers. It’s all about teamwork, assuming Mono, Moonlight and other nasties are not exploited as means of circumventing the GPL with software patents.
Anyway, here’s is the latest from Ron Hovsepian:
Novell CEO: Red Hat Never in Desktop Linux
Novell’s CEO Ron Hovsepian used the investor call with analysts as an opportunity to land a low blow against Linux rival Red Hat (NYSE: RHT) and its desktop Linux business.
[…]
During the call Hovsepian responded to a question about how much of Novell’s progress is due to Red Hat exiting the desktop market.
“I wouldn’t attribute any of it to them exiting the market because technically, they would have had to put a product out there to enter the market, which they never got done,” Hovsepian responded.
This is not the first time that Ron Hovsepian pretends Fedora does not exist. Maybe he just doesn’t know about it. Notice the fact that it says “desktop market” and not “enterprise desktop market”. Excusing him would not be quite so trivial, lacking ambiguity or openness to finer interpretation. █
“FUD Buddies 4Eva! Let’s Make an Anti-Red Hat Pact”
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04.26.08
Posted in Microsoft, Finance, SCO, Novell, Ron Hovsepian, Marketing, Identity Management at 2:07 am by Roy Schestowitz
Overview
In quite a sparse post, Novell’s CTO describes the company’s strategy going forward.
In my last two postings, I introduced Novell’s future vision for an agile infrastructure to support computing and collaboration. I described the CIO motivation, eight use cases which make agility compelling, technology megatrends which make this possible, and the seven key technology areas which will allow the realization of this vision. These seven areas are: policy, identity, virtualization, Linux, orchestration, compliance and collaboration. In this posting, I will describe our roadmap for these seven areas.
There is a breakdown there which separates the main areas of operations. Some of the headings below are an attempt at separation as well.
SUSE Linux
Teradata turns out to be using SUSE Linux, which might be interesting in the future, especially in case the company gets mentioned again.
The 550 SMP scales up to 6 TB and is targeted at organizations looking to run a single application or to support test and development workloads. The system, which Teradata claims can be installed “within hours,” runs on the Novell Suse Linux 64-bit operating system or Windows. The Teradata 12 database costs an additional $40,000 or more, depending on requirements.
The 2500 model is powered by dual-core Intel processors, and includes storage, Novell Suse Linux, and the Teradata database and utilities. All the technology is pre-installed in a single “ready to run” cabinet, Teradata said. The system can be used to complement an enterprise-level data warehouse to meet specific analytical needs.
SUSE Virtualisation and Appliances
Some days ago we wrote about rPath [1, 2], which fell into Novell’s (and — by association — Microsoft’s) arms. But Novell’s virtualisation efforts are still broader than this and The Register has this new article about Novell appliances.
Through its Appliance Program, Novell said it will collaborate with ISVs to develop technology necessary to better make applications in an virtual appliance format. Novell will begin releasing software components over the coming months, including an automated tool to build appliances.
Some more on the virtualisation scene (Novell included) you can find here.
In a bid to bring about continuous innovation in virtualization, SAP has formed the Enterprise Virtualization Community, along with tech vendors AMD, Cisco, Citrix, EMC, HP, Intel Corporation, NetApp, Novell, Red Hat, Sun, and Vmware. The community will aim to develop new strategies for making business benefits of virtualization easily apparent.
Virtual Awards
Web site-awarded prizes have always been somewhat pointless and meaningless because of the process involved in granting them. Even nomination and voting are opaque. But Novell brags about this prize.
Novell was also named to the ASP’s Web Support Hall of Fame, which honors sites that have been named among the “Ten Best” for at least four years.
In its PR blog, Novell also claims to have won another award.
TechTarget has announced the results of its prestigious Information Security magazine and SearchSecurity.com 2008 Readers’ Choice Awards (registration required). For the second year in a row, Novell Identity Manager took the top spot in the Identity and Access Management category.
Shades of Frost & Sullivan.
NetWare
NetWare is not forgotten yet and Prosoft’s NetWare client has just become compatible with the latest version of Mac OS X.
Prosoft Engineering on Wednesday announced that the latest version of their NetWare Client for Mac OS X, version 2.0.1, is now available. A free update for users of version 2.0, NetWare Client costs US$149.
Identity Management
Over to identity, Dale Olds from Novell participates in the following event. It’s nothing too significant really, but at least noteworthy.
If you are here in Munich, be sure to come by our three hour long session Wednesday afternoon on Context in Identity, as well as my opening “Putting Identity in Context” talk that morning. But just in the last couple of weeks the “aha” guy of this conference, Kuppinger-Cole’s Joerg Resch, has put together a dynamite panel for Thursday morning – I’ll be moderating while host Martin Kuppinger, Quest VP Jackson Shaw (ex-Microsoft), Symlabs co-founder Sampo Kellomaki, Radiant Logic CEO Michel Prompt and the Bandit Project’s (and Novell’s) Dale Olds talk about “Virtual Directories and Beyond.” Each of the participants have been deeply involved in virtual directory technology – Sampo and Michel created their companies’ virtual directory products, Jackson was formerly VP at Zoomit who’s VIA product became the Microsoft Metadirectory Service, and Dale has worked on both Novell’s virtual directory as well as the Bandit Project. Martin and I simply like to talk about virtual directories!
SCO-Novell Faceoff
Groklaw keeps track of the very vibrant proceedings that now involve a great deal of Novell in the SCO saga. Here are some selected items from the past week:
Another New, New Lawyer for SCO; and Novell and SCO Update Exhibits: The Trial is Near
Another lamb to the slaughter, I fear, another new lawyer on the SCO team in SCO v. Novell, who I’m guessing drew the short straw. New in both senses. He passed the bar in 2005, and here he is, walking into the buzz saw called Morrison & Foerster. He must have been very, very naughty as a little boy, to deserve such a fate.
Parties File Sealed Trial Briefs; Novell’s Redacted Amended Trial Brief, as text
Comparing the two versions is interesting, in that we see Novell’s carefulness in answering all that SCO has raised recently, including the argument that when it said UNIX System V, it meant UnixWare, because that is where UnixWare comes from. Novell points out that it doesn’t matter where UnixWare came from, since SCO has only identified Unix System V pre-APA code as allegedly being in Linux.
SCO’s Reply Memo in Support of its Motion for Judgment on Novell’s 4th Claim
…what SCO fails to address is this: who is going to make SCO pay back Microsoft and Sun? I guess they get to sue SCO later or something, in SCO’s universe.
However, this illustration leaves out the reality — namely that Novell has not yet failed to ratify. It’s a decision SCO wants them to have to make before they even have the money in hand, before there is even a decision to make, since the court has not yet ruled on whether or not SCO had the authority to enter into the agreements. If they did, the agreements can’t be void, I don’t think, no matter how many of Nathan’s cars can fit on the head of a SCO pin.
Novell is still unlikely to see much (if any) money coming from SCO.
Staff Going Social
Some Novell executives receive credit for playing along with embarrassing things.
It takes a lot of guts for the CEO of one of the best-known software companies on the planet to go along with something like this, but I can tell you that he didn’t hesitate for a nanosecond. Hovsepian has a terrific sense of humor that really says a lot about Novell’s corporate culture. After watching the video of his boss, John Dragoon, Novell’s chief marketing officer, wrote in an e-mail to me yesterday that having a sense of humor is “a prerequisite to work in this industry.” I’d tweak that to say it’s a prerequisite to be as highly regarded in this industry as Hovsepian is.
Dana Russell, whose role we often criticise, participated in a scouts event too.
Scouts learn skills at career expo
[…]
The keynote speaker was Dana Russell, the Chief Financial Officer of Novell Networks. “Open Doors to Career Paths” was his message. The Expo did just that by offering a variety of hands-on experiences for the scouts.
Hopefully he did not encourage the youngsters to exchange money with Microsoft for establishment of foolish and regrettable deals. █
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04.17.08
Posted in Microsoft, Windows, GNU/Linux, Novell, Ron Hovsepian, Steve Ballmer, FUD, Bill Gates, Vista, FOSS at 10:37 pm by Roy Schestowitz
Is Novell advocating Free software at all?
“You’ve been waiting months for the release of Windows Vista, and now it’s here. But are you ready to make the move? New management solutions from Novell® can help. We’ve created this migration and management resource center to help you plan, manage and execute a successful migration including: analyst reports, best practices, web seminars and white papers. We’ll be adding new items regularly, so check back often.”
Novell: Windows Vista Migration Resources
A day ago we mentioned the tactless remarks from Ron Hovsepian, whose damage can affect not only Novell, but Novell’s (and Microsoft’s) rivals as well. What on earth was he thinking? Others ask themselves the same question.
Novell CEO Disses Embrace of Desktop Linux
[…]
While acceptance and conversion to Desktop Linux may occur more slowly in the U.S. than in other parts of the world, I think it sends a negative message for the CEO of a company that produces a product to make such a statement about that product. You don’t hear the president of the Dairy Association saying that he predicts that people are going to drink less milk. Instead, you see commercials supporting milk’s advantages and positive aspects. Have you ever seen a Linux commercial?
Fortunately, Novell’s CEO is not the only one to have foolishly criticised his own products out in public. Only yesterday:
As PC users clamor for Microsoft to continue to support Windows XP, company CEO Steve Ballmer called the Vista OS “a work in progress” at an annual Seattle event on Thursday.
A couple of months ago:
Holy Crap: Did Bill Gates Just Say Windows Sucks?
[…]
We asked a simple question: what Microsoft product could have used a little more polish before release? The answer astounded us. We would just like to thank Bill Gates for his honesty and his openness.
Microsoft and Novell appear to be sharing the same problem which is pessimism. It might, after all, be justified, but Novell mustn’t drag GNU/Linux as a whole into this. █
Better to keep quiet
when there is nothing
of substance to say
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« Previous entries ·
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.