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Three Takers Named for Microsoft's Linux Support
Posted by
Zonk
on Thu Dec 21, 2006 05:36 PM
from the step-right-up dept.
from the step-right-up dept.
narramissic writes "According to an article on ITworld, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank AG, and AIG Technologies have signed on for Microsoft's technical support for Novell Inc.'s Suse Enterprise Linux. This follows last month's announcement of a deal between Novell and Microsoft that Steve Ballmer described as an effort to 'bridge the divide between open-source and proprietary-source software.' None of the companies cited the price of the support certificates, nor would they say how many they were activating. Even more interesting, Credit Suisse is a brand new customer for Novell."
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And so it begins. (Score:5, Insightful)
Customer: "Please don't hurt me."
Ballmer: "These are some lovely client server apps you have here, it would be a shame if something were to.. happen to them..."
Customer: "Okay.. okay, I'll pay.... I'll pay" [quiet weeping].
-GiH
Re:And so it begins. (Score:5, Funny)
So when is
Parent
Thirty pieces of silver... (Score:3, Insightful)
Never, we are way to scientifically mindied here to resort to Biblical symbolism. However we are quite mean enough to, say.... superimpose a portrait of Vidkun Quisling [wikipedia.org] over the Novell logo.... Mwuhahahahahahahahaha!
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
there would of been no arm twisting there.
Bridging The Divide (Score:3, Insightful)
So which way does Ballmer expect to bridge this door?
Microsoft providing Linux Support? (Score:5, Funny)
Great. (Score:5, Funny)
Why? - Credit Suisse in particular (Score:4, Insightful)
What am I missing?
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
You're not missing anything based on the evidence available to us. The conclusion is that there's something behind the scenes. It makes me wonder what sort of deals are being made between Microsoft and the directors at Novell.
Re:Why? - Credit Suisse in particular (Score:5, Informative)
According to Matt Asay over at InfoWorld, [infoworld.com] this story is incorrect, or at best exaggerated. He says he has it on authority that all the companies mentioned in the story had been using both Suse and Red Hat for some time.
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Wonder where they got their information?
"Support" (Score:5, Interesting)
Honestly, the word "support" to me has almost no meaning anymore. It's been thrown out there so many times as the deciding factor in a purchase, however I've yet to see really useful support. I've dealt with companies big and small and have never resolved a difficult issue in less than an hour with their supplied support.
All I care about anymore is whether they give you the proper tools to solve the problem yourself. Proper documentation and the source code (yes, smaller companies will give you source code if you are big enough and that's the deal breaker). I'll take that over a level I phone jockey any day!
Masochists. (Score:5, Funny)
BAD Headline... (Score:5, Informative)
They are... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:itsatrap (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Naw, I like Neal Stephenson's analogy [cryptonomicon.com], because then it would be like having an M1 tank, made of space-age materials and jammed with sophisticated technology from one end to the other, that's been modified in such a way that it never, ever breaks down, is light and maneuverable enough to use on ordinary streets, and uses no more fuel than a subcompact car, and taking it to a station wagon car company to have it serviced.
Finally, (Score:4, Funny)
Actually, make that a perfect car analogy.
Parent
Re:Can you imagine? (Score:4, Insightful)
I think the only real problem here was the deliberate attempt to undermine the GPL. In the end, though, the effect is not as bad as we think. GPLv3 plugs the loophole, a Linux vendor gets a ton of cash from Microsoft, and life goes on. I don't like Novell getting in bed with Microsoft, but it's not like they had a whole lot of choice. $400 million is a lot to turn down on the basis of "principles", "morals" or "ethics". The important thing is that the timing of the announcement allowed the GPL to be developed to prevent any further deals of this nature to be made.
mandelbr0t
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
To use another bogeyman to illustrate it... this is like Sony "offering" to "service" Xbox 360s, or something.
I've already seen some other analogies put forth, and I find this is one case where they are friggin' hilarious, and appropriate
Blind MS bashing?! Are you kidding?! (Score:5, Insightful)
What?! Microsoft's CEO basically threatens companies that use Linux, and Microsoft isn't at fault?!
And I suppose if Guido says, "Bad things might happen to your family, Mr. Anonymous Coward, unless you pay me some 'protection' money...", then it isn't Guido's fault if you pay him for protection you don't actually need???
And you got modded Insightful! Unbelievable!
I, for one, am getting pretty tired of people whining that Microsoft gets unfairly bashed here on Slashdot too often. I regularly read plenty of responses that defend Microsoft that get modded +5 Insightful.
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:and Hubert Mantel rejoins Novell (Score:5, Insightful)
Parent
Re:and Hubert Mantel rejoins Novell (Score:4, Informative)
It's easy enough to say that, but Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank AG, and AIG Technologies are not likely to be very happy when the next version of Samba rolls out and they can't use it because it is licensed under version 3 of the GPL and Novell can't distribute GPLv3 apps and still maintain its deal with Microsoft.
Novell has a vested interest in keeping the Free Software community happy because there is no way that Novell can compete if it has to maintain its own forks of popular Free Software projects. Novell is having enough trouble trying to convince customers that a migration from Netware to SuSE Linux makes more sense than a migration from Netware to Windows. The last thing Novell needs is this sort of drama.
Parent