Novell Linux Business Spikes Since Microsoft Deal

StonyandCher writes "Novell's divisive deal with Microsoft has apparently resulted in some financial success for the company. PC World is now reporting that the company's Linux business has risen about 250% since the deal was announced last November. From the article: '[Novell director of marketing Justin Steinman] said part of its growth was directly related to the Microsoft deal, adding that Novell has billed more than US$100 million in business through its Microsoft relationship. He added that the growth was also due to the halo effect of the arrangement. "When we're out there competing with Red Hat, [our salespeople] are saying, 'Our Linux is recommended by Microsoft,' and customers that already have a Windows investment say it seems to make sense to pick the Linux that works with Windows."'"

This story sound familiar?

[sammy baby]

"When we're out there competing with Red Hat, [our salespeople] are saying, 'Our Linux is recommended by Microsoft,' and customers that already have a Windows investment say it seems to make sense to pick the Linux that works with Windows."

Translation 1:

Wow! That "embrace" part was great, and this "extend" phase is fantastic! I wonder what's next?

Translation 2:

Wow! These guards are great - they gave me a delicious meal, and now they're taking me out to meet their "squad!" Wonder why they want me blindfolded?

More seriously: I haven't worked with Novell stuff since this deal was announced. Anyone have any insight as to how much easier it really is to integrate with Microsoft stuff?

Re:Marketing

[ta bu shi da yu]

Alternatively, it appears, you choose Novell's distro because "it seems to make sense to pick the Linux that works with Windows". Good to see CIOs are making rational business decisions.

Re:Marketing

[Anonymous Coward]

Which in turns shows how knowledgeable people in decision positions are. I bet some guy will buy Suse thinking it's a cheaper version of Windows.

Well, they did mutilate the Gnome desktop to look like Windows... Applcations/Places/Settings in the same place as the start menu, "quick launch" in the same place, taskbar in the same place, notification area in the same place, clock in the same place, "Computer" icon on desktop, urine-colored theme, etc.

When I tried 10.1 it felt like a very slow, cheap knockoff of Windows 2000. Unlike Ubuntu, which despite the baby poop color scheme comes off as a polished* desktop that's not a ripoff of something else.

* Needs more graphical configuration tools. It's still behind Fedora in that, while Mandriva and SUSE are far beyond any thing else in this area (imho, both surpass Windows in this area as well).