By rstechnica.com/author/ryan-paul/">Ryan Paul
| Last updated me" title=3D"2010-11-22T20:37:00Z">November 22, 2010 2:37 PM<=
/div>ired-by-attachmate-sells-some-assets-to-microsoft.ars">http://arstechnica.c=
om/open-source/news/2010/11/novell-acquired-by-attachmate-sells-some-assets=
-to-microsoft.ars

When Novell turned down an urce/news/2010/03/citing-underperformance-hedge-fund-offers-2b-for-novell.a=
rs">offer
to be acquired by hedge fund Elliot Associates earlier this year, it=20
seemed like the Linux vendor was looking for a better deal. The company=20
announced today that it has accepted an offer to be acquired for $2.2=20
billion by software company Attachmate. Parallel to the acquisition,=20
Novell has sold over 800 patents for $450 million to a consortium of=20
technology companies organized by Microsoft.

Novell entered the Linux market in 2003 by acquiring Ximian and SuSE,
commercial Linux vendors that were rising to prominence at the time.=20
Novell used the technology obtained through those acquisitions to build=20
enterprise Linux desktop and server platforms that the company brought=20
to market under a unified SUSE brand. Novell opened the source code of=20
some core SUSE features, such as the YaST configuration system, and=20
attempted to foster an independent open source development community=20
around its software.

=20
=20

Although Novell made a considerable investment to build a strong=20
Linux product portfolio, the company faced serious difficulties. It=20
couldn't catch up with Red Hat's substantial lead in the enterprise=
=20
server market and was never able to build a credible business around its
desktop products. Novell's desktop strategy was plagued by a general=
=20
lack of direction and suffered from the friction between the=20
GNOME-centric Ximian and KDE-centric SUSE developers.

Novell eventually managed to make its Linux business profitable by=20
signing a controversial interoperability agreement with Microsoft in=20
2006. The goal of the deal was to boost SUSE's compatibility with=20
proprietary Windows protocols in order to make the Linux distribution=20
more appealing to companies that use a combination of Linux and Windows=20
software. The agreement was extremely unpopular among Linux enthusiasts=20
because it included a patent covenant that protected SUSE customers=20
exclusively, failing to grant protection to downstream code recipients=97a
characteristic that is deeply hostile to open source licensing.

The deal with Microsoft proved to be profitable in the short term,=20
but wasn't enough to make Novell a truly competitive force in the=20
enterprise software market. Novell has gradually shifted its focus=20
towards development tools, cloud computing, and the mobile space.

The company is a significant participant in the MeeGo project and is=20
doing an increasingly large portion of the engineering for MeeGo's=20
netbook stack. The Mono project=97Novell's open source implementation o=
f=20
Microsoft's .NET framework=97is enjoying some commercial success as a t=
ool
for -mono-framework-brings-c-to-iphone-and-wii.ars">cross-platform mobile and e=
mbedded development. The company has also made inroads in the virtualiz=
ation market with its extremely impressive virtual appliance tool, called <=
a href=3D"http://arstechnica.com/open-source/reviews/2009/07/hands-on-linux=
-appliances-made-easy-with-suse-studio.ars">SUSE Studio (this led to so=
me speculation of a potential acquisition offer by VMware that never materi=
alized).

In addition to the wide range of modern open source technologies in=20
Novell's product portfolio, the company also has some extremely valuabl=
e
legacy IP, including some of the original copyrights on the UNIX=20
platform and patents that cover fundamental aspects of networking=20
technology and operating systems. The UNIX intellectual property was at=20
the center of the litigation brought by dying UNIX vendor SCO against=20
the Linux platform. SCO's claims that Linux misappropriated UNIX=20
technologies were never evaluated in court because it was determined=20
that Novell was actually the rightful owner of the intellectual property
that was allegedly infringed.

There are some concerns that the case against Linux could be=20
resurrected if a hostile third party such as Microsoft were to obtain=20
the UNIX intellectual property. Novell's sale today of over 800 patents=
=20
to a Microsoft-led coalition for $450 million alongside the Attachmate=20
deal raises questions about whether we could see SCO-like litigation=20
resurrected in the immediate future. It's worth noting that http://arstechnica.com/business/news/2007/03/ibm-laywer-scos-smoking-gun-fi=
res-blanks.ars">no evidence of actual infringement
was ever found during SCO's misdirected crusade against Linux. In fact=
,
internal memos from SCO that were uncovered during the court=20
proceedings reveal that the company's own source code audits found no=
=20
infringement.

The lack of copyright infringement doesn't mean that Linux is immune=
=20
to litigation over UNIX-related patents, however. It's not yet clear=20
exactly what patents Microsoft and friends bought for $450 million or=20
how they intend to put those patents to use. Although there are still=20
many unanswered questions, it seems clear that Attachmate intends to=20
perpetuate Novell's Linux business. In a statement issued today,=20
Attachmate CEO Jeff Hawn highlighted the value of SUSE and said that his
company will continue to strengthen the SUSE products.

"This acquisition will add significant assets to our current=20
portfolio holdings and the Novell and SUSE brands will allow us to=20
deliver even more value to customers," Hawn said in a statement. "=
;We=20
have great respect for Novell's business, its employees and its=20
commitment to customers. Moreover, we look forward to maintaining and=20
further strengthening Novell and SUSE solutions to meet market demands.&quo=
t;

Novell has made a number of significant contributions to Linux over=20
the past six years and played an important role in helping the platform=20
to mature as a desktop and server operating system. The company's=20
failure to achieve success on its own is disappointing, though not=20
particularly surprising. It's possible that new leadership will put SUS=
E
on a more profitable path, but it's not clear whether the company will=
=20
continue to be a major open source software contributor after the=20
acquisition is complete.

--
Regards,

Eva=
n M. Inker


--0015174c1254488a1e0495ab2756--

--0015174c1254488a1e0495ab2756
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=windows-1252
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable

** Everyone is now officially screwed ! ** Time to find a new distribution
.....
Novell acquired by Attachmate, sells some patents to Microsoft
By Ryan Paul | Last updated Nove=
mber
22, 2010 2:37 PM
http://arstechnica.com/open-source/news/2010/11/novell-acquired-by-attachma=
te-sells-some-assets-to-microsoft.ars

When Novell turned down an
offerce-hedge-fund-offers-2b-for-novell.ars>to
be acquired by hedge fund Elliot Associates earlier this year, it
seemed
like the Linux vendor was looking for a better deal. The company announced
today that it has accepted an offer to be acquired for $2.2 billion by
software company Attachmate. Parallel to the acquisition, Novell has sold
over 800 patents for $450 million to a consortium of technology companies
organized by Microsoft.

Novell entered the Linux market in 2003 by acquiring Ximian and SuSE,
commercial Linux vendors that were rising to prominence at the time. Novell
used the technology obtained through those acquisitions to build enterprise
Linux desktop and server platforms that the company brought to market under
a unified SUSE brand. Novell opened the source code of some core SUSE
features, such as the YaST configuration system, and attempted to foster an
independent open source development community around its software.

Although Novell made a considerable investment to build a strong Linux
product portfolio, the company faced serious difficulties. It couldn't catc=
h
up with Red Hat's substantial lead in the enterprise server market and was
never able to build a credible business around its desktop products.
Novell's desktop strategy was plagued by a general lack of direction and
suffered from the friction between the GNOME-centric Ximian and KDE-centric
SUSE developers.

Novell eventually managed to make its Linux business profitable by signing =
a
controversial interoperability agreement with Microsoft in 2006. The goal o=
f
the deal was to boost SUSE's compatibility with proprietary Windows
protocols in order to make the Linux distribution more appealing to
companies that use a combination of Linux and Windows software. The
agreement was extremely unpopular among Linux enthusiasts because it
included a patent covenant that protected SUSE customers exclusively,
failing to grant protection to downstream code recipients=97a characteristi=
c
that is deeply hostile to open source licensing.

The deal with Microsoft proved to be profitable in the short term, but
wasn't enough to make Novell a truly competitive force in the enterprise
software market. Novell has gradually shifted its focus towards development
tools, cloud computing, and the mobile space.

The company is a significant participant in the MeeGo project and is doing
an increasingly large portion of the engineering for MeeGo's netbook stack.
The Mono project=97Novell's open source implementation of Microsoft's .NET
framework=97is enjoying some commercial success as a tool for cross-platfor=
m
mobile and embedded
developmento-framework-brings-c-to-iphone-and-wii.ars>.
The company has also made inroads in the virtualization market with its
extremely impressive virtual appliance tool, called SUSE
Studiopliances-made-easy-with-suse-studio.ars>(this
led to some speculation of a potential acquisition offer by VMware
that never materialized).

In addition to the wide range of modern open source technologies in Novell'=
s
product portfolio, the company also has some extremely valuable legacy IP,
including some of the original copyrights on the UNIX platform and patents
that cover fundamental aspects of networking technology and operating
systems. The UNIX intellectual property was at the center of the litigation
brought by dying UNIX vendor SCO against the Linux platform. SCO's claims
that Linux misappropriated UNIX technologies were never evaluated in court
because it was determined that Novell was actually the rightful owner of th=
e
intellectual property that was allegedly infringed.

There are some concerns that the case against Linux could be resurrected if
a hostile third party such as Microsoft were to obtain the UNIX intellectua=
l
property. Novell's sale today of over 800 patents to a Microsoft-led
coalition for $450 million alongside the Attachmate deal raises questions
about whether we could see SCO-like litigation resurrected in the immediate
future. It's worth noting that no evidence of actual
infringementmoking-gun-fires-blanks.ars>was
ever found during SCO's misdirected crusade against Linux. In fact,
internal memos from SCO that were uncovered during the court proceedings
reveal that the company's own source code audits found no infringement.

The lack of copyright infringement doesn't mean that Linux is immune to
litigation over UNIX-related patents, however. It's not yet clear exactly
what patents Microsoft and friends bought for $450 million or how they
intend to put those patents to use. Although there are still many unanswere=
d
questions, it seems clear that Attachmate intends to perpetuate Novell's
Linux business. In a statement issued today, Attachmate CEO Jeff Hawn
highlighted the value of SUSE and said that his company will continue to
strengthen the SUSE products.

"This acquisition will add significant assets to our current portfolio
holdings and the Novell and SUSE brands will allow us to deliver even more
value to customers," Hawn said in a statement. "We have great respect for
Novell's business, its employees and its commitment to customers. Moreover,
we look forward to maintaining and further strengthening Novell and SUSE
solutions to meet market demands."

Novell has made a number of significant contributions to Linux over the pas=
t
six years and played an important role in helping the platform to mature as
a desktop and server operating system. The company's failure to achieve
success on its own is disappointing, though not particularly surprising.
It's possible that new leadership will put SUSE on a more profitable path,
but it's not clear whether the company will continue to be a major open
source software contributor after the acquisition is complete.





--=20
Regards,

Evan M. Inker

--0015174c1254488a1e0495ab2756
Content-Type: text/html; charset=windows-1252
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable

** Everyone is now officially screwed ! ** Time to find=
a new distribution .....

le">Novell acquired by Attachmate, sells some patents to Microsoft

By rstechnica.com/author/ryan-paul/">Ryan Paul
| Last updated me" title=3D"2010-11-22T20:37:00Z">November 22, 2010 2:37 PM<=
/div>ired-by-attachmate-sells-some-assets-to-microsoft.ars">http://arstechnica.c=
om/open-source/news/2010/11/novell-acquired-by-attachmate-sells-some-assets=
-to-microsoft.ars

When Novell turned down an urce/news/2010/03/citing-underperformance-hedge-fund-offers-2b-for-novell.a=
rs">offer
to be acquired by hedge fund Elliot Associates earlier this year, it=20
seemed like the Linux vendor was looking for a better deal. The company=20
announced today that it has accepted an offer to be acquired for $2.2=20
billion by software company Attachmate. Parallel to the acquisition,=20
Novell has sold over 800 patents for $450 million to a consortium of=20
technology companies organized by Microsoft.

Novell entered the Linux market in 2003 by acquiring Ximian and SuSE,
commercial Linux vendors that were rising to prominence at the time.=20
Novell used the technology obtained through those acquisitions to build=20
enterprise Linux desktop and server platforms that the company brought=20
to market under a unified SUSE brand. Novell opened the source code of=20
some core SUSE features, such as the YaST configuration system, and=20
attempted to foster an independent open source development community=20
around its software.

=20
=20

Although Novell made a considerable investment to build a strong=20
Linux product portfolio, the company faced serious difficulties. It=20
couldn't catch up with Red Hat's substantial lead in the enterprise=
=20
server market and was never able to build a credible business around its
desktop products. Novell's desktop strategy was plagued by a general=
=20
lack of direction and suffered from the friction between the=20
GNOME-centric Ximian and KDE-centric SUSE developers.

Novell eventually managed to make its Linux business profitable by=20
signing a controversial interoperability agreement with Microsoft in=20
2006. The goal of the deal was to boost SUSE's compatibility with=20
proprietary Windows protocols in order to make the Linux distribution=20
more appealing to companies that use a combination of Linux and Windows=20
software. The agreement was extremely unpopular among Linux enthusiasts=20
because it included a patent covenant that protected SUSE customers=20
exclusively, failing to grant protection to downstream code recipients=97a
characteristic that is deeply hostile to open source licensing.

The deal with Microsoft proved to be profitable in the short term,=20
but wasn't enough to make Novell a truly competitive force in the=20
enterprise software market. Novell has gradually shifted its focus=20
towards development tools, cloud computing, and the mobile space.

The company is a significant participant in the MeeGo project and is=20
doing an increasingly large portion of the engineering for MeeGo's=20
netbook stack. The Mono project=97Novell's open source implementation o=
f=20
Microsoft's .NET framework=97is enjoying some commercial success as a t=
ool
for -mono-framework-brings-c-to-iphone-and-wii.ars">cross-platform mobile and e=
mbedded development. The company has also made inroads in the virtualiz=
ation market with its extremely impressive virtual appliance tool, called <=
a href=3D"http://arstechnica.com/open-source/reviews/2009/07/hands-on-linux=
-appliances-made-easy-with-suse-studio.ars">SUSE Studio (this led to so=
me speculation of a potential acquisition offer by VMware that never materi=
alized).

In addition to the wide range of modern open source technologies in=20
Novell's product portfolio, the company also has some extremely valuabl=
e
legacy IP, including some of the original copyrights on the UNIX=20
platform and patents that cover fundamental aspects of networking=20
technology and operating systems. The UNIX intellectual property was at=20
the center of the litigation brought by dying UNIX vendor SCO against=20
the Linux platform. SCO's claims that Linux misappropriated UNIX=20
technologies were never evaluated in court because it was determined=20
that Novell was actually the rightful owner of the intellectual property
that was allegedly infringed.

There are some concerns that the case against Linux could be=20
resurrected if a hostile third party such as Microsoft were to obtain=20
the UNIX intellectual property. Novell's sale today of over 800 patents=
=20
to a Microsoft-led coalition for $450 million alongside the Attachmate=20
deal raises questions about whether we could see SCO-like litigation=20
resurrected in the immediate future. It's worth noting that http://arstechnica.com/business/news/2007/03/ibm-laywer-scos-smoking-gun-fi=
res-blanks.ars">no evidence of actual infringement
was ever found during SCO's misdirected crusade against Linux. In fact=
,
internal memos from SCO that were uncovered during the court=20
proceedings reveal that the company's own source code audits found no=
=20
infringement.

The lack of copyright infringement doesn't mean that Linux is immune=
=20
to litigation over UNIX-related patents, however. It's not yet clear=20
exactly what patents Microsoft and friends bought for $450 million or=20
how they intend to put those patents to use. Although there are still=20
many unanswered questions, it seems clear that Attachmate intends to=20
perpetuate Novell's Linux business. In a statement issued today,=20
Attachmate CEO Jeff Hawn highlighted the value of SUSE and said that his
company will continue to strengthen the SUSE products.

"This acquisition will add significant assets to our current=20
portfolio holdings and the Novell and SUSE brands will allow us to=20
deliver even more value to customers," Hawn said in a statement. "=
;We=20
have great respect for Novell's business, its employees and its=20
commitment to customers. Moreover, we look forward to maintaining and=20
further strengthening Novell and SUSE solutions to meet market demands.&quo=
t;

Novell has made a number of significant contributions to Linux over=20
the past six years and played an important role in helping the platform=20
to mature as a desktop and server operating system. The company's=20
failure to achieve success on its own is disappointing, though not=20
particularly surprising. It's possible that new leadership will put SUS=
E
on a more profitable path, but it's not clear whether the company will=
=20
continue to be a major open source software contributor after the=20
acquisition is complete.

--
Regards,

Eva=
n M. Inker


--0015174c1254488a1e0495ab2756--