Microsoft and Novell do Linux deal, snowball's chance suddenly looking better

Wowza! I just sat in on the announcement between Novell and Microsoft that they are partnering around Linux. There are two main biggies for me. The first is that this announcement provides some patent protection from Microsoft for open source developers building for Suse Linux. Developers can focus on building software and companies using Suse Linux can breath easy because lawsuits from Microsoft won't be forthcoming. The second thing that is important is the interoperability both between the operating systems and applications like Open Office.

This is a huge announcement, and it shows that Microsoft is taking the open source movement very seriously. I think this was a great way to jump in. Microsoft is still a business, and it has some valuable intellectual property that it has created over the course of its life. But the open source movement thrives off of free flowing ideas and when you run into patent barriers, it limits what you can do. But Microsoft can't open the floodgates, because it would spell disaster for the company.

But this came from the customers, and it goes to show that Linux has made big inroads into corporate computing. We are going to look back at this and realize that this was one of the big moments in making the operating system irrelevant. Windows and Linux will both be around for a long time, but if you are going to build software, you need to make sure it will run on both operating systems. Web based applications have started us along that path, but Rich Internet Applications are set to bring us into the next generation.

Microsoft is now on the track. I think as Novell and Microsoft work together to build and promote joint solutions, Rich Internet Applications will play a big part in that. Microsoft has some great engineering talent, and RIAs make for a great gateway into the world of cross-platform applications. I hope this means we'll see WPF/e on Suse Linux.