..complete article at: http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1104_2-5142679.html?tag=zdfd.newsfeed

LinuxWorld: Novell's debutante ball By Stephen Shankland CNET News.com January 20, 2004, 6:56 AM PT

New partnerships with server makers Dell and Egenera will be among the displays of Novell's newly bought Linux status at the LinuxWorld Conference and Expo beginning Wednesday.

Novell, whose NetWare operating system lost out to Microsoft in the server market in the 1990s, hitched its cart to a new horse with its $210 million purchase of SuSE Linux this month. SuSE lagged behind Linux market share leader Red Hat, but Novell is hoping its cash, customer connections and intellectual property will provide a boost.

Examples of SuSE's gradual gains include the finalization of an expected support partnership with Dell, the last of the four major server makers to make the move. And start-up Egenera, which began its Linux server business offering only Red Hat, also will include SuSE in the fold.

IBM, which has relied on SuSE to bring Linux support to its five server lines, endorsed the acquisition with a $50 million investment and believes Novell's move puts SuSE on a better footing in comparison to Red Hat.

"We think this is a very healthy thing, because it provides a good balance between the two," said Scott Handy, vice president for IBM's Linux strategy and market development.

There's still work to be done, though. Dell is on board, so customers in Europe, where SuSE is most popular, will have better support, but "Red Hat is still our major partner for Linux," spokeswoman Carmen Maverick said.

Software companies also are cutting deals with Novell. Veritas will announce it's selling SuSE versions of its software for storage management and server availability, and mainframe specialist Compuware and Web server power BEA Systems also are expected to announce Novell partnerships.

[...]

Novell began indemnifying its Linux customers last week, following in the footsteps of Hewlett-Packard.

Other protective programs include a $10 million legal defense fund for Linux users from the Open Source Development Labs and another defense fund Red Hat established for open-source programmers.

Novell has joined IBM and Red Hat to become a third major SCO challenger, arguing that it still owns the Unix copyrights because SCO's predecessor failed to request them after buying elements of Novell's Unix business in 1995 and 1996.

[...]

And at the Linux show, Microsoft's booth will once again feature the company's Servers for Unix software, now free. The software is used to run Unix programs on Windows, an ability Microsoft hopes will help Unix or Linux administrators make the jump to Windows.

[...]