This is a little old but I thought iI would go ahead and throw something on my site. .
Novell has published additional details about its agreements with Microsoft concerning Windows and Linux interoperability and patents. It seems the company is receiving an up-front payment of $348 million from Microsoft, for SLES subscription "certificates" and for patent cross-licensing. Spread the word: digg this story In Novell's Form 8-K submission to the SEC (Security and Exchanges Commission), Entry into a Material Definitive Agreement, the company states that "Under the Business Collaboration Agreement, which expires January 1, 2012, Novell and Microsoft will market a combined offering. The combined offering will consist of SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES) and a subscription for SLES support along with Microsoft Windows Server, Microsoft Virtual Server and Microsoft Viridian that will be offered to customers desiring to deploy Linux and Windows in a virtualized setting."
What exactly does this mean? Hard to say at this point. Is this strange? Not as strange as one might initially think. If you recall, Microsoft did something very similar with Apple a few years back.