The company trumpeted its role as a founding member of the Linux Foundation, a merger of the Open Source Development Labs and the Free Standards Group. The two nonprofits have led in the promotion of Linux as an alternative to the predominant Microsoft Windows.
The new organization will promote common programming standards that are "critical to the success of Linux," said Markus Rex, Novell's vice president for services strategy. "The Linux Foundation's efforts on standards and certification, its legal and community activities, and its advisory councils will provide important benefits to our customers and the open source community."
But if the statement was meant to reassure developers of "open source," or free, software, who are important contributors to Novell's own Linux distribution, SUSE Linux, it had mixed results.
On a day the investment firm SunTrust Robinson Humphrey joined with others in citing the three-month-old Microsoft pact and upgrading Novell to "buy" status, some Linux enthusiasts were still suspicious. (Novell stock closed Monday at $6.81 per share, up 12 cents.)
Along with promising to promote SUSE - and only SUSE - as a second operating system, Microsoft pledged to work on software compatibility issues and excuse SUSE users from any potential Linux patent-related litiga- tion.
"Can we trust Novell? We can trust Novell to do what's good for Novell," quipped Bruce Perens, a Berkeley, Calif. Linux developer and open source spokesman.
Perens also wondered about how effective the new Linux Foundation - backed not only by Novell, but Fujitsu, Hitachi, HP, IBM, Intel, NEC and Oracle - can be in promoting the open source development ideal.
"No organization that is sponsored by all of these large companies and also has a partnership [with Microsoft] can be an effective leader in sponsoring an alternative to Microsoft Windows," Perens said.
Since signing its collaborative pact with Microsoft, Novell has repeatedly sought to shore up its open source bona fides. The maker of the world's No. 2 Linux distribution did so again on Monday.
Rex reminded critics that Novell helped found both FSG and OSDL and held board positions with both groups as "the sole major commercial Linux distributor." No. 1 Linux distributor Red Hat has remained independent of the organizations.
Amy Wohl, founding analyst for Wohl Associates, acknowledged that the open source community has reacted with anger to Novell's perceived duplicity. But it is not a view she embraces.
"People who read into the Novell-Microsoft pact that Novell has any intention of doing anything other than figuring a way to sell more Novell Linux - and do it in a way that protects its customers [from patent disputes] - are seeing hobgoblins," Wohl said.
That has not stopped Novell from promoting SUSE as a better choice for computer users than Microsoft's new Vista OS, to hit retail shelves next Tuesday. On its Web site Monday (http://www.novell.com/products/desktop/compare-to-vista.html), Novell favorably compared SUSE as "the compelling alternative to Windows Vista."
Microsoft had no immediate comment on either the foundation announcement or Novell's SUSE campaign, a spokeswoman said.
bmims@sltrib.com
* Novell backs launch of the new Linux Foundation, a merger of groups it also helped found that support development of the freely distributed Linux operating system as a counter to Microsoft's predominant Windows.
* Novell and Microsoft recently signed an exclusive Linux co-development pact favoring Novell's SUSE brand of Linux. The pro-Linux "open source," or free, software programming community, has reacted with dismay.
* Anticipating Microsoft's retail release of its new Vista OS on Jan. 30, Novell launches campaign to encourage adoption of its SUSE brand of Linux instead.
