Fox marries chicken, both move into henhouse …
… is how one blogger hailed the news of the Microsoft - Novell deal. Read the press release here and find a whole lot more from Novell here. For Microsoft’s PR go here.
This story has prompted literally hundreds of news items on the web (Google says 527 at the time of writing) with writers struggling for the right headline:
Hell freezes over: Microsoft, Novell partner on Linux
Keep your friends close and your enemies closer
Snowball’s chance suddenly looking better
Nixon goes to China, the Linux version
It is also big news on Virtual Finland, which is produced by Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland
Comments in the main-stream media so far include the BBC, SanFrancisco Chronicle, Financial Times.
Microsoft’s local newspaper has two pieces on the story, here and here. The second of these has quotes from long-time Microsoft shill Laura DiDio so may not be totally impartial.
Some look back to the 2004 deal between Microsoft and Sun and are unimpressed by today’s news.
Analysis of the impact on Red Hat can be found here and here; this is Red Hat’s rejoinder.
Here is a somewhat creepy piece about the opportunities the deal might bring for lawyers. Groklaw comes to a similar conclusion in a scathing and comprehensive piece.