Novell's Hovsepian fires back at Ballmer

When Microsoft and Novell first announced their multi-million dollar deal for interoperability, most of us were at least a bit surprised. Then, when Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer announced that the deal was motivated by a desire to squeeze compensation out of Novell as Linux "uses [Microsoft] intellectual property," things made a bit more sense. Now, Novell has fired back at Microsoft. In a statement, Novell CEO Ron Hovsepian bluntly disagreed with Ballmer's statement: "Importantly, our agreement with Microsoft is in no way an acknowledgment that Linux infringes upon any Microsoft intellectual property. When we entered the patent cooperation agreement with Microsoft, Novell did not agree or admit that Linux or any other Novell offering violates Microsoft patents." Isn't it wonderful when Microsoft and their partners get along?

For more on the increasingly muddled deal:
- see this CNET article