Joined this late...

There is this Microsoft guy talking about how the union was a result of customer nudging both companies to get their acts straight and address their litigous patent issues.

He is saying MS is making a commitment not to assert patent claims against open-source hobbyists.

Keeps saying "building bridges". MS in the construction industry now?

Oh... his name is "Brad"

Now, Shea from "HP" is talking. Says HP loves MS and Novell equally. Says Steve hates Linux jokes, but not anymore.

HP guys used a lot of "big words" to restate the fact that HP loves Windows and Linux equally.

A "user" now thanking MS and Novell for kissing up.

Oh... question time.

Is MS interested in loving RH as it now loves Novell? Why won't this MS guy just answer yes/no? are you or are you not? Jeeze

"MS Guy" (Steve Balmer) going in circles to say that RH is just not big enough to be worth MS love. Novell was more attractive. MS is going to work with Novell to deliver a version of Linux that meets some "specifications".

Oh... it's a blasphemy!!

Ronn of Novell says this partnership is more unique and more attractive because Novell has more patents (than RH, maybe). So, they were able to blackmail MS into entering into a "partnership" with them.

Novell admits that they initiated the partnership. Novell guy says he persuaded Kevin (of MS) to grab Steve and Brad (of MS) and beat them over the head that it was cheaper for MS to kiss Novell.

Questioner now asking how did last week's Oracle affect the decision to get into this agreement. Steve says MS still hates Linux, even though they are kissing Novell. Novell is a proxy. So says Steve Balmer of MS. Customers drove MS to get behind Open Source and Novell was the logical "proxy" for MS to associate with.

The Novell dude is saying that this relationship will accellerate technology development.

Does this agreement have any effect on Novell's suit against MS on WordPerfect. NO. Steve says this agreement is only for OS. The lawsuit is still going on. 99 down, 1 to go.

Someone is asking them to speak English so that the Press can explain this to the public.

According to Steve -  we just agreed not to sue the pants off of each other. Each side can now use the other's intellectual properties more easily - in short: Technical Interop and Patent Agreement Liberalization.

Steve plugging Zune. Very sneaky.

Seattle is a suburb of Redmond???

The agreement will make it easier to run non-Windows apps in Windows through virtualization (emulation???, who knows?)

Does this agreement indicate joint technology development or does it only apply to existing technologies? Brad says both. Novell is acting as a proxy for its customers. Only its customers, and no one else. This does not apply to any other Linux flavor. If you want a Linux that interoperates with Windows, you need SUSE. Any other flavor, and you are SOL. So, does this mean that the liberal licensing scheme that is supposed to cover Open Source ONLY applies to ...what....... Open (SUSE) Source??? You got me :)

When is Vista coming out? For corporate, before the end of the year. General release is early 07.

OK, now they are done. And the (wet) kisses are flying all over again. My eyes! My eyes!!