Published at LXer:

So how is Novell the new SCO? First and foremost, I'm not the first one to talk about the correlation between this deal and SCO's indemnification licenses...Groklaw has detailed postings on it. Let's look at this concept a bit more. This deal between Microsoft and Novell isn't about getting Linux to play nice with Windows...it's about patents, intellectual property, and indemnification licenses.

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From TFA:

Should be specified that this ranking is the one shown on distrowatch. Because there aren't many lists besides that on which I'd rank openSUSE as 2nd. And I'm probably one in many.

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Not very pleased by the title of TFA either:

Am I supposed to think "Hey.. it appeared on linux-blog.org so it MUST be so.".

Also, what happened to believing someone's innocent until proven contrary?

The best possible scenario here for Linux is that Microsoft is merely preparing itself for Vista +1. There have been reams written about the likelihood that MS can not release another version of Windows starting from the same code base it now uses. Apple saw the light a few years ago, and using seed money from MS, retooled it's OS to one based on Linux (or Unix, or BSD, or something similar). Vista +1 will undoubtedly be based on an open source platform piled even higher than Apple's with DRM and other freedom destroying accoutrements.

What better way for them to begin such a conversion than by starting to integrate their poisonous tentacles into a relatively complete and commercially viable Linux distribution such as Suse. By leaving the open source development community alone, they can be sure of a continuing source of thoroughly tested and superior design additions to that code base.

OTOH, if MS still maintains a long term goal of destroying Linux, the scenario outlined in this excellent article is very likely to be played out over the next few years. "ScoVell" may not be the correct appellation after all...perhaps "Scoodas" (as in Judas) is more apt.

The author got it only half right. Novell isn't the new SCO, Microsoft is. At the end of the day, it is Microsoft that is offering indemnification from its patent portfolio, and Novell was stupid enough to pony up. Novell is more like the boneheads who actually payed SCO for the "right" to use Linux.

Microsoft got a couple of huge wins here. First, there is a major Linux player essentially admitting that there is Microsoft IP in Linux. Second, Microsoft now has a nice combination of FUD and revenue streams coming from Linux. The only question is how many other boneheads like Novell are out there, and how efficient the FUD will be at scaring corporate Linux users.

If this turns out to be a brilliant move by Novell, I'm moving to BSD.