Microsoft and Novell strike landmark interoperability agreement

craigkitterman — Fri, 03 Nov 2006 21:17:00 GMT

Surely you have heard by now, yesterday the unthinkable happened.

There are four main components to the deal: a Technical Cooperation Agreement (TCA), a Patent Cooperation Agreement (PCA), and a Business Cooperation Agreement (BCA). There are also specific commitments Microsoft is making to both the contributors of openSUSE Linux, as well as to non-compensated developers (aka "hobbyists").

The BCA provides a platform for joint reserach, marketing and support.

The PCA provides patent coverage for one another's customers giving them piece of mind regarding IP issues.

Most interesting to me is the TCA. Under the TCA, Microsoft and Novell will focus on virtualization technology, web services management, and document format compatibility (specifically Open XML). Novell's participation in the Ecma TC45 for Open XML has paid off and they are committed to producing the code allowing interoperability with OpenOffce, and providing this support back to the OpenOffice.org community. Additionally, Novell has agreed to active participation in the Open XML / ODF translator project.

This deal will improve interoperability in heterogeneous environments containing SUSE Linux and windows, as well as between office productivity suites more effectively meeting the needs of our customers. This is not something we could have or would have done without great interaction and feedback from our customers and partners.

Microsoft releases Virtual Hard Disk (VHD) format under the Open Specification Promise (OSP)

craigkitterman — Tue, 17 Oct 2006 21:35:00 GMT

Today we announced that the Virtual Hard Disk (VHD) format is now freely available for use under our Open Specification Promise (OSP), and can be used in any development model without license for free, and forever. This decision was the result of many conversations over the last several months with our customers, partners and the open source community. By adding the VHD to the list of specs covered by the OSP, we hope to expand the virtualization market and foster interoperability among all virtualization solutions.

As part of Microsoft's ongoing commitment to interoperability, we will continue to evaluate our broad list of specifications and consider them for use within the OSP model. We welcome feedback on this subject, as discussion with the community is critical to our vision of interoperability.

Craig Kitterman's Interoperability Community Blog : virtualization

Microsoft and Novell strike landmark interoperability agreement

Microsoft releases Virtual Hard Disk (VHD) format under the Open Specification Promise (OSP)