In a significant acknowledgement of the viability of Linux as a corporate OS, Microsoft Thursday announced a deal with Novell to support Suse Linux on machines that run Windows.

Microsoft will offer sales support for Suse Linux and also co-develop technologies with Novell to make it easier for users to run both Suse Linux and Microsoft Windows on their computers. Microsoft plans to distribute 70,000 coupons for SUSE Linux Enterprise Server maintenance and support to customers that want to run both Windows and Linux in their environments.

Microsoft CEO Ballmer

As expected, Microsoft Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer announced the news in a San Francisco press conference. He was joined by Novell CEO Ron Hovsepian, as well as other executives from both companies and customers.

"This is to bridge the divide between open source and proprietary source software," Ballmer said. "It gives customers greater flexibility in ways they have certainly been demanding."

However, he added that the deal does not mean Microsoft is now going to be a huge Linux proponent. "If you want something, I’m still going to tell you [to buy] Windows, Windows, Windows," Ballmer said.

As part of the deal, Microsoft also will agree not to assert rights over patents to any software technology that might be incorporated into Suse Linux. Protected under this are individuals and noncommercial open-source developers who create code and contribute to the Suse Linux distribution, as well as developers getting paid to create code that goes into the distribution.

Brad Smith, senior vice president and general counsel for Microsoft, said it was difficult to come up with a "covenant" between the companies to marry open-source code and proprietary code, but "we sorted out the economics so Novell’s customers don’t have to."

That said, under the patent cooperation agreement, both companies are paying each other up front in exchange for a release of patent liability. Additionally, Novell will make running royalty payments to Microsoft based on a percentage of revenue from open-source products.

Basically, the agreement ensures that Novell Suse customers are protected against patent litigation from Microsoft.

However, at the event, Smith declined to comment whether Microsoft thought that Novell rival Red Hat’s Linux distribution violates Microsoft’s intellectual property.

Microsoft has been relenting lately on its tight hold on patents through a program called its Open Specification Promise. Through the program, Microsoft has promised not to take any legal action against developers or companies that want to use specifications for a host of technologies for which it has patents.