Standard & Poor’s analyst Jim Yin believes that Novell is less likely than before to sell itself, but he does not rule out this possibility

We recently showed how Microsoft is ’stealing’ from Novell’s GroupWise. Is this the company that Novell is serving in so many ways? Why? Has Novell forgotten the past so quickly? Examples from the news of Novell problems and loss of business to Microsoft.

The nature of Novell's landmark deal with Microsoft -- thoroughly detailed in Novell's annual report and SEC filings -- demonstrates the riskiness of open-source players forging partnerships with proprietary software vendors, according to analyst Dana Gardner. "This development shows the brittle nature of intellectual property," he said.

Novell's dependence on Microsoft increases. Novell is not only giving up on tools which compete against Microsoft’s [1, 2, 3, 4]. It actively embraces Microsoft’s vision of technology and helps Microsoft in a variety of different ways.

Novell hires someone from the Burton Group; Microsoft carries on with fake 'open source'

While many Linux users hated the idea of the Microsoft/Novell partnership from the start, Ian Bruce, director of Novell public relations, says that “Customers drove” the latest expansion of the Novell/Microsoft deal.

Novell is fed by Microsoft and it also serves Microsoft, this latest situation being a possible new example (Microsoft and Novell try to hijack OOO.)

Selling fear. That’s just what Novell does along with Microsoft, but it’s not alone. Novell tries to cause damage to friendly (Free software) rivals for the benefit of Microsoft and increased profit at Novell.

Techtarget.com may be delivering this news a little too late, but it incorporates some quotes which the publisher sought from Red Hat, Xandros, Novell and some so-called ‘analyst’.