A deal struck by government CIO John Suffolk and the Cabinet Office could save the public sector billions of pounds by supplying networked, supported PCs for around half the typical price.

Over two years ago, Microsoft and Novell signed an interoperability deal. Part of this agreement was a patent deal that suggested that Linux infringed on Microsoft's IP. Since then, Microsoft has signed a number more of these deals with various companies, but the Novell one is still the most famous.

Linux users take note: Microsoft has signed another patent licensing agreement with a Linux using vendor. In this new case, Microsoft has signed a deal with Melco Group the group that owns tech vendor Buffalo Technology.

Digg have just signed an exclusive ad deal with Microsoft. A pretty solid business move for them, I would imagine. But it brings another player to the table. A player who doesn’t exactly have a squeaky clean trackrecord when it comes to playing clean with contracts.

I've been thinking about something for a few days now. It's about the latest Novell-Microsoft deal that was announced on August 20, where Microsoft agreed to buy another $100 million worth of vouchers from Novell. I was wondering: how come two public companies can make a deal that seems to me to be material and yet keep pieces of the deal secret?

Linux vendor Mandriva SA thought it had signed a deal with Nigeria's government to equip elementary schools in that country with new PCs running the open-source operating system as part of a pilot project. But then Microsoft Corp. threw a wrench into the works, according to Mandriva CEO Francois Bancilhon.

Becta, the schools IT agency, has signed a new licence with Microsoft that it said offers better value for money and does not hinder open source adoption.

On the back of defending the agreement this week, Novell did as promised and published details of its landmark November 2006 Linux partnership agreements with Microsoft.

Mandriva Linux today announced a deal with the National Commission for Information Technology (CNTI) in Angola to provide technology solutions, training and consulting services in the African country.