Microsoft and Novell has announced a broad, multi-year agreement to improve interoperability between Microsoft’s Windows operating systems and Novell’s SUSE Linux. Under the deal, the companies will pay each other to cross-license patented technologies and work together to ensure and improve the interoperability of Windows and SUSE Linux—and Microsoft will officially recommend SUSE Linux Enterprise for customers who want both Linux and Windows solutions. The deal will be in place through at least the year 2012, and the companies will create a joint research facility to design and implement new software solutions.
The agreement covers three broad areas: virtualization, tools for managing mixed environments, and document format compatibility. Virtualization work will focus on both running virtual Linux servers under Windows and running virtual Windows installations under Linux, offering customers flexibility in setting up and consolidating servers. The companies will also create tools to simplify management o both Windows and SUSE Linux in a networked environment, including tools for integrating Microsoft’s Active Directory with Novell’s eDirectory. The companies will also work on document sharing between Microsoft Office and Open Office applications and improving interoperability between Open XML and OpenDocument formats.
"They said it couldn’t be done. This is a new model and a true evolution of our relationship that we think customers will immediately find compelling because it delivers practical value by bringing two of their most important platform investments closer together," said Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer.
In addition, the two companies have agreed not to assert patent rights against each others customers; although no figures have bee disclosed, each company will pay the other up-front for release from possible patent liability, which means Microsoft—with its far greater sales—will pay more money to Novell than Novell will pay to Microsoft. Novell will make ongoing payments on a percentage of its revenues from open source products. Under a co-marketing arrangement, Microsoft will offer 70,000 coupons a year to its customers good for a year’s worth of maintenance and updates to SUSE Linux.
The announcement marks Microsoft’s second major deal with the open source marketplace in a week; Tuesday, the company announced a deal with open source developer Zend to improve the performance of PHP on Windows platforms.
The deal with Novell comes just two years after Microsoft paid the company $536 million to settle portions of antitrust claims brought against the software giant.
In 1950, Alan Turing asked whether machines can think. Rather than argue over definitions, he turned the question into a party game, where an interrogator trades typed messages with hidden players and tries to work out who is who. Since then, chatbots have gotten so good that they have already fooled humans in modern versions of the test.
So, four researchers from Paris Cité University asked the obvious follow-up question in a new study published in Computers in Human Behavior Reports: can AI at least catch its own kind?
Mozilla is giving Firefox’s Smart Window two new tricks. If you haven’t tried it yet, Smart Window is an optional AI mode in Firefox with a built-in chat that helps you get things done while you browse. With this update, it can fill out online forms using details from your tabs and keep an eye on websites for you.
Tired of typing the same details into every form?
The absolutely absurd idea of putting a touchscreen display on a mouse isn't exactly new. Turtle Beach already did it with its Command Series MC7, which features a 2.25-inch control screen. But apparently, even that wasn't ridiculous enough for Arctic Fox Technologies. Its new Super Mouse looks like someone took the chunky old Atari ST mouse, slapped a touchscreen and scroll wheel on it, and called it an upgrade.
The result is a rather unusual-looking mouse that is now on Kickstarter, starting at $199. And as ridiculous as it looks, some of its features are genuinely intriguing.