Financial Firms Tap Microsoft for Linux

Financial heavyweights are among the first IT customers to take up Microsoft's (Nasdaq: MSFT) offer for Linux -- delivered to its Windows customers through Redmond's recent deal with Novell (Nasdaq: NOVL), which signed up its Suse Linux for the interoperability and patent partnership last month.

AIG Technologies, Credit Suisse and Deutsche Bank all professed their approval of the partnership, which has alienated some free and open source software (FOSS) advocates. The financial institutions indicated they now have better support and flexibility for their mixed environments.

Although the customer wins are a more substantial sign of support for the partnership than a survey released last week, skepticism in the open source community persists, with Novell's Jeremy Allison, a key Samba project developer, announcing his departure from Novell because of the Microsoft pact.

Favoring Flexibility

Novell CEO Ron Hovsepian, who has countered contentions that the patent agreement with Microsoft suggests any concession that Microsoft intellectual property is incorporated in Linux, called the customer moves so soon after the Nov. 2 announcement "proof points" of the wisdom of the companies' joint collaboration.

"We see both Windows and Suse Linux as strategic platforms going forward, and we're very pleased to see Microsoft and Novell, who support these platforms, step up and work on interoperability," said Credit Suisse Chief Information Officer Tom Sanzone. "This is a great model, because it provides a bridge to connect the open source and proprietary software to benefit customers."

Linux Leanings Key

It is no secret that IT customers are using both Windows and Linux, want more integrated support and interoperability, and would like to remove or mitigate IP issues whenever possible, Interarbor Solutions Principal Analyst Dana Gardner told LinuxInsider.

However, he noted that it is too soon to tell how successful Microsoft and Novell will be pitching their partnership to IT users -- most of whom are not concerned about the prospect of legal action from Redmond against Linux users.

"What's more telling is whether this arrangement between Microsoft and Novell steers customers away from other Linux distributions," Gardner said.

Light on Details

The announcement of major financial firms as customers is promising, but is not necessarily a harbinger of things to come, Gartner (NYSE: IT) Vice President George Weiss told LinuxInsider.

"I wanted to talk to the CIOs [involved] to find out exactly what has been promised," he said, "because mainly, it's promises at this stage."

With no interoperability road map from the two companies, the significance of the announced customer deals is decreased, he pointed out, adding that "real announcements speak for themselves."