Microsoft has sold more certificates for Novell Linux software and support in the three months since the deal was signed than it anticipated, according to a company representative.
The software giant initially laid plans for up to 70,000 certificates in the first year. In the first three months, it has already sold more than 35,000.
Microsoft lawyer Brad Smith is also looking for pacts with other companies that distribute Linux or use it in their products.
"We are having discussions with other companies that I think share an interest in exploring this kind of model," Smith said last week at a dinner with journalists. "That includes companies that distribute open-source software, and it includes companies in the embedded space."
He declined to offer any specific names, however.
While customer have really taken to the Microsoft/Novell pact, it hasn't stopped the software companies exchanging verbal jabs with each other, according to Smith. Microsoft and Novell were publicly bickering within days of signing their agreement in November last year.
Nonetheless, Smith hails the deal as a landmark that still holds the potential of bringing together the open-source and commercial software business models.
"I actually think that when the decade is through, we'll look back, and we'll say the agreement between Microsoft and Novell was one of the most important milestones in the decade from an (intellectual property) perspective," Smith said.
That may be, but the two principals in the deal have hardly been sending love letters to one another. Microsoft and Novell on November 2 announced the pact, under which Microsoft agreed not to sue Novell Linux customers for patent infringement, while Novell agreed to pay Microsoft royalties, among other provisions.
That same month, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer claimed that the deal amounted to an admission that Linux infringes on Microsoft patents. Novell CEO Ron Hovsepian took issue with that in an open letter.
"Our agreement with Microsoft is in no way an acknowledgment that Linux infringes upon any Microsoft intellectual property," Hovsepian said in the letter.
Public agreement isn't necessary, so long as the deal is in place, Smith said.
"People can debate how much (the patent protection) is needed, but the reality is it's provided," Smith said.
