Novell and Microsoft announced a deal last month to "bridge the divide between open-source and proprietary-source software," as Microsoft Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer described it. Under the deal, Microsoft promised not to file patent lawsuits against Novell customers. It will also spend US$440 million on sales, marketing and license fees in support of Novell's Suse Linux distribution, according to documents filed by Novell with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The two companies will work together to help customers integrate their competing operating systems.

As part of its marketing support for Suse Linux, Microsoft agreed to distribute "subscription certificates," each one entitling customers to technical support from Novell for a server running Suse Enterprise Linux. Microsoft intends to distribute around 70,000 of the certificates a year for the next five years. Customers have already activated 16,000 of the certificates in the seven weeks they have been offered, Microsoft said.

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