The vice chairman and open-source backer offers his two cents on the Ximian deal, Novell"s future relationship with Microsoft and the latest SCO skirmish.
Just before hopping a plane to jet off to LinuxWorld in San Francisco, Novell vice chairman Chris Stone provided a few quick answers to a few of our questions on Monday"s announcements that Novell plans to buy Gnome and Mono developer Ximian — as well as on Red Hat"s decision to sue SCO.
Microsoft Watch: Now that you are buying Ximian, will Novell offer a Linux desktop distribution?
Stone: Yes. The plan is to package the Ximian desktop with some of our products. Specifics are yet to be determined. But we want to cover Linux from the desktop to the server.
Microsoft Watch: How much of your decision to buy Ximian was influenced by your desire to take on Windows on the desktop?
Stone: We"re not after Microsoft. We are after opportunity. There are a bunch of little companies out there in the Linux market. Hardware makers, customers, you (press) people all told us to get in the market.