Mind you guys, Novell is a huge monster. At a point of time, Novell was the owner, and had IPR rights over the original AT&T's UNIX (R) source code base. It later sold those license to SCO Corp.
Novell has taken to OpenSource software in a big way by their acquistition of Ximian and huge contributions to the GNOME project.
One reason for Novell to embrace Linux and GNOME projects could be that their own brand of operating system, Novell Netware is no longer being able to sell itself in market.
RedHat is just a new kid around the block which has been in picture since last 10 years.
Another monster is SUN Microsystems, which has recently embraced Free and OpenSource software strategy, by releasing their reknowed Solaris kernel under opensource license. They have also released Sun UltraSparc specifications under public license. This all indicates the new shift towards community supported software and for us it means wait and watch