SEATTLE (Reuters)—Software maker Novell Corp. said on Tuesday that Microsoft Corp. will make two separate payments totaling $348 million to the company under an agreement to allow Novell's open-source Linux software to work with Windows.
Microsoft will pay Novell $240 million up front in subscription fees to allow the software giant to use its Linux software. Microsoft will pay an additional $108 million in upfront payment for use of patents, Novell said in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Microsoft and Novell announced last week that the two former rivals entered into a broad set of business and technological agreements to make their products work together better.
Under the pact, which will run until at least 2012, Novell will also pay Microsoft at least $40 million over five years for use of Microsoft's patents based on a percentage of its revenue from open-source products.
Microsoft also agreed to spend $12 million a year to market scenarios where users can virtually run Linux on Windows machines and vice versa. Microsoft will also spend $34 million over the life of the agreement to put in place a sales force devoted to the combined offering, Novell said.
http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,2053141,00.asp
Microsoft to Pay Novell $348M Under Linux Pact
thanx 4 d info.
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