Why Microsoft Needs to Buy Novell or Has Its Own Linux Distro?

There was news about Novell that was going to be bought by a venture capitalist. This is probably a bad news for Linux lovers since Novell is the current owner of OpenSuse (Novell didn't make OpenSuse, it bought from SuSe which was owned by a German company). To make matter even worse, according to Eweek online, the current bidder, according to Eweek UK, The Elliot Associates, is notorious for taking apart the company it successfully bought for profit. This does not sound too good for linux lovers in general or OpenSuse future.

I personally do not want to see SUSE to die. I 'dabbled my feet' with linux was SuSe 6.0. I actually bought the boxed version of that software (since installing, downloading, configuring, etc were a major pain in those days). Among all linux I tried that time (which was probably early 1990s), SUSE was always the winner in detecting any hardwares I throw into. All other distros just simply failed, usually, in detecting the 'soft modem.' Remember that era? If not, soft modem is that annoying modem that can be used with Windows driver only. You would be lucky to run your beloved 1.44k band modem if someone did the hack for linux driver of it.

Fast forward to today, OpenSuse is still among the most popular distro. The last time I checked, it is still among top three downloads at distrowatch.com. My last attempt to OpenSuse is OpenSuse 11.2. I could not test it at all since it would not even work with my wireless. It detected correctly, I could put my passphrase, etc, however, it just didn't connect, no matter I did. Other than that, I think OpenSuse becomes look so outdated. It still has that 'jagged' fonts that, in my opinion, hurt anyone's eyes. It does not happen to new Ubuntu or any Ubuntu's derivatives.

Coming from all these experiences, I would like to propose that, I believe, it is Microsoft interest to probably buy Novell. Yes, buy Novell (or probably just simply buying its linux department). Why, if you would ask me? Here are some of the reasons.

1. For very very long time, linux has been waiting for the time of 'Desktop Linux is ready' era. To be honest, it still never happens until today. Linux is still 'hard to install softwares, constantly crashing softwares (not linux itself that crashes), very limited choices of consumer softwares (for example, until today, there is replacement for Photoshop , Quicken, etc). OpenOffice is great , but, face it, it is no MS Office. Gimp is great,but, it is also no Photoshop, etc, etc. All these problems, I believe, can be easily by a big company like Microsoft. I will continue to my second point why Microsoft can actually solve all these problems.

2. Microsoft's main business are its Windows Operating System and MS Office. Linux is an operating system that lacks excellent Office application for decades. Microsoft definitely can make a great Ms Office for Linux, even, just like Apple, make linux to be more 'consumer-friendly'. Right now, there are too many ways of installing even just a single linux program (apt-get, yam, rpm, consoles, etc). In Microsoft hand, Microsoft can be the leader to solve the problem of installation. Face it, people are so used to with 'click and forget about it'. If you can 'click and forget about it', it is real 'Desktop experience' for most people.

3. Microsoft needs to have Linux OS because of Google. Google with its Google Chrome OS might have a chance to strangle Microsoft in desktop (via its cloud service). Netbook and tablet-sized PC will be here to stay. Google knows that linux is great for mobile computing experience. If you don't believe me, just ask Google how their Android is doing. Even Apple has the Ipad now (which is different kind of OS from OS X). Microsoft? MS Windows 7 is great, yet, it is still not great for netbooks or tablet-sized PC.

4. Microsoft can make Silverlight to be its main strategy for cloud computing. Adobe has done it for long time with its Flash. How good can that be to see Silverlight beating up Adobe and Google at the same time?

5. I believe, once Microsoft follows all these, Microsoft can 'beat up' competitions (Read: Apple and Google) like they used to. Linux can be Microsoft new cash cow.

I would rather see Microsoft to be more involved in linux than seeing linux to be forgotten for decades to come. It is not good for computer industry and consumers. Microsoft has the most to lose once linux is forgotten.