Novell to ship Linux-monitoring tool for Microsoft

..when I read

Quoting: The interoperability lab's latest product is the Suse Linux Enterprise Management Pack for Microsoft System Center Operations Manager, which will allow Microsoft System Center Operations Manager R2 users to monitor both Linux and Windows systems through one console.

my mind immediately adds on "...so they can charge you for CALs for your Linux servers as well as your Windows servers."?

There is no reason MS should not be allowed to charge for this, if you decide to use their product. It's a service you are paying for. I don't see this as unfair. You're not required to purchase it in order to use your Linux servers, just to monitor them with an MS product.

Yes, I have no problem with the product itself, it just looks to me like a step in the direction of charging your for CALs for your Suse Linux servers (i.e. CALs for apache/ldap/etc) just like they charge you for everything on your Windows servers. Or maybe I'm just being paranoid. hehe.

I can't tell if the monitoring tool itself runs on Windows or Linux.

I, too, have no problem with MS or anybody else coding any app they wish and selling it for whatever the market will bear. Even if that app is written for Unix/Linux.

If the FOSS community (or a portion thereof) finds that a certain task is something they wish to accomplish, they'll start coding for it. And if a FOSS app is what the corporate world wants, they'll help fund development. But if one company thinks they can do it on their own ... let 'em eat cake.

Seems to me on the surface of it as one more example of M$'$ time-proven strategy of attempting to Embrace, Extend and Extinguish Linux and Open Source Software. 2c

Maybe they'll Embrace FOSS, Extend their Commercial Tools to support it, then Extinquish themselves. :P

> then Extinquish themselves We must only hope :D