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Tuesday, January 13, 2004

The January Microsoft Security Bulletins Are Out. .. but the Internet Explorer vulnerability discovered at the end of 2003 is not addressed by any of the new updates. What is in the trio of January updates are fixes to an ISA Server 2000, Exchange Server 2003 and various Windows data-access-component breaches. [Microsoft Watch from Mary Jo Foley]
8:21:28 PM

Besides its indemnity offer those who purchase Suse Enterprise Server 8, Novell is providing access to a wide range of legal documents relating to its ongoing dispute with SCO over who owns what in the Unix world. A quick scan indicates that Novell is claiming certain rights associated with Unix licenses that give Novell the abiltity to contravene SCO's attempts to cancel and alter existing Unix licenses. Interesting stuff.

9:33:54 AM

7:26:44 AM

January 13, 2004

Attention valued Novell Customers

We are proud to announce that Novell today completed its acquisition of SUSE LINUX, a combination that brings global technical support, consulting and training services and industry-leading networking and security to Linux, and provides a compelling alternative for companies wishing to leverage the many benefits of open source. Novell now offers a full range of enterprise solutions on the Linux platform, from the server to the desktop. The closing of the $210 million cash deal also opens the door for completion of the $50 million investment of IBM in Novell announced November 4.

Novell today also announced it will offer its SUSE LINUX Enterprise Server 8 customers a new indemnification program designed to provide an additional measure of protection against certain intellectual property challenges to Linux.

With today's closing of Novell's acquisition of SUSE LINUX and the addition of the SUSE LINUX distribution to Novell's product offerings, Novell is now unique among Linux vendors in offering a full stack Linux solution, providing global technical support for Linux, and, through its new Novell Linux Indemnification Program, giving enterprise customers additional reassurance about deploying Linux in their organizations.

Linux and open source solutions have grown rapidly in recent years, moving from peripheral uses into more business critical functions. As enterprises consider making strategic investments in Linux, they face the question of indemnification, a standard component of most traditional proprietary software offerings but generally unavailable for Linux. Novell's Linux Indemnification Program will afford qualifying Novell Linux customers a measure of protection against potential copyright infringement claims.

Novell's Linux Indemnification Program
Novell's indemnification program is designed for enterprise customers of Linux. Under the program:

Indemnification is offered for copyright infringement claims made by third parties against registered Novell customers who obtain SUSE LINUX Enterprise Server 8 and who after January 13, 2004 obtain upgrade protection and a qualifying technical support contract from Novell or a participating Novell or SUSE LINUX channel partner.
Customers must accept the program terms and conditions including caps and other limitations.

Additional details on the program are available at http://www.novell.com/licensing/indemnity.

Novell's Unique Legal Rights
Novell also made available today additional information on the unique contractual and intellectual property rights it holds because of its position in the historical ownership chain of UNIX and UnixWare. These rights include:

Novell's rights to license UNIX technology pursuant to a Technology License Agreement between SCO and Novell, including Novell's right to authorize its customers to use that UNIX technology in their internal business operations.
Novell's rights to take action on behalf of SCO under legacy UNIX SVRX licenses pursuant to the Asset Purchase Agreement between SCO and Novell.
As previously confirmed by Novell, copyright registrations on UNIX SVRX releases, consistent with Novell's position that it retained ownership of these copyrights.

Copies of relevant correspondence between Novell and SCO are available at http://www.novell.com/licensing/indemnity/legal.html. The rights reflected in these documents are part of the foundation for the indemnification program Novell is announcing today.

Special Program for Current Linux Users
For those enterprise users of Linux who are not currently Novell SUSE LINUX customers, Novell will soon announce a special program whereby they can become Novell SUSE LINUX customers and participate in the indemnification program.

We believe our new Linux indemnification program, supported by our unique legal rights, will provide enterprise customers with one more reason to include Linux in their information technology plans.

Sincerely,

Jack Messman
Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer, Novell, Inc.