Is Microsoft buying Citrix? Novell!?

Like sands through the hourglass, so are the stories of Microsoft mergers. Once more, rumors are swirling that Microsoft might buy Citrix. By my count, this is the fifth time this particular rumor has emerged. In addition, though, this time around I'm hearing that some people think Microsoft might buy Novell.

Oh please.

Microsoft, in case you've forgotten, just flopped in its attempt to buy Yahoo. Steve Ballmer may be a great salesman, and he does a mean monkey dance, but he's no businessman. Would someone fire Ballmer already and put Microsoft out of its misery?

Even with my low opinion, I can't believe that Ballmer would be dumb enough to waste money buying Citrix. Citrix, since WinFrame back in the mid-90s and then MetaFrame in the 2000s, has acted as a de facto branch of Microsoft. To really use MetaFrame, you not only had to have a license for each MetaFrame remote Windows client, you also had to have Windows Terminal Server license and/or a Windows desktop license for each remote session. Thus, every Citrix customer became a Microsoft customer. What's not to like?

Since those days, Citrix has switched gears. Citrix bought XenSource just over a year ago. Since then, Citrix has been able to set up its first Microsoft-license free desktop virtualization programs: XenServer and XenDesktop.

Well, sort of. You see, they're both optimized for Windows XP and Vista, so, of course, you have to have a Windows license before you can run either one. In addition, Microsoft and Citrix have already agreed to work together on making sure that Citrix's Xen programs run hand-in-glove with Microsoft's own Xen-based Hyper-V virtualization program. In case you missed it, Microsoft plans on giving away Hyper-V.

Now, if I'm VMware, I'm worried. Now, not only does VMware have to contend with the open-source virtualization programs, it has a free Microsoft blessed program to worry about as well, and Citrix and Xen as well. Citrix, on the other hand, just gets to play the role they've always played for Microsoft: They're the value-added thin-client/remote access provider.

It's worked for both companies in the past, so why change a good thing? I just can't see any compelling reason for either company to change their relationship.

I feel the same way about Novell. While I don't see Novell, as some do, as being Microsoft's lapdog, I do see them working hand in glove with Microsoft in the areas that are important to both companies: network services and virtualization interoperability. You can't snarl at Novell all you want, the deal is creating more business for Novell's SUSE Linux. Novell, short of Ballmer doing something even dumber than usual about Linux, isn't going to quit its Microsoft partnership.

The deal also works for Microsoft. It gives them just enough interoperability with Linux so that critical Microsoft business technologies, like AD (Active Directory) and Hyper-V, will be able to work with Linux on the server level. Microsoft doesn't like Linux one damn bit, but they have figured out that, in the data-center anyway, they need to be able to work with Linux.

That doesn't mean, however, that Ballmer and his buddies have any attention of releasing MS-Linux. Given a choice in the matter, Microsoft would happily bury Linux and open source in the IT trash-heap, but buying Novell wouldn't get them one whit closer to that goal. That's one of the reasons why Microsoft finds Linux so annoying. Unlike proprietary software companies, they can't simply crush or buy it out of existence. As soon as they smashed one open-source company, another would pop up with the exact same software.

So, for now, they'll work grudgingly with Novell, but buy Novell? It's just not going to happen. Now, if Microsoft 7, or Vista Mark Two as I'm beginning to think of it, flops as badly as Vista, then maybe Microsoft will start considering changing its way. So, talk to me again about Microsoft buying Novell, or here's a scary thought, Red Hat, in two years time and I might have a different answer. For now, though, Microsoft is getting what it wants from both Citrix and Novell without buying either one and that's more than good enough for the boys from Redmond.