Over two years ago, Microsoft and Novell signed an interoperability deal. Part of this agreement was a patent deal that suggested that Linux infringed on Microsoft's IP. Since then, Microsoft has signed a number more of these deals with various companies, but the Novell one is still the most famous.

On the back of defending the agreement this week, Novell did as promised and published details of its landmark November 2006 Linux partnership agreements with Microsoft.

The company signed a deal with Microsoft in 2006 to collaborate over sales and to license patents Microsoft claims to hold over Linux. ZDNet UK caught up with McCarry to discuss the relationship with Microsoft and Novell's strategy for working with the technology company.

For some time, we have not heard anything about the patent sellout which Novell inked with Microsoft 11 months ago. Microsoft has since used the deal as the basis for spreading FUD about Linux, with claims that the free operating system could be in violation of as many as 235 patents which Microsoft claims to own.

The alliance between Microsoft Corp. and Novell Corp. continues to bear fruit three years after it was first signed, say the two companies -- one the world's largest proprietary software vendor, the other one of the largest open-source companies.

Novell has announced an agreement with Microsoft to settle potential antitrust litigation related to Novell’s NetWare operating system in exchange for $536 million in cash.

In November of 2006, Microsoft rocked the Linux world by signing a landmark patent and interoperability agreement with Novell. According to the two partners, it's an agreement that today, two and half years later is still paying off, even during the current recession.

Just two days before Microsoft and Novell signed a controversial deal in 2006, the two sides still hadn't figured out a way to make peace over Linux without violating the licensing terms that govern the open-source operating system.

Open-source pioneer and Novell Vice President Miguel de Icaza Thursday for the first time publicly slammed his company's cross-patent licensing agreement with Microsoft as he defended himself against lack of patent protection for third parties that distribute his company's Moonlight project, which ports Microsoft's Silverlight technology to Linux.