The Minority Report

You can sure tell that Bill Gates is gone, huh?

Microsoft and Red Hat announced this morning that they have recently signed agreements to test and validate their server operating systems running on one another’s hypervisors.

This is deeply significant as it means that customers will be able to confidently deploy Windows Server and Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), virtualized on Microsoft and Red Hat hypervisors, knowing that the solutions will be supported by both companies.

In short, Red Hat has joined Microsoft’s Server Virtualization Validation Program, and Microsoft is now a Red Hat partner for virtualization interoperability and support.

Microsoft, Red Hat to Offer Joint Technical Support – Port 25: The Open Source Community at Microsoft

ZDnet is covering it here:

To be clear, the newly minted Microsoft-Red Hat partnership is not the same as the Microsoft-Novell one that Microsoft unveiled two years ago. There is no patent-protection clause that is part of the new Microsoft-Red Hat agreement, meaning Red Hat has not agreed to license any Microsoft patents in the name of guaranteeing its customers that Microsoft won’t sue them for possible patent infringement. No support certificates for Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) will be sold by Microsoft, either.

Microsoft and Red Hat sign virtualization pact | All about Microsoft | ZDNet.com