Novell[open Suse] Ties up with Software Gaint Microsoft

MICROSOFT Corp and Novell Inc have announced an interoperability collaboration plan that aims to bridge the divide between open-source and proprietary software. The two companies inked an agreement last year that will see the two rival software developers work together to bridge Novell’s Suse Linux Enterprise Server to Microsoft’s Windows platform. Novell will co-operate with Microsoft to create a bi-directional open-source translator for wordprocessing, spreadsheets and presentations between OpenOffice.org and Microsoft Office “With more companies adopting Linux, there is a need for interoperability between Windows and Linux,” Microsoft Malaysia platform strategy manager Gerald Lim said in a local briefing on the plans.
The collaborative efforts by the two companies will also make it easier for all software companies and developers to create and deliver products that work across both Windows and Linux platforms. In concert with the efforts to promote interoperability between the two platforms, Novell also announced support for the Office Open XML file formats in their version of the OpenOffice.org productivity suite.