Microsoft this morning announced a collaboration agreement with Linux vendor Xandros that's similar, in some respects, to the Novell deal. But not in others.

Most significantly, the Xandros deal includes a promise by Microsoft to refrain from pursuing patent claims against Xandros customers. That's similar to the most controversial provision of the agreement between Microsoft and Novell. But in contrast with the Novell deal, Microsoft says it isn't licensing any patent rights from Xandros. Microsoft also won't offer coupons for Xandros software support and service, as it does with Novell's Suse Linux. And server virtualization, a big focus of the Novell deal, isn't a focus of the Xandros deal.

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See this story from today's paper for more details and background. Microsoft declined to disclose the financial terms when I asked about them.

While the open-source community probably won't celebrate the Xandros news, it's not likely to have the impact of the Novell agreement. The Associated Press notes in its story that Xandros' market share "is so small that research group IDC doesn't track it."

Stephen Walli, who has worked on open-source-related initiatives during his time at Microsoft, offers his take on the Xandros deal in this post on his blog. He sorts out the potential implications for both companies, and for Microsoft's claims about patent violations. An excerpt:

"There is no more patent infringement validation here, despite Microsoft posturing, than the Novell-Microsoft deal. A hundred companies using free and open source software in their offerings to customers could sign patent cross licensing or covenant deals with Microsoft, and it means nothing with respect to the veracity of Microsoft's infringement claims. Patents are tickets to negotiations. They are (sometimes) interesting opportunities for discussions. But they are utterly unproved until they enter a courtroom."

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