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I think the concerns are not around a technical partnership assuming it results in free and open source code unencumbered by patents that goes into various upstream project instead of a proprietary distribution specific deal.

The real concern is around the patent deal which creates a unhealthy imbalance as expressed by Eben Moglen from Software Freedom Law Center in

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6YExl9ojclo

The only thing you hurt when one refuses to 'play ball' with the establishment is yourself. There are patents on technology; some of them legitimate, others just owned by patent trolling companies. Until Linux vendors work as official software companies and work with other vendors to sort this issue out - it helps no one doing what Red Hat is doing, namely, sitting on the side lines spitting and cursing at Microsoft/Novell.

Microsoft technology is here to stay whether Red Hat and the open source devotee's on this website like it or not.If you want to compete with Microsoft - create a better and superior widget. When Microsoft create a product, stop spitting and cursing at the customers who purchase it or Microsoft - get a copy of the product yourself and analyse it. Find out why customers want it, and create a better version of it.

Take Microsoft Office/Sharepoint integration, why don't we see an OpenOffice.org version of that? why don't we see an end to end solution in the opensource world to the Office System? too much time spitting at Microsoft than doing something productive? too much complaining about patents than listening and addressing what customers needs are?

Edited 2008-09-20 11:03 UTC

I, too, have a real concern when I read this argument over and over. It goes like this:

Something must be really, really wrong with you people in that reading these comments gives me the fishy feeling you are blind to the fact that MS is only one of a million possible patent litigants - and in that, the so called patent deal buys you exactly nada. Well great, MS doesn't sue the Novell end-user but a millions others may and probably will (SCO anyone?). You totally over-rate the whole thing in that light.