It would seem that Microsoft and Novell have entered into a "partnership" of sorts. Early reports suggested that Microsoft had actually bought Novell, but that seems to have been premature.

Here's an article by Cnet explaining things a bit:

http://news.com.com/Microsoft+makes+Linux+pact+with+Novell/2100-1016_3-6132119.html

And here's Novell's official response:

http://www.novell.com/linux/microsoft/faq_opensource.html