More than two years since Microsoft persuaded Novell to enter into an interoperability agreement concerning Linux and Windows, it has finally got Red Hat to talk interoperability.

The agreement does not appear to be a repeat of the one Microsoft struck with Novell, however. I’m still taking in the details but one element stands out:

“There are no patent or IP licensing rights provided by these agreements, nor are there any financial clauses.”

That is a significant statement given Red Hat’s insistence that an intellectual property agreement was not necessary to create interoperability between Linux and Windows, and Microsoft’s former claim that patent indemnification was a prerequisite for collaboration.

Under their agreement to work together Microsoft and Red Hat will provide testing, validation and coordinated technical support for mutual customers using server virtualization. Red Hat has joined Microsoft’s Server Virtualization Validation Program, and Microsoft is now a Red Hat partner for virtualization interoperability and support.

According to the agreement: “Once technical validation testing is complete, customers with valid support agreements will receive coordinated technical support for running Windows Server 2008 virtualized on Red Hat Enterprise virtualization, and for running Red Hat Enterprise Linux virtualized on Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V.”

There is no Linux-support coupon scheme, although that was exclusive to the Novell-Microsoft agreement anyway, and no patent or intellectual property agreement either.