Microsoft stood-up a channel in order to compete with Novell. Initially, at least, Microsoft was much a preferable OEM. Better docs (MSDN), better tech support

Microsoft stood-up a channel in order to compete with Novell. Initially, at least, Microsoft was much a preferable OEM. Better docs (MSDN), better tech support, more profitable, etc. (Microsoft also made embraced application servers. Spearheading switch from workgroup to client/server. But that's another chapter.)