The Novell chiefs are making big noise about the reasons they consider their interoperability deal with Microsoft a big success, but some believe their SEC filings reveal a lot more about their enthusiasm.

Novell's Jeff Jaffe, Chief Technology Officer, and John Dragoon, Chief Marketing Officer, have been blogging up a storm about the success of the Microsoft deal in 2007, hitting high points like joint roadmaps, Moonlight technology, and accessibility frameworks. The part they didn't mention — but the tech-world noticed anyway — was Novell's Annual Report or 10-K, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. According to the report, Novell picked up over $350 million of Microsoft's money in 2007, and we're pretty sure they didn't pay them in copies of Vista.

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