在發言中，他還強調，Novell的這一切變化都是從客戶的角度出發的，所有這一切都是客戶利益驅動的，為的使客戶的IT生活更加輕松，客戶才是重點。
在接下來的發言中，Novell公司的客戶至上論調一直都不停的被重復，雖說有自由軟件用戶抗議Novell和微軟的合作，但是Hovsepian並不表示關心，他所關心的是Novell公司的合作伙伴和客戶。
在整個上午的發言致辭中，Novell公司和微軟公司合作有害無弊的思想一直都在流露。其中有一個問答場景的活動是有Novell腹中和CTO Jeff Jaffe和微軟首席研發官員Craig Mundie共同完成的，他們通過問答的方式來強調他們發言的主題，那就是，企業IT環境中互操作性和虛擬化技術將對兩家公司產生深遠影響，並且Novell公司和微軟公司將通過合作，將Linux和windows的整合做的更好。
在Jaffe的眼裡，未來世界的操作系統將只有兩個，那就是Linux和Windows，Linux將是通用平台，在Linux平台上(SESE Enterprise Server)和Windows平台上，將運行其他虛擬操作系統，比如其他版本的Linux或者Netware。用戶可不需要太多的操作系統，他們只需要開源軟件來構建通用的代碼平台。
Salt Lake City -- Microsoft and Novell's partnership is more than the cosmetic addition of Microsoft as a platinum partner to Novell's annual BrainShare partner conference. Novell CEO Ron Hovsepian said during his keynote speech that the company's recent partnership with Microsoft represented an "ecosystem change" for Novell.
Hovsepian went on to say that "This deal was done for one reason – the customer. This was all about driving customers to make their lives easier, and about interoperability. This is a customer-driven move and we will remain customer focused."
This customer focus theme was repeated over and over again. While some free-software fans oppose the Novell/Microsoft partnership, Hovsepian was not addressing their concerns. He was addressing what he believes to be the concerns of Novell's partners and their customers.
In the next sections of the morning keynote session, the benefits of the Microsoft/Novell deal were reiterated over and over again. Novell VP and CTO Jeff Jaffe and Microsoft's chief research and strategy officer Craig Mundie appeared together on the tradeshow stage and engaged in a question and answer section. Their theme: how interoperability and virtualization were key to the future of both companies and how the pair would work together so that Linux and Novell's management applications and Microsoft's server and management could work together.
Jaffe foresees a world with two operating systems: Linux and Windows. In his vision of the future, Linux will become the universal platform. On top of SLES (SUSE Linux Enterprise Server), the Windows server operating systems, NetWare and other versions of Linux will run as virtualized operating system. "Customers don't need many operating systems," said Jaffe. "They need open-source systems built on a common code basis."
He went on to say that Novell is putting its efforts behind Linux and the JES (Java Enterprise Services), while Microsoft is, of course, focusing on Windows and .NET. But, he continued, once a company has made a decision on which operating system and development platform it will use, Novell intends to provide the best possible network management tools and services for both systems.
In fact, Jaffe said that with the just-announced OES (Open Enterprise Server) 2.0, Novell will be providing Windows domain services. In addition, with Novell's ZENworks, "We will be the best managers for Microsoft's Vista desktop systems."
Mundie, of course, sees it somewhat differently, but he also sees that Windows Servers' operating systems need to support Linux in virtualization. Then, during technical demonstrations, the two companies showed how, in just three months since they begin their partnership, they have already been successful in running SLES on top of Longhorn, the next generation of Windows Server, and Server 2003 on SLES.
The companies also showed that they are well on their way toward providing identity and security management systems that will work together. In their demonstrations, the pair showed that administrators can look forward to using Microsoft's AD (Active Directory) and Novell's eDirectory to manage both Linux and Windows networks.
Novell executives said that its customers want the best of both Linux and Windows with interoperability and virtualization making it possible to use both operating systems at the same time. And that, as this morning demos showed, is exactly what Novell and Microsoft have been working on in recent months.