Microsoft has embraced Novell Inc.'s open-source software platform, forming a technological agreement between two longtime antagonists who want to make it easier for the still-dominant Windows operating system and the increasingly popular Linux system to work together.

The truce wast announced on Thursday between the world's largest seller of patent-protected software and a leader in the open-source software movement has potentially important business, technical and legal implications.

"This builds a very important intellectual-property bridge between the open source and proprietary sides of software," Brad Smith, Microsoft's general counsel, said shortly before the companies formally announced their alliance in San Francisco.

Financial terms of the arrangement weren't, however, disclosed.

The strategic alliance is primarily aimed at the growing number of major companies and government agencies that rely on elements of Redmond, Wash.-based Microsoft's Windows and Linux to run their computers.

"It all comes down to recognizing there is a mixed environment out there," Microsoft Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer said during a Thursday press conference.

The partnership's impact on consumers appears to be inconsequential except for a commitment to improve the interaction between Microsoft's top-selling suite of Office software and a free alternative known as OpenOffice.

Microsoft's stamp of approval, extracted after six months of negotiations, represents a coup for Waltham, Mass-based Novell as it touts the advantage of its version of Linux over other varieties made by competitors such as Red Hat Inc.

After news of the deal leaked, Novell's shares shot up 92 cents, or 15.7 percent, to close Thursday at $6.79 on the Nasdaq Stock Market, where Microsoft's shares dipped 4 cents to finish at $28.77.

Under the partnership, Microsoft's sales team will offer its corporate customers a chance to license its Windows operating system as part of a package offering maintenance and support for Novell's Suse Linux platform.

Novell primarily relies on the fees for customer support to make money off the Linux software, which is developed by a global community of programmers who aren't tied to any single company and freely share improvements to the code.

Ballmer stressed that Microsoft will first try to convince corporate customers to use Windows exclusively before relenting to the notion of a hybrid system using Suse Linux.

To encourage more companies to embrace Novell's open-source platform, Microsoft has pledged not to assert its patent rights over any of its technology that may be blended with Suse Linux.

The concession is meant to address the concerns of many corporate users who have been reluctant to use Linux because they feared Microsoft might retaliate with patent-infringement claims.