
<A HREF="http://news.zdnet.com/2100-3513_22-6133968.html?tag=nl.e550">Microsoft is open to more deals</A> like one it just signed with Novell for open-source Linux software, but it believes that customers will continue to pay for software, its chief executive told an Indian newspaper. "We will love to put that kind of agreement in place with anyone who distributes Linux software--Red Hat, whoever else," Steve Ballmer told India's Economic Times in an interview published Thursday.