Microsoft Corp. and Novell Inc., maker of the Linux operating system, have announced plans to enter a business partnership.

The agreement has not yet been finalized, but the two companies are expected to make an annoucement later this afternoon in San Francisco. Under the agreement as it stands now, Microsoft will offer sales support for Novell's Suse Linux operating system.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the companies have also agreed to develop technology that would make it easier to run both the Microsoft Windows and Suse Linux operating systems on a single machine.

Such an agreement would likely benefit Novell in a positive way, expanding the reach of their Suse Linux operating system.