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IBM Takeover Of Novell?
umjaja96 writes: "Reuters is reporting that IBM is rumored to be looking to buy Novell. Perhaps Big Blue is looking to strengthen its mid-range and lower end servers with something not from Redmond?"
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Shares of both companys did what is normally expected of over inflated speculative trading.
``We don't comment on rumors,'' said Microsoft CEO Bill Gates.
`Typically we don't comment on these kinds of rumors,'' said Rob Malda creater of the overly popular Slashdot news board.
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"War doesn't determine who's right, just who's left"
"War doesn't determine who's right, just who's left"
Steven Wright
If the rumor is true, IBM may be looking to do what we all know Novell needs to do to stay alive, yet doesn't have the guts to do: open-source the Novell Directory. What have they got to lose? Market share? That's trickling away already: Windows NT and Linux are absolutely clobbering Netware in the marketplace. Novell's crown jewels right now are NDS. NDS, a robust, scalable, portable directory service. NDS, a directory that's proven in Fortune 500 installations. NDS, a directory that'll get clobbered once Microsoft Active Directory begins to take hold.
Novell needs to open-source NDS now, before it becomes irrelevant. IBM has the guts to do this, and the bucks to maintain the software as a loss leader to continue to sell services around it. If NDS is open sourced, it will become ubiquitous almost overnight, especially on Linux systems, where it will become the standard directory service. If they choose the GPL, even the Debian folks will adopt it. Imagine being able to write directory-aware applications for Linux, knowing that NDS will always be there.
That's my $0.02, anyway. Personally I think the rumor is bogus.
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Novell brings a couple of things to the table. First, of course, is NetWare. Still the fastest pure file/print solution out there, with pretty good Java servlet capability bolted on. Then, there's the crown jewel - NDS. NDS is already highly portable, can manage users on Unix and Windows, and can be used to manage desktops very nicely. NDS can be extended to almost anything, and unlike MS Active Directory, NDS has over 8 years of development (and live users) behind it.
IBM has systems available all over the map - from Intel PC servers running Windows or Linux, to RS/6000 systems with AIX, to AS/400 and S/390 minis and mainframes. NDS could help them tie this picture together better. And they own Lotus - which could benefit nicely from better NDS integration.
Not to mention that IBM has done a nice job with Lotus - sure, 1-2-3/SmartSuite is toast, but they've done a terrific business with Notes, and still have a substantial lead over Microsoft in the category.
It's a good fit for IBM, good technology, and a chance to get one of the few missing pieces in IBM's technology arsenal for a cheap price. IBM could buy Novell with pocket change. I'm surprised this deal didn't happen a year ago.
- -Josh Turiel
-- Josh Turiel
"2. Do not eat iPod Shuffle."