Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Novell's Race Against Time

Posted by CowboyNeal on from the in-the-backstretch dept.

DiamondGeezer writes "The Guardian newspaper in the UK reports in 'It's a race against time' that Novell is on a knife-edge financially and competitively, having placed a huge one-way bet in the success of its Linux strategy. But there's no guarantee of success: its revenue from Linux licensing is puny, and it faces a crowded market of Linux distros. Novell may be getting some positive press now that it's gone full tilt for Linux, but let's remember the reasons why: because of mis-steps of its previous management (especially the disastrous acquisition of WordPerfect in the mid 1990s) and its failure to grow its Netware business (with more than a little help from Microsoft), it's now having to re-engineer itself for Linux."

4 of 381 comments (clear)

  1. Correct me if I'm wrong but ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I don't recall hearing that Novell ever intended to make a lot of money by selling a Linux distro. On the other hand, converting their existing products to Linux will save them a bundle compared to developing a completely independent solution. Most of what their stuff does is the same as what Linux does. They can concentrate on the things that make them different to add value.

  2. No by EmbeddedJanitor · · Score: 5, Insightful
    Cashflow is often used as a weapon in inter-corporate wars. If Microsoft identifies Novell as a threat (I'm sure they have), they need only give away Microsoft products/service to their customers for a while - like they have already - until Novell runs out of money. They don't need to even do this for too long (though they have the money to) since once Novell gets past a certain debt level, the FUD of "Novell is dying... give us your biz" will kick in.

    I, for one, hope Novell makes a go of it, but the world is unfortunately a harsh place.

    --
    Engineering is the art of compromise.
  3. Re:Sad but true. by ploss · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Not just sad - it will set a very dangerous precedent for all Linux corporate offerings in the future!
    Think - Novell, one of the largest networking software companies, having the final nail in the coffin being hammered in by choosing Linux.

    How would that statement sound in the mind of a PHB? "Linux = doomed software companies" is a particularly nasty association when making a platform decision (even though going with Linux was probably the right solution, rather than continuing with NetWare.)

    I don't know if they can pull out of the slump, but we should support Novell any way we can, as it stands as one of the largest allies Linux (and the OSS community) has today. To see Novell's downfall will definitely weaken Linux's corporate desktop offering.

    --
    What are the odds that some idiot will name his mutex ether-rot-mutex!
  4. Re: cashflow & Market share by galdur · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Agreed.

    Being Novell they have street cred. Netware gives them a wedge into big businesses which no other Linux distro has. And I think they know and understand the businesses' needs better than any of the others, and have the tools to complement Linux to cater to those companies (Zen, identy management and such).

    I think Novell and SUSE make a good fit. SUSE now has a desktop platform which they can work WITH, and not AGAINST.

    They're clearly aware of it, and their CC EAL4+ certification was part of their plan, a certification which I think only SUSE still holds (among the Linux distros).

    What the article could have mentioned is that Novell is proving to their customer that they can do without Windows, migrating internally to Linux desktops (see Joe Barr's http://www.newsforge.com/article.pl?sid=05/03/23/1 755222). Here's another interesting link http://www.linuxworld.com.au/index.php/id;16020781 22;fp;16;fpid;0