Novell CEO Shakeup Puts Ron Hovsepian in Charge

jht writes "Arriving in my Inbox a few minutes ago (I'm a Novell Partner), was the announcement that effective immediately, CEO Jack Messman and CFO Joe Tibbetts are out of jobs at Novell. Existing president Ron Hovsepian was named CEO, and an interim CFO was named as well. Messman will stay on the board thru the end of October, though. A webcast of the conference call should be available shortly at www.novell.com/company/ir." ukhackster links to ZDNet's coverage of the shakeup, writing "It looks like [Messman's] been blamed for Novell's poor performance in the Linux space versus Red Hat. But can Linux ever be a real cash cow?"

Comments

Can linux ever be a real cash cow!?

[saleenS281]

Can it? Is that a rhetorical question? Linux already is a cash cow, I think Redhat proved that long ago...

Re:Can linux ever be a real cash cow!?

[ackthpt]

Can it? Is that a rhetorical question? Linux already is a cash cow, I think Redhat proved that long ago...

I think IBM have proven that as well.

Keep in mind, if you have companies raking in billions supporting Windows, you're doing something wrong if you can't do it with Linux

Re:Can linux ever be a real cash cow!?

[neonprimetime]

It depends on how you view the cow ...
- Is this "cash cow" producing cash?
- Or is this "cash cow" eating cash?

I don't know ....

[hawkeye_82]

I just don't know whether to feel sad for these guys, that they're taking the fall for something that they may not be in control of, or to feel happy that the top management has taken the hit rather than the lower ranks which is usually more common practice in corporate America.

I just don't know how to feel !! Help me Slashdot...

Re:I don't know ....

[Anonymous Coward]

And same amount the year before ... The lower ranks have been taking the hits for years at Novell. *Finally* the top management is taking some hits as well.

For the want of a proofreader.

[azav]

"Existing president Ron Hovsepian was names CEO"

Names?

Why don't the editors actually correct errors in these articles they post?

It just looks shoddy when articles are posted to inform and aren't even checked for basic grammar.

Re:For the want of a proofreader.

[azav]

HEH

"You're got professional and accurate and you've got shoddy."

Looks like I'm a prime example.

"You've got professional and accurate and you've got shoddy."

It figures, I'd catch that one after proofing it and sending.

Also I typed "your is not your" using the greater than and less than symbols. Slashdot seems to filter that out.

What a load...

[WindBourne]

But can Linux ever be a real cash cow?

of crap. Linux distros are already making money and growing. The real issue is wether a distro can become a monopoly like MS. And the answer is no. That can never occur due to the GPL.

Re:What a load...

[bano]

Actually a distro can become an monopoly of sorts even with the GPL,

BigDatabaseVendor: I vote we exclusively support DistroX
BigMiddlewareVendor: me top me too
BigIntegrationVendor: Yep
BigDatabaseVendor: We also have to strongarm or buy out our competition
DistroX: We need exclusive OEM rights from a DudeYourgettingahardwareVendor and OverPricedBlueBoxVendor.
All: $$$$$

You are always free to make whatever work on whatever platform you wish if you have the source, but $upport is required for the PHB's and you don't get that $upport safety blanket they insist upon if your not running DistroX.

Return of Hubert Mantel?

[mosel-saar-ruwer]

It looks like [Messman's] been blamed for Novell's poor performance in the Linux space versus Red Hat. But can Linux ever be a real cash cow?

Wonder if Hovsepian will be on the phone with Hubert Mantel?

Or is that whole KDE/Gnome thang just a bridge too far?

A little off-topic, but here are a few ideas I've always had for Novel:

1) Write [or purchase] an in-house COMPILER! You've been releasing operating systems for more than twenty years now, yet you've never released your own compiler?!? Steve Ballmer may be a jackass, but he's absolutely correct when he says that it's all about "Developers, developers, developers!" If you can't write your own, then purchase Codewarrior from Motorola/Freescale. [By the way, my advice would be the same for AMD: If you're really serious about confronting Intel, then you've gotta produce something that can challenge the Intel C/C++ compiler.]

2) I don't want to say "abandon the desktop", because you've got a history of interest & subsequent disinterest in the desktop going back more than a decade, to WordPerfect and Corel, but here's an idea that involves expansion beyond the desktop: Take a long, hard look at the embedded market. NDS for QNX, NDS for VxWorks, NDS for Sybian, NDS for iTunes, etc, etc, etc. There are gonna be literally BILLIONS of those little devices sold in the next few years, and somebody's gonna hafta provide enterprise-level/mission-critical security for all of 'em. Might as well be the best enterprise-level/mission-critical outfit in the world.

3) Oh, and while you're at it: PLEASE port NDS to FreeBSD/OpenBSD.

4) Get the hell outta Beantown and return to your Utah roots. Blue States are where companies go to die. Red States are where they go to thrive.

Re:Return of Hubert Mantel?

[Anonymous Coward]

Uhm..

1. Why should they do that? There are plenty of good open source or otherwise free compilers out there. I fail to see what Novell can gain by creating a compiler for any language that already exists (or creating a new language for that matter)

2. The embedded market is a good place to look for growth, but I don't think those devices will, in general, make good use of a directory server. If they jumped into providing embedded OS's, and could outcompete companies like montavista, could help their cashflow.

3. Never hurts to have a program running in as many places as possible, but I doubt they will do it since they are putting all their energy into linux.

4. They are in the state they are in for major tax breaks and so forth.

Re:Return of Hubert Mantel?

[thebdj]

So let us address a few shall we:

1) Redhat, who I am pretty sure is the leading Linux distributor, does not have their own C/C++ compiler. The responsibility for a compiler does not really fall on the software makers so much as it should fall on the chip makers. Look at the vast majority of *nix systems with non-gcc compilers readily available. HP-UX, the main commercial compiler is available from HP, who either developed or help develop both the PA-RISC and Itanium chips their OS runs on. The same is true of Sun Solaris, though you can freely acquire Sun Studio 11 now to do the majority of this work for you, once again they are the ones with the chip, UltraSparc in this case. Repeat for AIX. There are also Intel based compilers available for their various chips on various platforms. None of the makers of the Operating Systems does not have some hand in the chips as well.

2) For all we know they are.

3) Sort of like 2, except let them work the bugs out in Linux first.

4) They do still have offices in Provo. They just learned that none of the good upper management and executive people wanted to live in a) One of the whitest and non-diverse areas in the country and b) The religious (and political, and social) conservative capital of the US. Your statement is insane. So every company based in Silicon Valley is just a moment away from death? Btw, I do not mean to sound like I am flaming on Utah, but it is a valid complaint that it is a tightly conservative area and not very diverse either (85% white, 9% hispanic).

Re:Return of Hubert Mantel?

[soren42]

Take a long, hard look at the embedded market. NDS for QNX, NDS for VxWorks, NDS for Sybian, NDS for iTunes, etc, etc, etc.

Let's ignore for a second that it's eDirectory now, not NDS...

I think you meant to say "NDS for Symbian", not Sybian. Although it is much funnier your way.

Heads will roll

[Billosaur]

More on the shakeup.

We're seeing this more now (think Sun and SGI) -- companies that are underperforming making changes at the top in the hopes of generating new intitiatives and pumping up the stock price. It remains to be seen if all the bloodletting will lead to any marked improvement in the short term -- new execs have to deal with things as they are and try to untangle the mess left on their desk before they can move forward.

Re:Heads will roll

[am 2k]

Well, but firing a few engineers and keeping the management that created the problem in the first place would be even worse. At least they really get rid of those that are responsible.

Re:Heads will roll

[Ryan Amos]

Many of these companies that are failing are doing so because the "mid-size business server" market that once ran Netware, or on Sun or SGI hardware has moved to commodity PC hardware with Linux. A mid-size Oracle database in 1995 was runinng on Sun hardware under Solaris, now the reccomended platform is RedHat on an Opteron.

These companies are trying to adapt, but the fact is that their market niche was absorbed by the commodity PC market (pentiums and opterons,) which is low-margin and highly competitive. A lot of them are trying to move into this space and they just can't compete with Dell or HP on price because of their corporate sales model. Sun sends in 2 or 3 experienced technical sales guys to try and sell you something. Dell hires kids fresh out of college who take phone and internet orders.

These dinosaurs are pretty much doomed to extinction in my eyes. Sun does make some good Opteron boxes, but that niche will disappear as well once Dell starts selling 4-way Opterons. IMO Sun needs to get out of the hardware/OS business entirely and focus on their products that are doing well and have a future. Solaris is dead in the water and

It's about damn time...

[Anonymous Coward]

All I can say is that I've worked with both of these men in the past, and Ron is clearly a better choice to lead Novell. Ron brings something very unique to the table - a deep understanding of the technologies Novell is focusing on. Additionally, he has a very clear vision of how to execute on their corporate strategy.

If any of you had ever seen Messman speak at LinuxWorld, BrainShare, or other events, you should have recognized that he was just reading words off of a sheet of paper (or teleprompter). He didn't seem to exhibit even the most basic of understanding when it came to either major Novell product focus (Identity Management and Linux/Open Source). Additionally, he wasn't the best public speaker. Don't get me wrong, he was a great guy - just not the type of person to reinvent a company like Novell.

Novell has some great ideas, better products, and a cohesive strategy. Ron Hovsepian is the type of person to leverage these strengths and bring Novell back to the position of strength it once enjoyed.

Redhat and Novell

[codepunk]

Well at least Novell has a little focus on the desktop they stand half a chance of surviving. RedHat on the other
hand is gonna find themselves in serious trouble quickly I am thinking. When RedHat decided to take focus off their desktop to capitalize on the enterprise market it was a smart thing to do short term to generate more revenue. Now enter ubuntu, hell I don't know many admins or various desktop users that don't use ubuntu for their desktops. The net effect of that is I now prefer it as a serving platform also. RedHat sold their soul for quick money but it is going to kill them in the end. Same goes for Novell, you have to have a good strategy front to back.

Re:Redhat and Novell

[C_Kode]

See, I disagree somewhat. While Redhat's Desktop (see Fedora) isn't as great as Ubuntu or even some others. The one thing it does have is RedHat itself. All I beleive Redhat has to do is start offering corporate support for a version of Fedora on the desktop. Say one version behind current. (FC4) RedHat isn't stupid. They are where they are because they (just like Dell) did what the corporation wants, not what the home desktop user wants. I doubt RedHat couldn't spit out a lean corporate desktop in a short span of time based on Fedora. Hell Fedora is where RHEL gets most of it's features.

Re:Redhat and Novell

[twocents]

I disagree. The Fedora project is well supported and has been promoted by Red Hat corporate in a big way. Some may prefer other distros, but Red Hat hasn't dropped the ball, in my opinion. Also, while you might prefer Ubuntu, you sound as if you set up your own machines at work; this means you would not be a Red Hat customer anyway.

Lastly, there currently is very little money in the Linux desktop market. Red Hat is involved in the enterprise not because it's a short term solution, but because that's where there is 'real' money that allows a company to, well, be a company.

If desktop preference drove server preference, wouldn't everyone be using OS X Server?

Re:Redhat and Novell

[Erwos]

Yeah, just like Debian, Gentoo, Mandrake, and Novell have all killed Red Hat, right? I've been hearing for years about Red Hat's impending demise at the hands of new distro X, and so far, so good - for Red Hat.

-Erwos

Cash Cow? It's a Choice

[grahamkg]

I saw the comments re: v10.1, and yes that's a blot. It's only a minor one. I too buy SuSE, and have done so as long at least as long as I've been a /.er. ^_^

If Novell wants to do well, they could look at the Microsoft model for the Windows Logo Program. "Designed to Run SuSE Linux". What a concept. The day machines are sold to Mom and Dad running Linux is the day when it can be a cash cow.

Re:SUSE is a has been distro

[molarmass192]

All moot points in SuSE 10.1 since 10.1 ships with Network Manager to handle your wireless sign on scripts and augments vanilla RPM with YUM/RUG. Do you think ANY boxed distro would have fared better ... doubtful!

SGI *not* underperforming

[Anonymous Coward]

SGI is NOT underperforming.

It is bankrupt.

They just sold off their corporate headquarters building to Google.

Re:Software no longer a cash cow.

[hackstraw]

In the end software companies will have to become service companies.

The problem is that even if you pay your hard earned cash for "support", you get some bozo who knows less than I do, and usually the "solution" is for them to blame the hardware or anybody else they can blame.

I find that OSS mailing lists are better in that you are in contact with the actual developers who know the guts of the code in question. AND!! Its free!

Once you pay for "support", the best thing I've ever received is a person who is good at calming me down so I don't kill somebody (possibly them :)

Re:SUSE is a has been distro

[filesiteguy]

Bingo! SuSE has always been a good distribution. I didn't use it way back when (I was a Mandrake guy.) but always heard of it.

SUSE 10.1 is a very clean distribution and a worthy successor to the line. Thanks to Andreas, it now includes Novell's ZenWorks updater which takes the pain out of updating software from non-official repositorys (apt, yum, yast, whatever) and is a beautiful feature. I haven't put the system on my notebook (running 10.0) yet, so I don't know if the wireless/wired bug has been fixed.

Yet, Novell has - in my mind - a history of shooting itself in the foot and underperforming in the marketing department. In fact, I cannot even find a marketing banner right now for SUSE 10.1 to display on my websites. I remember when Novell came out with Netware 4.0 as the "great upgrade" to 3.12, which I was installing on many clients' systems. No matter what the actual techical merits of Directory Tree over Bindry, it was destined to fail because Novell did a terrible job of marketing.

Same goes for SUSE - they simply don't know how to market it. Let's just hope they don't kill it off too soon! I might have to switch to FC or Ubuntu or another distro with which I'm unfamiliar.