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Novell CEO Gives Behind the Scenes Account of Microsoft Deal

Posted by samzenpus on from the and-then-what-did-he-say dept.

raffe writes "Here is a Q&A with Ron Hovsepian CEO of Novell. He describes 'a love-hate thing' between the two companies." From the article: "This past May, I picked up the phone and called Kevin Turner, the COO at Microsoft. I knew Kevin when he was the CIO at Wal-Mart. I said, "Kevin, I'd like to have a conversation about what the customer needs. If you could put back on your old hat as a customer, if I came in and started talking to you about virtualization on Linux, and this Microsoft guy showed up and started talking to you about virtualization on Windows, what would you say to us?""

2 of 215 comments (clear)

  1. What I still don't understand is ... by khasim · · Score: 5, Insightful

    So, Novell's lost 4 deployments to Microsoft ..... and now Microsoft wants to help Novell get a chance at future deployments?

    Is this something that makes sense in CEO-land?

    Because it sure doesn't make sense from where I'm at.

  2. Re:There ya go, Ron Hovsepian admits to misconduct by Mostly+a+lurker · · Score: 4, Insightful
    So he bought something, without actually doing due diligence to find out if they actually needed it.
    I have listened to this argument over and over. I do not buy it. What is the appropriate due diligence to know if you are going to be the target of bogus litigation? The US legal system is a complete mess, and getting worse. The assumption that you have nothing to fear if you have done nothing wrong is unbelievably naive. There is nothing irresponsible about taking out insurance against one of the biggest business risks corporations face today.