Wired Windows:
Microsoft's directory foibles
H istory buffs will tell you that when leaders are having domestic problems they'll often look around for a war to jump into, which will unite the people in the face of the common enemy.
Rumors out of Washington concerning a possible military strike at Iraq seem to fit that strategy to a tee.
Microsoft chief Bill Gates and staff may have been thinking the same thing when they launched a preemptive strike at Novell's NDS for NT.
Maybe Microsoft was trying to move away from its embarrassing performance in the Department of Justice/Internet Explorer fiasco. That could be one reason the firm spread a lot of fear, uncertainty and doubt among NT network administrators by threatening to withdraw all support of systems running NDS for NT.
Instead of launching a powerful campaign against NDS for NT, though, the Microsofties spent a couple of days issuing statements and then retracting them. After first claiming that NDS for NT overwrote a number of critical operating system files, they backed down and said only two files were affected, then one. As each charge from Gates' PR army was rebuffed, new press releases were issued. In the end, Microsoft was left with one argument - NDS for NT didn't integrate NetWare and NT, it was an all-NDS solution.
Wake up, Redmond! Network administrators want one directory system to handle all of their platforms. From S/390 to NetWare, NT to Solaris, only Novell's NDS does them all. Active Directory - Microsoft's answer - is a year and a half overdue and won't be operational for at least another year. Even then, it won't have NDS capabilities.
Enterprise nets can't wait; they need solutions now.
At the beginning of World War II, Hitler's generals told him they could not support a war in both Western Europe and Russia. This forced him to reach an accord with Russia. But he got impatient and abrogated that treaty, and thus began his own downfall. Redmond should study this carefully.
With legal battles being waged against Sun over Java on the one hand and against the Justice Department over bundling on the other, Microsoft should be looking for friends, not more enemies.
Supporting NDS for NT doesn't imply supporting NetWare. It shouldn't impact NT server sales - NT still is a better application server than NetWare is. But it would demonstrate Microsoft's willingness to adopt superior technologies offered by competitors. And supporting this solution would allow network managers to get a firm grasp on their current directory needs, thus winning lots of friends in the user community. It could be a big win for Microsoft - something it desperately needs right now.
Kearns, a former network administrator, is a freelance writer and consultant in Austin, Texas. He can be reached at wired@vquill.com.
