Novell Directory Services clone for NT, Win 2000 and Linux
 
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If you're totally frustrated with Windows NT domains, can't wait for Windows 2000 to ship and stabilize so you can use Active Directory, and are taken aback by the pricing structure for Novell Directory Services (NDS) for NT, you'll be very interested in today's newsletter.
Timpanogas Research Group has announced plans for an open source version of an NDS clone on Windows NT and Linux operating systems. Codenamed Thor, Timpanogas says this directory will bring the superior performance and management capabilities of Novell's NDS to Windows NT, Windows 2000 and Linux.
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Thor is scheduled for release in the first quarter of 2000. Thor is designed to increase the viability of Windows NT, Windows 2000 and Linux as competitive enterprise solutions, while helping to eliminate problems between the current directories on those platforms and NetWare.
"Because of the full wire compatibility between Thor and NDS, any application developed for one platform can now run on the other," states Carley Brennan, executive vice president of marketing for Timpanogas. "This compatibility will immediately increase the number of applications that NetWare, Windows NT, Windows 2000 and Linux can run. It will also make it easier for developers on one platform to port their applications to the other."
As an open source product, Thor comes with a wildly acceptable price tag - it's free for the asking. I asked Brennan about that and she replied, "Thor is being considered as a "seed" product. Thor is being used to pave the way for Timpanogas' other, nonfree products, such as Fenris (A NetWare-like file system for Windows NT or Linux) and the VDI [Virtual Network Disk Interface], described as "a distributed, fault-tolerant, highly-scalable Network Storage Infrastructure for Windows NT, NetWare, and Linux File Servers and Workstations."
Is it too good to be true, more technological hype or possibly another lawsuit in the making? Remember that Timpanogas started life as Wolf Mountain, attempting to (Novell said) use pirated technology to create NetWare clustering. This could get very interesting.
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