Network World
Friday, July 10, 2009
DNSstuff.com
Get information about your IP
IP Information
50+ On-demand DNS and network tools
Signup for this newsletter now!

Twice a week, noted Network World columnist Dave Kearns brings you Novell NetWare news, notes, facts, figures, brickbats and bouquets.

Dave Kearns

Good-bye BrainShare Europe…and NetWare?

BrainShare Europe is no more; the end of NetWare is nigh

Last issue I told you about the good news Novell is generating in the run-up to Christmas. But there are a couple of lumps of coal in Jack Messman's stocking.

Other stories on this topic
Ubuntu's maker: Chrome OS 'no slam dunk' just because Google announces it 7/10/2009
Korea DDOS virus mission shifts to destroying, erasing data 7/10/2009
Toshiba Satellite A355D-S6930 7/9/2009
Powered by Inform

Google OS could put squeeze on other flavors of Linux
07/09/09
Much of the discussion around Google's new PC operating system has focused on a looming battle with Windows, but the biggest losers could be other Linux OSes that have been enjoying some moderate success on netbooks, industry analysts said.

Google lists HP, Acer among Chrome OS partners
07/09/09
Google is already working with several companies to develop devices around the new Chrome OS, including Hewlett-Packard and Acer, the company said in a blog post late Wednesday.

Cyber attack in South Korea set to resume, says AhnLab
07/09/09
A denial of service attack that took down some of South Korea's highest profile Web sites on Wednesday is set to resume Thursday evening, according to computer security specialist AhnLab.

Trying to put a good face on what is definitely bad news, a Novell press release trumpets: "Novell  today [Dec. 13] announced it will hold its first unified global BrainShare Conference" in March in Salt Lake City. Of course, there's been a BrainShare conference in March in Salt Lake City for the past 15 years. What this announcement really means is that BrainShare Europe and the other "mini" BrainShares that have been tried at other cities over the years are no more. It's just another cost-cutting move, no matter how Novell tries to spin it.

That's not as troubling as the report I got from longtime reader Lewis Rosenthal about his trip to Provo for a training session, which included a discussion of the Open Enterprise Server (OES) roadmap. Rosenthal wrote: "I just thought I'd share with you a little bit I picked up while attending the OES Roadmap today, at ATT Live, here in Provo." Sounds good. But he gets right into the troubling news: "I can say without much doubt that NetWare - as we know it - will be vanishing in the next few years. Sometime after Cypress ships (the next version of Open Enterprise Server), Novell will be rolling out NetWare 'viX'. This will be a specially optimized version of NetWare to run in a virtual session on the Linux kernel, allowing 'legacy' NetWare NLMs to run in such an environment until such time as these applications can be migrated to OES Linux natively."

That's both good and bad news, I guess. Novell isn't simply shutting the door on the accumulated NetWare applications and utilities you're using. Not just yet, anyway. Well, Rosenthal does say that "Novell has no plans whatsoever to port iFolder 3 to NetWare, so the end of the iFolder line on our kernel is 2.1."

Rosenthal continues: "There will be IA-64 support for the Linux kernel, but as of now, Novell has no plans to support NetWare running natively on 64-bit hardware. While Novell has made a 10-year commitment to support and update other venerable products like GroupWise, they refuse to make a similar statement regarding NetWare, and believe me, many of us have buzzed about it."

Dave Kearns is a writer and consultant in Silicon Valley. He's written a number of books including the (sadly) now out of print "Peter Norton's Complete Guide to Networks." His musings can be found at Virtual Quill.

Kearns is the author of two Network World Newsletters: Windows Networking Strategies, and Identity Management. Comments about these newsletters should be sent to him at these respective addresses: windows@vquill.com, identity@vquill.com .

Kearns provides content services to network vendors: books, manuals, white papers, lectures and seminars, marketing, technical marketing and support documents. Virtual Quill provides "words to sell by..." Find out more by e-mail.

React: Give us your thoughts on the issues here.
Start a public discussion with other Network World users on this article (scroll up to send this article to a colleague).
Log In | Register for an account (Why you should)

Note: Register to have your user name appear; otherwise your comment will show up as "Anonymous."

*Anonymous comments will only appear once they are approved by the moderator.

Copyright 2008 Network World Inc.


Signup now for the Novell NetWare Tips newsletter

Browse Newsletter categories: Branch Office Best Practices | Convergence | High Speed LANs | Identity Management | IT Careers and Training | IT Leadership | Linux | Messaging | Network Optimization | Network/Systems Management | New Data Center Strategies | Novell NetWare Tips | Optical Networking | Outsourcing | Security Strategies | Servers | Service Provider News Report | Small Business Technology | Storage in the Enterprise | Technology Executive | View from The Edge | Virus and Bug Patch Alert | VORTEX Digest | VPNs | Web Applications | Wide Area Networking | Windows Networking Strategies | Wireless in the Enterprise |


Network World Newsletter

Sign up for some of our Operating Systems newsletters.

Web Applications Alert
Virtualization Alert
Microsoft Alert
JavaWorld Enterprise Java
Linux & Open Source Alert
Network Optimization Alert
 All newsletters  

E-mail Address: