* Novell in 2004
Happy New Year, one and all! It’s that time of year when we think of new beginnings; turn over new leaves and generally try to do better. We express this by making New Year’s resolutions. Since Novell, as a corporation, doesn’t normally make resolutions, I take it upon myself to do so on its behalf. It’s just one of the thankless duties that come with writing this newsletter. Last year, I proposed three resolutions for the gang in Waltham, now it’s time to see how they did in keeping them.
1) I suggested that Novell should continue to reassure the NetWare loyalists (as well as the longtime users of GroupWise, eDirectory, ZENworks and other “traditional” Novell software offerings) that they won’t be left behind. There should continue to be support and innovation for these platforms and, when the time comes to move on to a different platform, the transition and migration should be as painless as possible.
I’d say Novell did pretty well with this one. Next month’s release of Open Enterprise Server (OES) will have all of your favorite NetWare utilities (at least, your favorites from NetWare 6.x) running on your choice of NetWare or SuSE Linux kernels. GroupWise and ZENworks will also be available on all platforms this year. You can stick with what you know best or move to the future of Linux. If you choose to move, you can do it at your own pace with a myriad of tools to help the changeover. A big plus for Novell on this resolution.
2) I also suggested that Novell should speak out to Linux and open source audiences and assure them that the company is on their side, and that it will continue to produce world-class software for sale to the enterprise as well as freely-distributable to hobbyists, tinkerers and developers. It would be better to be late on a delivery than to deliver half-baked software, which is something Novell has done far too often in the past.
It turns out that not only did Novell continue to speak out, but it also backed its words with strong actions. Novell has been in the forefront of the fight with The SCO Group over the intellectual property rights of both Unix and Linux and has offered to indemnify its Linux customers against charges of infringement. In a little over a year, Novell has gone from “Who are they?” to “Hoo-ray!” among the Penguin lovers. Another big plus for Novell.
3) The final resolution was that Novell should continually let people know about its capabilities as a services platform, particularly in the amorphous field of Web services. Tools like the Apache Web server are actually category leaders and best sellers, so Novell needed to emphasize that fact along with its traditional mantra of “we offer best-in-class software.” But Novell needed to do this without antagonizing either Microsoft or Windows loyalists. That would be quite a tightrope to walk.
Novell pretty much chose not to even get on this tightrope. It might be that the company is marshalling its Web services offerings to be touted along with OES – which isn’t a bad strategy – or that it’s simply the typical reaction of Novell’s marketing people. We’ll give them a pass on this one, but watch the marketing effort once OES has started shipping.
Over all, I’d have to say it’s a 2.5 rating – that’s pretty good in my book. Next time we’ll put out some ideas for 2005 resolutions – don’t miss the next issue.
