More Novell Nattering

Some Novell fans and detractors have responded to my earlier blast (Novell – BrainShare or BrainDead). Some agree with me, but some disagree (of course), saying that Novell’s current path toward Open Source and network services will save the company’s Provo nee Boston bacon.

Reader Duane compares, at length, the options of true Open Source software versus the products rolling out of Provo nee Boston. Is Novell’s file system better than ReiserFS? Is Novell’s iSCSI better than what comes with Linux? At least the Linux iSCSI is free, as is the Open Source heartbeat/drdb versus $$ for Novell’s Cluster Services.

Duane’s also looking for signers for his I Want NetWare petition. Good luck, Duane, but I’m afraid that ship has sailed (or sunk, depending on your optimism about Novell’s future).

Are there any Open Source companies with a billion dollars per year revenue? That’s about Novell’s revenue, although that number’s been flat and drifting downward. Not IBM, who claims to do a billion with various Linux products (including, I bet, hardware revenue in that mix). Not Red Hat, the folks I consider the biggest Linux company. If no one else can do it, why should we believe Novell can, especially considering their inept management and marketing?

I hoped Novell would tie their Open Source push to a serious increase in services. Microsoft blasts Linux and Open Source for the lack of support personnel. Novell has hundreds of thousands of certified third-party Novell techs. Convert those into Linux and Open Source techs, and you have something. Put a thousand Novell service consultants into enterprises large and small looking for Linux and Open Source support, and you have something even better. But I don’t see that.

Any Novell executives care enough to stand up for yourselves? I’m listening.