12.27.06

Stafford Masie Presentation at CITI Forum: Transcript

Posted in Boycott Novell, Deals, Fork, Formats, Free/Libre Software, FUD, GNU/Linux, GPL, IBM, Intellectual Monopoly, Interoperability, LGPL, Microsoft, NetWare, Novell, Office Suites, Open XML, OpenDocument, OpenOffice, OpenSUSE, Patent Covenant, Patents, Red Hat, Servers, VBA, Virtualisation, Windows at 5:26 pm by Shane Coyle

Here, finally, is the transcript of Stafford Masie’s presentation at the CITI forum, as posted on tectonic.co.za. I only transcribe as well as I hear, so there may be small errors, but I am confident this is ‘very’ accurate. Please point out any errors or questions and I will investigate.

Stafford Masie:

This whole Novell thing, the whole Microsoft thing, is an interesting thing. so, let me just start off by saying… thanks for making the time, thanks for making the time to see me. Pete was supposed to be up here this morning, and I decided to come,…

Really what I want the premise of the discussion to be is really a discussion about, I think the big thing thats gonna come up here as I go through all the…the material that I want to present initially is the patent stuff, y’know software patents and what they mean, etc I think professor Keats and I have gone back and forth online enough now.

We… we… we definitely like the fact that we have an open source community… we’re learning more and more as a proprietary vendor, traditional proprietary vendor, to participate in this community. and there are certain things that we do and there are certain things that we may not do that are good or that are bad, and y’know, really, this is what we want to do, this is what we want to do, is stir debate.
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Phil Morettini on Novell’s Rise and Fall

Posted in Marketing, NetWare, Novell at 2:11 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

Four days before the Microsoft/Novell deal was made, Phil Morettini, President of PJM Consulting, wrote the following:

The Rise and Fall of Novell

Unfortunately, in some cases, being targeted by Microsoft sometimes builds a company up in its own view. It’s almost a baptism into the big-time. Microsoft is worried about us; we’re a peer to them now! We must really be smart! This leads to a false sense of security about the company’s true position in the market, leading to the second factor which can bring a company down–Arrogance.

Novell had plenty of excuses to be arrogant, even without Microsoft’s attention. They were truly dominating the Network Operating System business. The brand was dominant, the product was good, and the worldwide distribution network of VARs and distributors was second to none. Sales people at Novell no longer had to sell–they took orders.

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