01.03.09
Do-No-Evil Saturday – Part II: Legacy, Virtualisation, and Memories from Novell
IT WAS A QUIET WEEK, as one ought to expect. Novell was mentioned in a few places like the Indian press where its legacy earned it a place.
“In the beginning, this was not a full-fledged ERP. It was only a costing and delivery module which helped Pragati do the invoice and delivery. In 1992, we went live with the Novell-based platform which was designed to give out quotations. What used to take 30 to 35 minutes to give a quote was brought down to 15 to 20 minutes. Then in 1995, the team started working on Windows-based platform to make it much more elaborate. As we wanted a better GOI, we took advantage of the Microsoft Windows and Microsoft SQL platform. This solution, developed on Power Builder had more features. With these solutions in place, Pragati introduced a kind of print scheduling mechanism,” Ramakrishna explains.
Several IDG-owned news sites presented the view of ComputerWorld’s editor, who mentioned Novell in a few paragraphs (also here).
Novell will not hold its heretofore annual BrainShare user and partner conference.
Why it won’t happen: For starters, the Novell brass said a couple of weeks ago that there’ll be no BrainShare because of the lousy economy and restricted travel budgets. So, this is more of a “postdiction” than a prediction. OK, I cut a corner — it’s not like I’m some Gartner guy and you’re paying an obscene amount of money for this.
Why it should: It’s hard enough as it is to convince people that Novell is still around. Killing off its only means of getting a little attention won’t exactly raise the outfit’s profile.
Ross Chevalier blogged a bit about the company’s direction and focus.
Novell is much more than the sum of the parts that people equate us with. We’re more than NetWare, more than Linux, more than Identity, more than ZENworks. I have the most fun and get the most resonance from senior customer executives when I can pull all the parts together to create a vision that works for the customer’s business. As my friends and associates Phil Richards and Fred Arrington said on a call before Christmas, customers want to hear our vision for them, it’s a differentiator. I count myself fortunate to work with folks like these, they get it.
Finance
Novell was hardly mentioned, except very briefly right here.
Today’s Trade Alerts include: Hercules Offshore Inc. (Nasdaq: HERO), Novell Inc. (Nasdaq: NOVL), Tellabs Inc. (Nasdaq: TLAB), Lawson Software Inc. (Nasdaq: LWSN), Solarfun Power Holdings Co. Ltd. (Nasdaq: SOLF) and Atmel Corp. (Nasdaq: ATML).
Virtualisation
Among the many players in this area, Novell was mentioned here and here. Nothing too notable.
To achieve a highly efficient ramp-up, virtualisation technology from industry powerhouses IBM, Intel and Novell are the answer. The Solution for Open Virtualisation (SOV) builds multi-platform virtualisation support and management directly..
[...]
What makes this strategy unique, Black says, is the fact that IBM, Intel and Novell provide an open solution that is backed by enterprise management and support.
People
Matt Asay reminisces his time at Novell:
(While at Novell, I had one of the most distressing experiences in my life trying to negotiate a partnership with Siebel. It’s not an experience I’d wish on my worst enemy, much less a partner.)
One comment states: “I’m guessing the hair pulling with Siebel when you were with Novell had less to do with how the code would be integrated and more to do with the business terms around the deal. I’m not sure how that piece goes away.”
Lastly, it is unfortunate to see that President Obama is likely flirting with CEOs of big companies, including the former CEO of Novell, who some used to think would become a national CTO.
Google CEO’s Influence With Obama May Aid Tech
When Schmidt arrived at Google in 2001 he had just been CEO of software maker Novell — a company that wasn’t nearly as successful. Schmidt’s background hadn’t been so much in business. He started as a computer scientist at Sun Microsystems. Schmidt says it was that and not his stint as a CEO that made him attractive to Google and what attracted him to the company.
Politicians ought not to connect themselves with the interests of particular companies. This leads to corruption, no matter how benevolent those involved think it is. █`
“I’m sorry that we have to have a Washington presence. We thrived during our first 16 years without any of this. I never made a political visit to Washington and we had no people here. It wasn’t on our radar screen. We were just making great software.”
–Bill Gates
