Bonum Certa Men Certa

Large-Scale Novell Layoffs Imminent

RON HOVSEPIAN never had the chance to know Microsoft for as long as Ray Noodra knew them. It's not entirely clear though what Jack Messman would have done, either [1, 2]. But in any event, Hovsepian's strategy appears to be failing because we hear that massive layoffs are coming to Novell very shortly (probably next week or maybe the week after). This was said to us privately by a source that can be relied upon. None of this is particularly surprising given recent posts like:



According to our source, who heard it 'first hand', the figure to be announced may be close to the figure in that last link, i.e. around 25% of the workforce. Gartner made a prediction of 100 employees (~2.5%), which is quite unrealistic amidst the economical crises. Besides, the Gartner Group is highly corruptible [1, 2, 3, 4] and therefore very wrong. They probably said "100 employees" simply because the word had leaked and whilst the real figure could not be divulged (maybe still a subject of discussion), the big announcement was deferred. According to Novell's latest financial report, layoffs of the scale an order of magnitude higher would be needed to stop the company's quarterly losses, taking into account some rough calculations.

“This may be high time that people pressure Novell's management and protest against the patent deal which they must get out of.”We happen to know that Novell staff thinks that Novell should have never signed the deal with Microsoft. Quietly, some staff was fully against it, but opposition came in different forms.

That "this week is going to be big at Novell" is we've heard as "announcements will be made regarding layoffs. Most of the employers are not aware of it, [as the] only thing they do is sit behind their desk [...] They are like zombies working to get the standard dollars in their pockets."

This may be high time that people pressure Novell's management and protest against the patent deal which they must get out of. Novell is in a very bad position, based on expert polls.

Microsoft is not interested in rescuing Novell. It's interested in exploiting Novell and obviously it's easier to exploit that who is feeble, confused, scared, vulnerable and desperate.

Ron Hovsepian begs Ballmer

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