Musical chairs at Movell and Nicrosoft

Summary: Two more members of the board of directors have prior relationships with Microsoft

THE direction of any company is determined by the people who run it. As such, we keep track of evidence that's inter-personal and use it to explain particular decisions sometimes. We have a pretty decent track record of getting things right. One example would be XenSource, which was scooped up by a very close ally of Microsoft. Jeff Vance is unable to make sense of this deal, so Jose X fills him in by saying: "Microsoft, whose bestest partner is Citrix, probably can put a figure on Xen's value. Lots of strategy going on with that partnership I have little doubt."

But today's development is not about XenSource (or Xen), which changed a lot after Microsoft veterans had approached it with money. It's actually about Novell, which is in many ways similar to Xen. Quite a few former Microsoft employees have already joined the ranks of Novell's management and now we find this press release about changes in the Board of Directors.

Novell today announced the appointments of Gary G. Greenfield and Judith H. Hamilton to its Board of Directors.

Mr. Greenfield has held multiple executive level positions at leading technology organizations and currently serves as Chairman and CEO of Avid Technology, Inc. Prior to joining Avid, he served as CEO of GXS, Inc. and during the same period, also served as an Operating Partner with Francisco Partners, a technology-focused private equity firm. Previously, Mr. Greenfield served as CEO of Peregrine Systems and President and CEO of Merant PLC. Mr. Greenfield is also a Director of Vocus, Inc.

There is also this subsequent report which an informant mailed to us.

Novell Inc .. on Friday (10 April) announced the appointments of Gary G Greenfield and Judith H Hamilton as directors to the company's board.

Greenfield currently serves as chairman and CEO of Avid Technology Inc. Prior to that he was CEO of GXS Inc and during the same period, also served as an operating partner with Francisco Partners, a technology-focused private equity firm. Before that he served as CEO of Peregrine Systems and President and CEO of Merant PLC.

Our informant shows that Microsoft and GXS have an actual alliance, and Avid Technology too is a 'buddy' of Microsoft.

Looking back at the second among those two appointments, we have:

Hamilton currently serves on the board of directors of R.R Donnelley & Sons as well as the Wildlife Conservation Society. She has previously served as a director of Artistic Media Partners Inc, Markettools Inc and the National Parks Foundation. Prior to her retirement, she was president and CEO of Classroom Connect Inc as well as FirstFloor Software.

R.R Donnelley collaborates with Microsoft and this lady was a director of a company that Microsoft commissioned.

About this Study Microsoft has commissioned MarketTools, Inc, a marketing research firm, to build and maintain the panel on Microsoft's behalf. For more information about MarketTools’ relationship with Microsoft, please contact us at: itpanel@xxxxxxxxxxxxx

It seems fairly important to emphasise that Novell does not fear Microsoft influence inside its board. After all, Novell and Microsoft openly rave about their many partnerships. They hardly compete. ⬆