Bonum Certa Men Certa

Novell News Summary - Part III: Pulse Again, SCO's Jeff Hunsaker is Out, GroupWise Items

Zion National Park



Summary: A bundle of news about Novell Pulse, SCO-Novell news, and various other items

With OpenSUSE being the main item this week, not much else could be said about Novell. We wrote about Pulse last week and it is still the most unique item of Novell news.



Pulse



One of our readers, who spotted the noise from Novell's marketing people, argues that Novell still has a pulse -- for now.

Many people think that Novell is controlled directly from Redmond (or certainly sits and gives a paw on command of its Microsoft master). It matters not, the damage “the deal” did to the public perception of Novell IMO shows how insidious a Microsoft relationship can be.


Here is another newer article about Pulse.

Novell has announced the first real-time collaboration platform for the enterprise, Novell Pulse. In addition, Novell stated it is working with Google to enable Novell Pulse users and Google Wave users to seamlessly work together across both systems.


Pulse was also covered or mentioned indirectly under:

i. Thunderbird 3, Raindrop and the Future of Mozilla Messaging

After meeting Ascher in San Francisco and having recently covered both Wave and Novell Pulse-related stories, ReadWriteWeb's first question was obvious: Would Mozilla be merging Thunderbird and Raindrop for a Google Wave-like experience?


ii. ThoughtWorks Studios 'Mingles' with Google Wave

ThoughtWorks Studios was one of three companies demoing software integrations with Google Wave at the conference: Novell showed off a real-time, enterprise collaboration platform called "Pulse," which it plans to integrate with Google Wave; and SAP demoed an application called "Gravity," through which users collaborate on creating and modeling business processes.


iii. Summit: Dealing with communications overload

When you look at some of the tools becoming available, Novell's recent Pulse announcement and Google Wave are examples, you can combine the transient messages around something with something which is persistent through which you can refer to it and which many people can work on.


SCO



Jeff Hunsaker is out! Groklaw writes:

Here's an interview with CEO Shawn Jenkins, to give you the flavor of what they do. It's a software company. I understand it's a company that uses Linux to some degree, actually. I'm sure the techies there are simply thrilled to have Young in their midst. Note his bio leaves the SCO job off the list, which is the same pattern we noticed when he joined SCO in 2004. It must be hard to be an ex-SCO person. Or maybe it's just because he is stressing other skill sets now, like the ability to "handle rapid growth", not something he needed at SCO.

And I notice that the company is hiring, even looking for a general counsel, who will report to Young. They need a Senior Software Engineer (EDI and Java or .NET) too.

So, where did Darl McBride land, I wonder? I haven't heard anything yet. Maybe NASA could send him to the moon. I hear they found water there, so maybe he could bottle it and sell Moon Water from his Harley?


For what it's worth, we have mentioned Jeff Hunsaker in [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7]. Here is another important development:

SUSE Moves to Lift Stay on Arbitration; Novell Asks to Consolidate with IBM Litigation or Have Both Cases Assigned to That Judge



Novell has made two moves. In bankruptcy court, SUSE asks that the stay be lifted so the arbitration can go forward. And in Utah, Novell has filed a Notice of Related Proceeding, asking that the SCO v. Novell and SCO v. IBM litigations either be consolidated with SCO v. IBM or at least be assigned to the same judge, Tena Campbell.


Past Software



Certified Novell engineers are mentioned in relation to the impact of an Oracle/Novell takeover.

Radical mergers such as the Oracle/Sun combo could revolutionise and shake up IT. Conversely, Oracle would do well to remember what happens to companies which either overstretch themselves and/or become entrenched in fighting yesterday's wars and settling old scores. Novell became unstuck doing both - remember CNE?


Novell applications are being replaced in North Georgia College & State University, according to this press release

Matrix42 Empirum v12 Suite of Management Products Will Replace Outdated Combination of Manual Processes, Scripts and Novell Applications


Novell support (including Netware) is mentioned in another release and the effect of Novell on 3Com is mentioned following the acquisition announcement (by HP).

1990 – Facing stiff competition from Microsoft and Novell, 3Com gets out of the network operating system business.


GroupWise



GroupWise support in the BlackBerry gets Novell some attention and GroupWise love from Messaging Architects is noted in the following press release:

Messaging Architects and Omni Deliver Innovative Compliance Management for Exchange 2010 and GroupWise 8



Messaging Architects and Omni, recognized leaders in email management products and services, today announced that Omni’s eControl console will support natively Messaging Architects' Email Risk Management and Compliance products. The enhancement will benefit M+Archive and M+Guardian customers with simplified administration management, provisioning and delegation of routine tasks.


There are other new examples of GroupWise support:

...Novell€® GroupWise are supported.


Some BlackBerry support again:

Magticom is offering BlackBerry Enterprise Server for corporate clients, a solution that tightly integrates with IBM Lotus Domino, Microsoft Exchange and Novell GroupWise and works with existing enterprise systems to enable secure, push-based wireless access to email and other corporate data. BlackBerry services also allow consumers and business users to manage up to ten supported email accounts (including most popular ISP email accounts) from their BlackBerry smartphone.


The defeat of GroupWise is still being debated, even in the 'Microsoft press'.

What technology was the city using for e-mail? The primary e-mail system that the city was using was the Novell one, and I think they also had some instances of Microsoft Exchange as well.


More GroupWise in government:

The departments and agencies whose users will be migrated onto the centralised email platform are already using Exchange, but some installations of IBM's Lotus Notes/Domino and Novell's GroupWise platforms remain throughout the state government.


The National Kidney Foundation has found something to complement GroupWise:

The foundation turned to email archiving as a less labor-intensive means of cutting down on the size of its two GroupWise Post Offices than trying to get stricter about mailbox quotas. Given that GroupWise is not as widely used as Microsoft's Exchange, finding an email archiving vendor that supports it was a tricky and expensive project.


Identity Management



Except for some minor items there was only this press release, but that too is nothing major.

Smart card management solution involving integration with Novell Identity Manager


Security/Recovery



Novell is still capitalising on threat (or perceived threat) and data recovery is said to be assisted by Novell Cluster Services.

Now, all these servers are virtualized and run from a cluster, using Novell Cluster Services . So when a physical machine goes down, the virtual server can be moved to another location with very little downtime. Moving to virtualization also saved in hardware costs. Since newly purchased servers would no longer require hard drives for storage, it could save $7,000 to $8,000 per server, according to the city.


People



Novell has undergone some shuffles at the top.

Mr Poole takes over for acting senior vice president of human resources Scott Semel. Mr Semel continues his role as senior vice president and general counsel at Novell.


To use Novell's explanation:

Novell today announced that Russell Poole, former vice president and senior HR partner, has been named senior vice president, Human Resources, effective immediately. Poole will be based out of Novell’s headquarters in Waltham, Mass., and will report directly to President and CEO Ron Hovsepian. Poole takes over for acting Senior Vice President of Human Resources Scott Semel. Semel continues his role as senior vice president and general counsel at Novell.


There is more to be found here and maybe here.

Former Novell software engineer Verdon Walker has run the race three times with the corporate team "2 Slow 2 Win 2 Dumb 2 Quit."


Partners



The following new press release identifies NDS8 as a Novell partner.

NDS8 (www.nds8.co.uk) is a Novell Platinum Partner and Astaro Preferred Partner, focused on maximising the functionality and reliability of Novell and SuSE applications.


Novell was mentioned in some other press releases, mostly in the footers.

A community college seems to be giving this technical advice about Novell in a new video that it has just uploaded.

Recent Techrights' Posts

Hard to Find a Job After Working for Microsoft (Back Doors Giant, Bribery Hub)
It generally looks like people who chose to serve Microsoft's agenda don't end up too well
Altering Perceived Reality to Make It Seem Like Microsoft is Thriving, Not Failing
pretend XBox did not die
Confluent Insiders: IBM Laid Off Over 800 at Confluent, Not Just 800
For the record, the layoffs at Confluent won't be over. After the bluewashing there will be "IBM RAs" impacting Confluent folks, aside from PIPs
Where and How to Spot LLM Slop
Many people correctly perceive LLMs as a site's downfall, a step towards the abyss
 
Links 26/03/2026: Tor Relay at National Taiwan Normal University, Copyright Hammers Fall
Links for the day
Gemini Links 26/03/2026: "The War of the Worlds" and "sometimes science is just the dumbest thing"
Links for the day
The World Wide Bots
The shape of the Web is so bad that bots exceed humans in some places
Links 26/03/2026: Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) Closes 101 Law Firms in 2 Years, "Please Compensate the Work You Appreciate"
Links for the day
Regaining Software Freedom Means Regaining Control Over Programs That Run on Our Devices
Richard Stallman will speak in Italy
Microsoft Secure Boot Removes Users' Choice
Has Greenland banned Microsoft and 'secure' boot yet?
IBM Pushes Workers Out, It Does Not Count Them as "Layoffs"
The number of IBM layoffs can be as large as tens of thousands per year
Microsoft Lost 31% Of Its Alleged "Value" in Five Months, Then It Got Downgraded
In 2026 Microsoft focuses on keeping the layoffs silent
SLAPP Censorship - Part 24 Out of 200: The Failed Effort by Brett Wilson LLP to Strike Out My Lawsuit and My Wife's Lawsuit Against Garrett (the Master Allowed Our Lawsuits to Proceed)
This is lawfare
Official New Figures Show That Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) Sees Rise in Dishonesty Among Law Firms Forcibly Shut Down ('Euthanised' Due to Misconduct)
It's rather if in our little country as many as 16 law firms were found to be so dishonest that they needed to be shut down
Back to Normalcy
In our datacentre at least
IBM is "Increasing Its Temporary and Part-time Headcount" While Net Headcount Falls (Despite Buying Many Companies and Their Workforce)
Headcount is a rather superficial yardstick.
EPO Union Decides to Continue Industrial Actions, Next Strike in Four Days
The latest strike had the highest participation rate
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, March 25, 2026
IRC logs for Wednesday, March 25, 2026
Microsoft's "Silent Layoffs" in Slop Clothing
"AI-powered transformation" is just a euphemism for mass layoffs
Public Talk by Richard Stallman in Half a Day "at the Engineering and Architecture Campus of Cesena of the University of Bologna"
He'll probably attract a fairly large crowd
Gemini Links 26/03/2026: Buying a House, Stargazing, OFFLFIRSOCH 2026
Links for the day
Links 25/03/2026: Nations Return to Russian Oil and Burning Wood
Links for the day
Gemini Links 25/03/2026: Resisting Authoritarianism and Why Slop Needs to Go Away
Links for the day
Fedora Maintainer-ship Using Slop (Mistakes) Would Make Fedora Less Reliable
It won't produce reliable code or stable systems one can rely upon
IBM's "Legacy Employees" (Experienced Workers, IBM Management Dubs Them 'Dinobabies')
This notion of "legacy employees" seems like something overlapping with "expensive" (well paid) staff, even if not entirely equivalent
EPO's "Current Industrial Actions Are Likely to Intensify Further."
There is another strike in 5 days
This Morning The Register MS Published Slop Promotion With the Term "AI" 15 Times In It. The Register MS Was (As Usual) Paid to Do This
This is not a serious publisher
SLAPP Censorship - Part 23 Out of 200: We Were Right All Along (for 2 Years) About Third Party Funding and Willingness to 'Break the Bank' in Pursuit of "Revenge"
How much damage can a person do to oneself in pursuit of cover-up of legitimate technical concerns?
Gnome Foundation Inc is in Trouble
the agenda is set GAFAM and IBM rather than donors
Links 25/03/2026: Airports Further Militarised, "Slopification and Its Discontents", Microsoft 'Open' 'Hey Hi' Shutting Things Down
Links for the day
Gemini Links 25/03/2026: Blogging Fright and Absolutely Useless 'Apps' Made by Slop Machines
Links for the day
Rise in Energy Prices Will Significantly Accelerate the Death of So-called "AI Companies"
It should be noted that fake news about Microsoft OpenAI doubling workforce (mere words, not actions) can serve as a nice distraction from the death of Sora due to divestment
It's Always a Question of Trust
There's a widespread stigma of lawyers being manipulative and chronically dishonest
Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) Must More Carefully Investigate or Assess the Financial State of Law Firms in the UK
We'll cover this in depth in the future
GAFAM Mozilla Removes Theora Support, Now GNU Needs to Re-encode Videos
Mozilla used to mean something to Free software advocates
An Open Admission Profits Depend on Addiction
Proprietary software tends to be like this
IBM Americas President Ayman Antoun Comes to OpenText, Weeks Ahead the Mass Layoffs Begin
Is that what IBM will be good at?
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, March 24, 2026
IRC logs for Tuesday, March 24, 2026
SLAPP Censorship - Part 22 Out of 200: When You Complain People Impersonate You in IRC (But You Yourself Impersonate People in IRC and Lock Them Out of Their IRC Handles)
We'll cover this with direct evidence some time soon
Gemini Links 24/03/2026: Junk Drawer Time Capsule and Building Outside Alire
Links for the day
Not Much LLM Slop About "Linux" Lately, It Only Ever Comes From the Same Few Sites
As long as only few such sites use LLM slop we can skip and avoid them
Links 24/03/2026: "Epic Lays Off Over 1000 Employees" and US in Financial Trouble According to the Fed
Links for the day
The "Media" Does Not Only 'Miss' Mass Layoffs
"The Treasury just declared the U.S. insolvent. The media missed it"
The Empty Suits of IBM Managers (NIH or "Nothing Invented Here")
IBM's management adopted the business model of parasites
2012: 'Secure' (Microsoft-Controlled) Boot Has Not (Yet) Been Made Obligatory. 2026: systemd Has Not Implemented Age Verification
should we stop calling "nazi" everyone we don't agree with?
More Threats (Including Physical Threats) Against Us Are a Dumb Move
It's like a "hit list" (targets list) and I shall keep the police duly informed
New Example of Pentagon in "Feminist" Clothing Inside Fake News of Publishers Paid to Promote Outsourcing to US ("Clown Computing") and American Slop
Google now pays money to promote Google as a friend of women
Hating Techrights is a Career
but is it good for civil society?
Dr. Stallman’s Work Will Never be Considered 'Mainstream' Because He Rejects and Works Against the So-called 'Mainstream'
Try to be more like Stallman
The New Layoffs: 'Silent Layoffs', 'Secret Layoffs', 'Quiet Layoffs', 'Passive Layoffs' 'Stealth Layoffs', and Unannounced Layoffs Disguised as Return-to-Office (RTO Mandates)
The US needs to revisit and fix the WARN Act
EPO "Cocaine Communication Manager" - Part IX - Cocaine Addicts in Charge of the EPO Attacking Families of EPO Staff
Things like being high-profile and being a serious drug addict aren't opposites
What Feminism in Science Means (Codes of Conduct Don't Tackle the Real Issues)
Universality matters, more so in a project or community that's said to build the "universal operating system" (Debian)
SLAPP Censorship - Part 21 Out of 200: It's About Behaviour Online, Not How Much Money From Shadowy Third Parties Gets Spent on Lawyers and Two Barristers
75+ KG of legal papers, 2 cases, 2 barristers (one hiding in the metadata) and maybe two law firms (also hiding in the metadata) against two modest people in Manchester seems disproportionate and vindicative
Links 24/03/2026: "Airports on ICE" and "Have You Paid Your “Intuit Tax”?"
Links for the day
Gemini Links 24/03/2026: Slop Interview and Why Slop Makes Lousy Code
Links for the day
Richard Stallman to Give Public Talk This Thursday at the University of Bologna (Italy)
Hardly the first time he speaks in Bologna
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, March 23, 2026
IRC logs for Monday, March 23, 2026