Bonum Certa Men Certa

Novell News Summary - Part III: AutoZone-SCO Case Ends, Financial Leftovers, Partner Academy Launched in India

Zion national park



Summary: The latest catchup with Novell news that might not affect GNU/Linux in any direct way

NOTHING particularly special can be seen here this week, but the SCO case is worth starting with because of some key issues.



SCO



The AutoZone case seems to be over, as decided several weeks ago. SCO still reads Groklaw (maybe it heckles the Web site a lot less after this strategy backfired) and Pamela Jones has proof.

Words to live by. So, lawyers do read Groklaw. We knew that, including SCO's, but so did SCO's management. SCO executives have smeared Groklaw and me from here to Kingdom Come for half a decade, so we knew they had to read it. But it is the first time I've seen a bill for reading Groklaw.


Well, quite a few Novell employees regularly read Boycott Novell. They mostly lurk.

Here is the latest update on SCO's bankruptcy.

We find out now what Ocean Park Advisors has been doing on SCO's behalf since they were hired by the Chapter 11 Trustee Edward Cahn. Submitting a bill for $196,002.50. Gulp. For six weeks' work. When you see the breakdown of their bill, in the attached Exhibit A, you'll see that they have been going over the company with a fine tooth comb.

Their job is to try to save the company, and let's face it, that's a job for Superman. But you know what? If paying professionals could save SCO, it would have happened already. SCO is Kryptonite, y'all. And indeed, by my reading of the bill, there is no salvation in sight just yet, despite all their hard work. I guess the advisors and hand holders will just have to keep their noses to the grindstone, trying to crack this nut, until every last penny SCO has is gone. After all, we don't want to give up on SCO too soon.


Finance



Novell's bad results are an issue that we wrote about before [1, 2], noting that the company lost over $200,000,000 in 2009. Novell's Jeff Jaffe rewrites the strategy, but it remains unconvincing that a turnaround is afoot. Here is a new analysis of Novell and also additional coverage of the financial situation:

● Novell's losses widen despite Linux gains

Novell Inc. said its network-software business contracted in fiscal 2009, while its open source-based product line continued to garner a larger portion of the company’s revenue.

For the fiscal year ended Oct. 31, Waltham, Mass.-based Novell booked net revenue of $862 million, versus net revenue of $957 million in fiscal 2008.


● Linux is only bright spot as Novell reports loss

Sales of Linux products provided the only area of growth for Novell in its fiscal year ending 31 October 2009, as the vendor reported a decline in revenues.


● US Stock Futures Jumps On Upbeat Jobs Report, Take-Two (NASDAQ: TTWO) Eyed

● Novell posts wider 4Q loss on charges

● Novell 4Q Loss Widens On $279 Million Charge, Lower Revenue

● Wall Street Breakfast: Must-Know News

● 3 Stocks That Blew the Market Away

Just as Red Hat (NYSE: RHT) has found a lucrative niche in monetizing the Linux platform, Novell needs to get over NetWare and throw a little more muscle behind its open-source initiatives.


● Novell's losses widen despite Linux gains

● Novell and Marvel Announce Earnings

● Novell Stumbles, Eyes New Strategy

● Novell posts Q4 net loss of US$256mn - Regional

● Novell posts wider 4Q loss on charges

● Novell, Inc. - Financial And Strategic Analysis Review - New Report Published

● Novell’s Earnings Beat (more from Zacks also here: Novell Q4: Earnings Beat, But Revenue Lower)

● Table of Unusual NASDAQ Stock Moves From Townsend Analytics

● Novell fourth-quarter loss widens to $255.7 mln

● Big Lots, Monster Rise; Take-Two Plunges

● Novell widens loss in weak Q4 and year

● Stocks Futures Point To Substantial Rally Following Much Improved Employment Data - U.S. Commentary

Software solutions provider Novell Inc. (NOVL) reported a wider net loss for the fourth quarter, hurt by goodwill impairment, and restructuring expenses. Looking ahead, the company provided revenue outlook for the first quarter, which is estimated to beat the Street expectations.


● Novell Reports 4Q Results

That's all we have managed to find, but there is likely to be a lot more.

Virtualisation



In a speculative piece, Hess opines that Novell might buy Parallels next year.

The other noteworthy announcement made at VMworld was the purchase of Parallels by Novell. This move wasn’t as much of a surprise as one might think. It actually fits in well with Novell’s SUSE Linux offering, their Platespin product and controversial partnership with Microsoft. It’s a wise move by Novell and plants them firmly as a major force in the virtualization space.


The PlateSpin acquisition was mentioned in this article several days ago:

The Holy Grail is for someone to come along with a management tool that can handle such mixed environments. There are people working on such tools, including PlateSpin before Novell acquired it.


Mail



Groupwise support in the BlackBerry Curve gets mentioned again along with a this new GWAVA release and GWAVACon sponsorship. There was nothing else of interest.

Identity Management



The previous post covered some of this, but there is more about identity management in the following pair of news articles:

● The New Cloud Crowd - Three Trends for 2010

Next, I saw a Computer World article about Novell and their product for Identify Management in the cloud http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9141830/Novell_vows_first_identity_management_for_cloud_virtualized_apps?taxonomyId=145 . You remember Novell, the makers of NetWare, Groupwise and more recently the purveyors of SCO. This typifies the second major trend for the cloud for 2010 - Any technology product that can be cloud-enabled will be cloud-enabled.


● Tech Bits: TriZetto, Novell

In other insurance technology news, Western & Southern Financial Group, Cincinnati, has agreed to use the Novell Access Governance Suite and Novell Identity Manager systems from Novell Inc., Waltham, Mass., to automate and improve compliance processes.


Security



Apart from some iPrint vulnerabilities [1, 2, 3] there was this:

Supporting flexible software over too secured software, Eugene points out, “remember IBM OS or Novell? We they disappeared.”


Seems like a loss for words.

People



A new CodecSys manager is being appointed with a little bit of Novell baggage:

Broadcast International (OTCBB: BCST) (“BI”), www.brin.com, today announced the addition of Steven G. Jones as senior vice president and general manager of the CodecSys division. He is responsible for all development, sales and marketing, and strategic direction for the division.

[...]

He has also held the position of CEO at Auction Trust Network and Solera Networks, vice president of products & business development at Vykor, and executive roles in product management/sales/business development at other companies including Mosaix, Netegrity, DataChannel and Novell.


Another case of Novell roots:

He has also held executive positions at Legato, Novell and WordPerfect Corporation.


Google's Eric Schmidt was captured in the spotlight a few times because of something he had said. The Microsoft crowd (Paul Thurrott for example) takes advantage of a tactless remark and pays tribute to Schmidt's Novell roots.

Google CEO: Privacy Doesn't Exist in Online Age And he should know, since he's ostensibly running the company that's responsible for this state of affairs. Google CEO Eric Schmidt, previously responsible for such runaway success stories as Java and Novell, found himself in a bit of hot water this week when he opined on CNBC that "if you have something that you don't want anyone to know, maybe you shouldn't be doing it in the first place."


More on Schmidt at Novell:

● Google CEO backs Obama recovery plan

The Google CEO grew up in Northern Virginia and joined the Mountain View, Calif., company in 2001 after a stint as CEO of Novell and chief technology officer of Sun Microsystems Inc. Mr. Schmidt indicated that business inventories and corporate profits were looking better, including at his own employer.


● EtherJet does the Google Wave

Wave seems to be of keen interest to CEO Eric Schmidt, who has called it “the future of collaboration.” Schmidt has been pushing the idea since the 1990s, when he was best known as the “father of Java” over at Sun Microsystems, before he was recruited to be CEO of Novell and long before Google made him a billionaire.


● When Google Runs Your Life

In 1997 Schmidt left to head Novell ( NOVL - news - people ). A powerhouse in corporate networking, the Orem, Utah company had also been sideswiped by a Microsoft offering that came with a lot more features and ties to other products. Novell countered by trying to add its own Apps business, but its $1.5 billion acquisition of WordPerfect Corp. proved a botched affair. Three days after Schmidt started the job he was told that an expected $20 million profit on the quarter was really a $20 million loss. He fired 1,000-plus people and logged 250,000 miles a year selling Novell's software, overseeing a return to its core directory business. Novell's stock rose sevenfold, only to collapse amid the dot-com bust and continued onslaughts by Microsoft.


Partners



Novell is making partners in India and launches Partner Academy.

Novell announced the launch of the India Partner Academy, a training programme designed to empower Novell's partners in India, Sri Lanka and Pakistan in selling, distributing and supporting all of Novell's solutions in the areas of Data Centre; Identity and Security and End-user Computing.


From CIOL (India):

Novell is our national distributor for the embedded OAS and it plays a big role in rapid development of our products," said Sutane.


In South Africa, a company called Xepa gets closer to Novell.

Cape Town's Xepa Consulting is putting its Novell specialty to good use as it has been brought in to assist in a major systems upgrade for the Datacentrix client KWV.


Also of limited interest:

The software supports HP servers and storage running Microsoft Windows€®, Red Hat Enterprise Linux, SUSE Linux Enterprise Server from Novell, and Novell Open Enterprise Server for Netware and Linux.


Novell was mentioned very briefly in some press releases and other pages. Novell typically gets covered when lists of companies are given.

Marketing



The Waltham-headquartered company is using so-called "success stories" to increase interest in its proprietary software products. Novell is also mentioned in the latest Linux News Log.



Novell has released yet another BrainShare 2010 advert (we mentioned the previous one last week) and in response to the claim that it is the "Worst IT commercial ever!" Novell answers: "It's NOT a commercial. It is just a little video series that we created to go along with the Year 2010. This was nothing more than a play on the number 20 and the number 10. In the case of these videos 20 weird things these two guys do in 10 seconds."

Utah



The Novell campus in Provo was hosting another local event, which received the usual type of coverage.

The Utah Valley Entrepreneurial Forum's annual UVEF Awards event is Thursday from noon to 1:30 p.m. at the Provo Novell Campus, Building A.


 

The Utah Valley Entrepreneurial Forum (UVEF) today announced winners of the 2009 Annual UVEF Awards. The awards recognize Utah companies and leaders for innovation, business growth and contributions to the entrepreneurial community. Award recipients were honored at ceremonies held today at the Provo Novell Campus.


Next week ought to be a quieter one. ⬆

Recent Techrights' Posts

IBM Firings (or Silent Layoffs) After Bluewashing; "IBM’s Employment History is More Troubling Than its Patriotic Marketing Suggests"
"It has zip to do with race but everything to do with the greed of the 1% who have been doing all they can to destroy the middle class..."
“Week van de Werkstress” and Work-Related Stress at the EPO, Where Staff is Bullied Into Granting Illegal Patents for Foreign Monopolists
"poor working environments, including discrimination and inequality, excessive workloads, low job control and job insecurity pose a risk to mental health"
Czech Republic: GNU/Linux Rises Above 5% in Desktops and Laptops
A year ago it was somewhere around 4%
Intercontinental Brigading - Part XXXXII - Running One's Mouth
British Police told me "making a false complaint to police is a crime" in relation to Lozza
 
Gemini Links 07/11/2026: Illusion Garden and Lagrange 2
Links for the day
Complexity is the Tyrant's Friend
Slop is for feeble minds and cheaters
EPO's Local Staff Committee The Hague Says Almost or About a Third of Staff Assembled to Organise at "a Time of Continued Social Unrest"
They speak of "circa 850 staff members in attendance" (in The Netherlands there are about a couple thousand)
Suggestions That XBox Will be Offloaded by Microsoft, Rather Than Shut Down, Make the False Assumption XBox is Profitable (It's Not, It's a Liability)
Microsoft has serious financial troubles
Which "Smart" "Phone", Which "Social" "Media", and Which "Cloud" "Storage"?
Let's take back control of the language
State of the (Linux) Slop, Late 2026 Edition
Google News (Gulag Noise) is a plagiarism booster
Year 21
It's 5PM here
Links 07/11/2026: "Flock Cameras Got Eviscerated by the Midterms" and Joshua Wong Shows China is Highly Repressive and Fully Controls Hong Kong
Links for the day
At The Register MS the Net Liabilities Doubled in One Year, Tangible Assets Down About 35% in One Year
signed off in 2026
Another 20 Years of Exposing Corruption
We'll focus on carrying on what we do
EPO Budget and Finance Committee (in Very Recent Meeting) Increases Bribes to People Who Vote on Campinos Reappointment ("Cooperation Activities")
Buying 'elections' to protect the cocaine-stained regime in Europe's second-largest institution
Links 07/11/2026: London's SLAPP Industry Now Targets Kirkenes (Northern Norway) at the Behest of Corrupt Thieves in Russia and Microsoft’s 'Buyout' Offer Crashes Microsoft Systems
Links for the day
Links 07/11/2026: "The Moon is Waning Crescent", Homeworlds, and "Can't Handle The AVIF!"
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, November 06, 2026
IRC logs for Friday, November 06, 2026
IBM Compels Workers - Even at Red Hat - to Become "Retired-ish"
Who needs RAs (layoffs, which have been rebranded as "buyouts" like pink slips are generous "gifts") when workers can have their butts kicked every day and WARN Act reporting thresholds are never approached?
Links 06/11/2026: "XBox Is Closer Than Ever to Being Sold Off" and "BuzzFeed Stock in Free Fall"
Links for the day
Gemini Links 06/11/2026: Dao and Dreams
Links for the day
20 Years of Techrights
Celebrating 2 decades of abuses of power being watched (and looking back at key changes)
Linux (and Linus Torvalds) Sleepwalking Into a Binance-Level Catastrophe With Slop 'Code'
Someone should ask Linus Torvalds or his boss (Linux Foundation) if they deem slop, which nobody audits, trustworthy enough to add to every computer out there running the Linux kernel
Vitaly Orlov Weaponises Deep Pockets to Leverage High Court of Justice in London for Censorship and Punishment of Critics
reproduced in full for more exposure and to make censorship harder
Intercontinental Brigading - Part XXXXI - What I Told British Police About Lozza the Same Month Garrett Was Preparing His First Nastygram From 'Hired Guns' Brett Wilson LLP
Lozza and Garrett
Outsourcing at IBM
Cheapening of the workforce is hardly a new problem
The Register MS: Turnover Fell by Over a Million Pounds (About 20%) in One Year, Administrative Expenses Rose by Almost Half a Million Pounds, The Register MS Operates at a Loss
This is not a (commercially) healthy publisher
Links 06/11/2026: Slop "Companies Race to Lock Down Oil Clients" and Salon Shuts Down
Links for the day
Our Third Decade
Our anniversary is tonight at midnight
Freedom Is Not Free of Charge, Freedom Can be Very Expensive
Being someone's "slave" is the "default" when no resistance exists
Intercontinental Brigading - Part XXXX - Swatting by Proxy
Using imbeciles who lie to cops and then dox cops (and already have arrest record and court documents wherein they admit being stoned in front of the cops)
Intel Craters at Taxpayers' Expense (Bailouts for Failing Companies Simple Don't Work)
GOP, which did this, has lost many seats
Mass Layoffs at IBM, Also Outsourcing to India
What IBM does to itself it is doing to other entities as well
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, November 05, 2026
IRC logs for Thursday, November 05, 2026
During Strikes and Industrial Actions Lots of EPO Staff Organised Yesterday and Will Do the Same Next Week
There really needs to be a genuine election, not a reappointment
Gemini Links 06/11/2026: Hadestown and "Where Has the Electronics Shop Gone?"
Links for the day
Links 05/11/2026: Rule of Law Vanishing in Turkey, Joshua Wong Still Martyred by Chinese Regime
Links for the day
Gemini Links 05/11/2026: Classical Music, Politics, and Seeed Studio
Links for the day
Like Almost Every Slopfarm, UbuntuBuzz Seems to Have Thrown in the Towel
Linuxsecurity and Linuxiac (to some extent Linuxjournal) are still going, but for how much longer?
EPO 'Midterm' Elections Should Oust the Dictator
Tentatively a failure to secure another (unprecedented) reappointment before Christmas
Secret IBM Layoffs and Increase in PIPs (Silent Layoffs)
The media is failing to do its job
Links 05/11/2026: "Voice is Underutilized" and How Data Centres Lost the Midterm Elections
Links for the day
Intercontinental Brigading - Part XXXIX - Crime Numbers Regarding GGG (Americans) and Why Those Still Matter
Time does not undo the actions
Intercontinental Brigading - Part XXXVIII - Telling the Police About the Defamatory Blog Where Posts Targeted My Wife and I (From Across the Atlantic Ocean)
Two years ago we spoke to cops a lot
The Register MS is Losing Money Again, Based on The Register MS
Selling out didn't pay off for very long
There Are No "Layoffs" Anymore, Layoffs Got Rebranded
We're entering bizarre times when layoffs are said to be "down" (according to the regime that suffered a 'bloodbath' in the election) because companies quit using the term "layoffs"
Gemini Links 05/11/2026: Rivers of London, Soul Cakes, STMicroelectronics, and Slop
Links for the day
The Register MS Has Just Published Fake Article With "AI" 84 Times in the Page Because It Was Paid to Do This!
Astounding number of mentions of "AI" (84 in total)
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, November 04, 2026
IRC logs for Wednesday, November 04, 2026