Summary: Now that Novell is said to be looking for a buyer, who would dare acquire the accompanying burden?

NOVELL'S latest results are just days away. The last time Novell reported its results, a bid was made to take over Novell and the invitation to conquer Novell is still open. We covered this in:

• Novell May be Going Private, Hedge Fund Has Cash
• Analyst Expects Microsoft Bid to Buy Novell
• Ron Hovsepian Receives Another Large Lump of Cash as Novell Sale Looms
• GNU/Linux-Savvy Writers View Elliot Associates as Bad Neighbourhood
• Firm Behind Novell Bid Has Shady Past, Could be Tied to Microsoft (Paul E. Singer's 'Vulture Fund')
• Simon Phipps: “Seems Even With Microsoft’s Support Novell Couldn’t Cut It”
• Vulture Fund Still the Only Bidder for Novell
• Paul Singer Still Goes After Novell
• With Novell up for Sale, Novell Products Become Too Risky to Buy
• Novell for Sale

The priority of the "Boycott Novell" campaign has since then been lowered. We expect Novell to be sold some time this year, so Novell will probably suffer the same fate as Mandriva, Turbolinux, and Linspire (all sold). Here is a new article from Reuters (also here) which says that "Novell Inc has put itself up for sale."

Hewlett-Packard Co (HPQ.N) is in the process of buying smartphone pioneer Palm Inc (PALM.O) for $1.2 billion, while software maker Novell Inc (NOVL.O) has put itself up for sale.

Here is a new opinion piece from one who guessed that Novell would be bought by SAP, which is still a possibility.

So what's next for SAP? Before SAP makes its next acquisition (my wild guess will be either Novell or Redhat), SAP has to do two things right away.

Nobody is interested in buying Novell, except a hedge fund that would probably dismantle it, although it denies intentions to sell Novell in pieces. Even Microsoft would rather keep SUSE as a separate entity, for reasons that Professor Eben Moglen explained. ⬆