01.16.11

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Novell Gradually Loses What’s Left in Mail and Collaboration

Posted in Google, Mail, Microsoft, Novell at 2:29 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

Summary: Another university is dumping GroupWise and some large clients move to Google (also moving away from Outlook/Exchange)

THIS is today’s last post about Novell, which is also the last Microsoft patent sellout to vanish anyway (Linspire, Xandros, and Turbolinux are out of the scene already).

Novell failed to grow its presence in the GNU/Linux space by signing a deal with Microsoft. Novell also continues to see its old business fade away. While Google drops Wave, which Novell tried to capitalise on using Pulse/Vibe, there is this announcement about Vibe OnPrem. Novell is hoping to sell GroupWise (proprietary) using free/open source code from Google, just as IBM uses some IM toys to sell Lotus. According to this Bomgar PR, “Novell Implements Collaborative Remote Support from Bomgar” (has anyone heard of it?).

Novell’s inability to provide real value in the mail and collaboration space (hardly any new clients are reported) may help Microsoft gain globally although some clients move to Google: “SOU switched to Google Apps because it is free for higher education institutions. Officials say it will save the university thousands of dollars every year. It will save the university about $2,500-a-year in energy costs, $18,000 in three years to not replace servers, and $35,000 annually for dropping their current contract with Novell GroupWise.”

Novell is still advertising GroupWise 8, possibly the last-ever release of the product. Here is another rush towards Google — this time a move away from Microsoft:

It is understood that Flight Centre’s 6000-plus employees will transition from Microsoft Outlook over to Google’s web-based Gmail system.

The US government too moves to Google [1, 2] as its tools improve [1, 2] and more clients fall into its proprietary software trap. Here is the latest update that we found about the LA migration:

Google also needs to add other functions to the e-mail service, such as auto-generation of confirmation receipts, especially for messages about legal matters such as subpoenas, McCarthy said. Without that feature, some employees had to retain access to the older Novell GroupWise e-mail system, he said.

Apart from the above, GroupWise hardly got mentioned in December, except perhaps in the context of Blackberry, Lepide migration tools [1, 2, 3], and CompanionLink’s sync [1, 2] that supports Novell GroupWise and Linux too. Well, Android form of Linux anyway [1, 2, 3, 4].

Novell’s decline is said to be global and according to IDG (more here), despite the WordPerfect case, Novell continues to depend on Microsoft, which is paying it for services (and maybe more compensation in the future).

The department is currently using a mixture of Windows and Novell technologies.

Novell is also mentioned in the article “Cloud Identity Trends in 2011″, this one about Softline (“virtualisation and Novell technologies” noted), and another one about AttachMSFT. That second one says:

Softline AG said Wednesday that it has taken over the profitable Norwegian IT service provider STOVER AS, a renowned specialist in identity management, security, virtualisation and Novell technologies with its head office in Oslo and a branch in Elverum.

Identity Manager has new vulnerabilities. Novell’s proprietary software gets rusty while management staff flees. █

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