Is Novell Gradually Running Out of Friends?

Dr. Roy Schestowitz

2007-03-23 03:00:37 UTC
Modified: 2007-03-23 03:04:09 UTC

According to Linux Planet, Novell is looking for new partners.

Novell is now on the lookout for more partners to work on-site at customer locations to help out with product maintenance and optimization.

This comes amid controversial statements from Novell, which continue to support its actions, rather than retract and attempt to regain the community's respect and trust. You will find a good summary of the recent events at a Business Review Online blog.

While Hovsepian has no regrets the same cannot be said for Justin Steinman, Novell's director of marketing for Linux and Open Platform Solutions, who has been forced to issue an apology following misleading statements about Novell's contribution to the Free Software Foundation.

It could not get any worse, could it?

Quite interesting perhaps is Matt Asay's Novell-Google comparison, where Google serves an example of what Novell should have done.

In short, Google may have been willing to accept a legal fight in order to protect its ability to mine video for money, yes, but also to protect fair use rights for video on the Internet. If true, very laudable.

And very different from Novell's actions vis-a-vis Linux. Novell claims to want to sell and proliferate Linux. But it has taken the exact wrong strategy to do so. Instead of protecting Linux and standing up for its integrity, Novell has slandered its reputation with its dubious Microsoft pact. However Novell may want to color it, the agreement implies that Linux is "Unclean!"

As I pointed out yesterday, judging by reactions across the Web, Novell is gradually making more and more enemies. Matt Asay is among those who are simply fed up.

Novell has punished its own ecosystem. It begs for alienation.

Comments

Ian

2007-03-23 13:49:36

Google and Novell really shouldn't be compared. It's apples and oranges. Both are software companies, but they offer entirely different product lines. Google profits on search and their ad scheme, and probably nothing else. Their success is being driven in a major way by investment capitalists and a fervor over their stock.
Waltham

2007-03-23 13:50:53

The sad thing is Novell accidentally punished the ecosystem, and so calling for alienation is harsh. Personally I don't think it's worth the effort and it's not the way we generally make decisions about IT.

Customers simply won't buy Novell. Not because of an active boycott, but because there are genuinely better alternatives. Once folks stop buying, there's no incentive for the partners to stay (notice they are trying to recruit NEW partners). And the big boys like IBM, Dell, HP, Oracle etc will follow and seek more lucrative opportunities. Less money will mean job cuts and the cycle repeats. The whole thing will implode like a house of cards. Novell is doing the damage to itself.

However at the end of the day you've got to ask yourself that after this latest set of stunts, would you trust them anymore? And would you stake your job on recommending them?

The answer is absolutely not!
Ian

2007-03-23 13:58:36

Would you not recommend them based on their technology or would you not recommend them based on Bruce Peren's and the blogosphere?

Have you ever recommended anything in terms of IT? How about Microsoft products?

Is Novell Gradually Running Out of Friends?

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