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
Waltham
2007-03-23 13:50:53
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
Have you ever recommended anything in terms of IT? How about Microsoft products?