Bonum Certa Men Certa

Do-No-Evil Saturday - Part II: Novell's Business Activities, Bar SUSE and GNU/Linux

Security and Identity Management



Novell's PR department boasts another award.

I’m pleased to say we did not leave the awards event empty-handed. Novell customer BASF received an award for “Best internal Identity Management project” for implementing identity management within a complex corporate structure and excelling in consistent approaches to centralized auditing.


Jeff Jaffe has a go at an outline of Identity Management plans.

Novell has long been a leader in technology for Identity Management – founding the entire discipline in the 1990s. That puts us in a position where we are the first to recognize new trends in this area.


Novell makes a short appearance in this article about building an identity bus.

One of the most interesting "panel discussions" I had at the European Identity Conference didn't have anyone in the audience. Kuppinger & Cole senior analyst Felix Gaehtgens gathered Microsoft's Kim Cameron, Quest's Jackson Shaw (former colleagues at Zoomit) and Novell's Dale Olds for a video interview (which may or may not show up at the KCP Web site) about the "Identity Bus" .


Inc.com has this new article about Security Management from Novell

The new solution addresses governance, risk and compliance, human resources and enterprise resource planning, providing customers with access to policy management and enforcement capabilities that help reduce redundant administrative costs, automate manual processes, simplify password management, and adapt to changing employee structures.


More on security with a different slant you'll find right here:

Hackers are improving and evolving viruses by the day, making it even tougher to prevent infection, but being vigilant can pay off, writes Bryan Collins.

[...]

However, Brian Green, technical director of Novell UK and Ireland, warned against taking security measures too far.

“That would have a real impact on me personally because I tend to use USB memory keys to transfer data,” he said about having his USB stick blocked. “How [Novell] have addressed that . . . is to allow me to use the USB memory but actually only to use USB memory sticks that are formatted by Novell.”


Strategy and Skills



Novell keeps harping about relying on its channel partners.

Speroni believes Novell had slightly neglected its channel partners, but since the second half of fiscal year 2007, ended October 31, 2007, the firm has been rebuilding its partner strategy by offering a stronger focus on specialization per business unit.


Be aware of this repeated warning from a reader ('Open Honesty') about Novell back-stabbing its channel partners.

Here is a migration from Novell to Microsoft.

This is deep in computer-nerdland, but there's also a sure-to-be-spendy and hair-raising transition from Novell Groupwise e-mail to Microsoft Exchange, a Novell-to-Microsoft inventory/distribution/configuration system switch, and upgrades from Office 2000 to Office 2007. (Close-circuit to Stribites: Get to know "ribbons"!)


Some short bits about Novell technologies skills you'll find in this article from the press in New Zealand.

Swann won’t say where he has found such carnage, but admits it ranges from SMEs to well-known organisations. Computer Concepts also claims skills in clustering, not just SANs, with skills in Microsoft, Novell and Citrix. It is an authorised repairer for HP and IBM and a Cisco premier partner.


Ex-Novellers



Consider these some minor items for the curious. Robert Frankenberg, a former Novell head, is involved in this $40.6 million sale of iProvo.

iProvo, the city's troubled fiber-optic network, is being sold to Broadweave Networks.

[...]

The company is headed by Fraser Bullock, former chief operating officer of the 2002 Winter Olympics, and former Novell head Robert Frankenberg.


Novell's former CEO receives some credit for being among the spoilers of a Yahoo/Microsoft deal.

Steve Ballmer and Eric Schmidt have tangled before. Microsoft certainly got the best of Novell way back when. Now Schmidt may have had his revenge.


There were apparently some moves (departures) at the top of Novell Canada because Ross Chevalier has just been promoted to fill a gap.

Ross Chevalier has been promoted to president of Novell Canada Ltd. He was previously Novell Canada's chief technology officer. Katie McAuliff has been promoted to VP of channels at Novell Americas. Novell Inc. (Nasdaq:NOVL) provides a Linux platform and a portfolio of integrated IT management software. Novell Canada has its headquarters in Markham.


That's about all for now. For the SUSE post we will need to transcode and produce some Ogg Theora files, so please bear with us. It'll come later today.

Comments

Recent Techrights' Posts

Evri (HermesUK) is Now Run by Bots and Hallucinating Scammers
Years ago they virtually removed support and tried chatbots instead
 
Links 18/08/2026: US Abandons South Korea, New Legal Disputes Over Slop Plagiarism in the Music Scene
Links for the day
Linux Losing Interest in Users' Freedom, Pursues DRM Instead
"Linux" is (or was, as GNU/Linux) meant to empower - not artificially restrict - the users
GNU/Linux in Ecuador and Colombia: Growing, Still Below International Average
locals turn away from Windows and try GNU/Linux instead
IBM is Dead or Dying. Now It Asks Workers to 'Resign' Voluntarily.
To save face, to pretend no layoffs are happening (as it might alarm shareholders) [...] We keep hearing more and more stories like that
Links 18/08/2026: Sergey Brin Controlling State Policies, "Dario Amodei's (Anthropic) Wife Is Closely Linked to Jeffrey Epstein"
Links for the day
SBS News Interviews Daniel Pocock
The locals say this PR stunt (by the bigot, Farage) was a waste of money
Clownflare Sees One in 7 Web Requests in Libya Originating From GNU/Linux
GNU/Linux has taken a (foot)hold there
Openwashing and Manifestos Composed in Private by Dictators With Deliberately Addictive (and Subsidised, Bundled) 'Tech'
It's long, so make a cuppa first
SLAPP Censorship - Part 153 Out of 200: Decades of Debt, Weaponising Borrowed Money to Try to Put Their Critics in Debt
they've always had a financial report by now
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, August 17, 2026
IRC logs for Monday, August 17, 2026
Gemini Links 18/08/2026: Solar Power, Kipple and Impermanence, Catastrophe Ethics
Links for the day
Less Technology, More Life
Technology is being associated (sometimes rightly) with physical and mental problems
Google Search Has Gotten Worse (a Lot Worse)
getting worse
Birthday in 80 Days
we'll start decorating and party online with our community
Loans and Massive Debt at Microsoft, This Won't End Well.
Microsoft running out of money to pay salaries (to the point of paying people for 'voluntary' layoffs) is a positive sign?
Gemini Links 17/08/2026: Life in Plain Text, Mimicking KARL, Release of Jugulans, Avoiding Slop
Links for the day
Clown Storage Without Backups
Setting up several reliable copies of the data, plus several off-site backups (this data is nowhere as sensitive as medical data), should only cost a few grand
FreeCAD is Becoming Slop-ware, Use LibreCAD Instead
It has regular releases and "Qt5 is mandatory" now [...] they at least audit what they add
Cuba and Venezuela High in Adoption of GNU/Linux
some of the "communist" nations
Links 17/08/2026: Myanmar’s Cholera Outbreak, China Sends Commercial Vessels Through Arctic
Links for the day
GAFAM Loyalty Has Come to an End, Morale Low, People Whose Future is Uncertain Choose to Become "Lifers"
morale is low and there's no loyalty anymore
SLAPP Censorship - Part 152 Out of 200: Injunctions Do Not Cover Criticism, They Have Scope
self-incriminating communications
Clownflare Sees About Quarter of Web Requests in Ireland Coming From GNU/Linux
Well, in Ireland it seems like many people adopted GNU/Linux
Clownflare: In Australia and New Zealand GNU/Linux Peaks at Over 10% During Working Hours
That right there is interesting in its own right
Slowing Down by Intention
At the moment we have 6 or 7 ongoing series
Gemini Links 17/08/2026: Chamboree, Partial Solar Eclipse, Lady Macbeth
Links for the day
Links 17/08/2026: "Bluesky Is Down Again!" and "Anti-Social Media"
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, August 16, 2026
IRC logs for Sunday, August 16, 2026
A Vortex of Beacons (or "Bluetooth Everywhere" Vision)
If someone (or someones) calls you paranoid for taking about "beacon"-like functionality, there will be no lack of authoritative citations (e.g. Web links) they can be provided to prove them wrong
Falkland Islands: GNU/Linux Elevated to 6%
GNU/Linux usage seems to have increased a lot there
Links 16/08/2026: Reading Outside, Going Offline More, and Art of Computer Programming
Links for the day
The Question of Patience
Is there a lesson here somewhere?
IBM May be Sued for Mass Layoffs Via PIPs
Some whole threads (with all the long comments in them) recently got nuked by thelayoff.com
Links 16/08/2026: Ceuta Reports Social Control Media Used as a Weapon
Links for the day
Links 16/08/2026: Europe in Crisis of Droughts While Energy- and Water-Consuming, Pollution-Emitting Chatbots Are Spread by GAFAM (US) to Keep a Ponzi Scheme Going
Links for the day
GNU/Linux is a Platform for Work (Usage Surges in Daytime)
GNU/Linux 15% in daytime
We Need Rain, Not Chatbots
There's no "anti-AI" (it's not even AI), there's opposition to fraud, to plagiarism, and to companies that profit more when there's global warning (caused in part by their business activities)
SLAPP Censorship - Part 151 Out of 200: Dealing With Sleazy People and Companies That Steal (While Employing These Sleazy People)
we offer a quick summary and we're reflecting
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, August 15, 2026
IRC logs for Saturday, August 15, 2026
Gemini Links 16/08/2026: Sterrenkijker Releases, Solar Gemini Server
Links for the day