Bonum Certa Men Certa

Do-No-Evil Saturday - Part II: Legacy, Virtualisation, and Memories from Novell

IT WAS A QUIET WEEK, as one ought to expect. Novell was mentioned in a few places like the Indian press where its legacy earned it a place.



"In the beginning, this was not a full-fledged ERP. It was only a costing and delivery module which helped Pragati do the invoice and delivery. In 1992, we went live with the Novell-based platform which was designed to give out quotations. What used to take 30 to 35 minutes to give a quote was brought down to 15 to 20 minutes. Then in 1995, the team started working on Windows-based platform to make it much more elaborate. As we wanted a better GOI, we took advantage of the Microsoft Windows and Microsoft SQL platform. This solution, developed on Power Builder had more features. With these solutions in place, Pragati introduced a kind of print scheduling mechanism," Ramakrishna explains.


Several IDG-owned news sites presented the view of ComputerWorld's editor, who mentioned Novell in a few paragraphs (also here).

Novell will not hold its heretofore annual BrainShare user and partner conference.

Why it won't happen: For starters, the Novell brass said a couple of weeks ago that there'll be no BrainShare because of the lousy economy and restricted travel budgets. So, this is more of a "postdiction" than a prediction. OK, I cut a corner -- it's not like I'm some Gartner guy and you're paying an obscene amount of money for this.

Why it should: It's hard enough as it is to convince people that Novell is still around. Killing off its only means of getting a little attention won't exactly raise the outfit's profile.


Ross Chevalier blogged a bit about the company's direction and focus.

Novell is much more than the sum of the parts that people equate us with. We’re more than NetWare, more than Linux, more than Identity, more than ZENworks. I have the most fun and get the most resonance from senior customer executives when I can pull all the parts together to create a vision that works for the customer’s business. As my friends and associates Phil Richards and Fred Arrington said on a call before Christmas, customers want to hear our vision for them, it’s a differentiator. I count myself fortunate to work with folks like these, they get it.


Finance



Novell was hardly mentioned, except very briefly right here.

Today's Trade Alerts include: Hercules Offshore Inc. (Nasdaq: HERO), Novell Inc. (Nasdaq: NOVL), Tellabs Inc. (Nasdaq: TLAB), Lawson Software Inc. (Nasdaq: LWSN), Solarfun Power Holdings Co. Ltd. (Nasdaq: SOLF) and Atmel Corp. (Nasdaq: ATML).


Virtualisation



Among the many players in this area, Novell was mentioned here and here. Nothing too notable.

To achieve a highly efficient ramp-up, virtualisation technology from industry powerhouses IBM, Intel and Novell are the answer. The Solution for Open Virtualisation (SOV) builds multi-platform virtualisation support and management directly..

[...]

What makes this strategy unique, Black says, is the fact that IBM, Intel and Novell provide an open solution that is backed by enterprise management and support.


People



Matt Asay reminisces his time at Novell:

(While at Novell, I had one of the most distressing experiences in my life trying to negotiate a partnership with Siebel. It's not an experience I'd wish on my worst enemy, much less a partner.)


One comment states: "I'm guessing the hair pulling with Siebel when you were with Novell had less to do with how the code would be integrated and more to do with the business terms around the deal. I'm not sure how that piece goes away."

Lastly, it is unfortunate to see that President Obama is likely flirting with CEOs of big companies, including the former CEO of Novell, who some used to think would become a national CTO.

Google CEO's Influence With Obama May Aid Tech



When Schmidt arrived at Google in 2001 he had just been CEO of software maker Novell — a company that wasn't nearly as successful. Schmidt's background hadn't been so much in business. He started as a computer scientist at Sun Microsystems. Schmidt says it was that and not his stint as a CEO that made him attractive to Google and what attracted him to the company.


Politicians ought not to connect themselves with the interests of particular companies. This leads to corruption, no matter how benevolent those involved think it is. `

"I'm sorry that we have to have a Washington presence. We thrived during our first 16 years without any of this. I never made a political visit to Washington and we had no people here. It wasn't on our radar screen. We were just making great software."

--Bill Gates



Capitol Hill

Recent Techrights' Posts

IBM Pays IDG's IDC to Market Proprietary Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) Under the Guise of "Research"
Proprietary RHEL promoted by FUD (Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt or just plain fear-mongering)
Gemini Links 10/04/2025: "Secret of Happiness" and Overthinking POSSE
Links for the day
Microsoft's "Linux" Foundation Pays Writers to Publish Propaganda and Then LLM Slop Sites (Slopfarms) Repeat the Propaganda, Using Microsoft LLMs
consider the latest LLM slop
 
"Linux" Foundation, Besieged by Microsoft, Isn't About Science But Against Science and Against Facts
(and for Microsoft Dogma, Microsoft Domination, Microsoft Money)
Links 11/04/2025: Microsoft Mass Layoffs Again, Zelensky Doubles Down on Claim That Many Chinese Are Fighting for Russia
Links for the day
Slopwatch: A Sea of LLM Slop About SparkyLinux, Kubernetes, Ubuntu, and Linux Kernel
Welcome to the future? The future of the Web?
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, April 10, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, April 10, 2025
Links 10/04/2025: NNCPNET Email Network, RSS Readers, and IRS as 'Immigration Enforcer'
Links for the day
IBM Layoffs in Markham (Canada) Apparently Still Happening
"Still going on... Got laid off today. TEL Canada, Band 9, 19 years with IBM."
Links 10/04/2025: Fentanylware (TikTok) Perils and Internet Shutdown
Links for the day
Once You Slop You Can't Stop and If You're a Serial Slopper Nobody Will Believe You Really Wrote an Article (Even If You Did)
It's a lot like, "if you're a serial liar people won't believe you even when you say some truth" (or "once a cheater, always a cheater")
Pressing Against SLAPPs (From Americans Who Strangle Women While Microsoft Pays Their Salaries) is a High Priority for Us
We also need to ensure that greedy firms/people that facilitate the SLAPPs get "disbarred" or "struck off"
Mozilla Firefox Already Down to 1% in Brazil
Don't people crave the surveillance and the slop?
Links 10/04/2025: Hardware, Politics, and Internet
Links for the day
Gemini Links 10/04/2025: Creativity and Agitation, Life in the USA, CSS Naked Day 2025
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, April 09, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, April 09, 2025
Alleged Layoffs at IBM Consulting in Australia
IBM loses many government contracts these days
The Rumours Were Likely True: Sixth Wave of Microsoft Mass Layoffs in 2025 (Days After "50" Anniversary and About 5,000 Layoffs)
5 hours ago, by Ashley Stewart
Malware in Proprietary Software - Latest Additions
Original by Free Software Foundation, Inc.
Links 09/04/2025: More Trade Wars and Wars, Chinese Army Troops Found Fighting in Ukraine
Links for the day
Linux Clickbait by Slop
Give it up for Brian Fagioli, the Serial Slopper
IBM and MCC: Layoffs Coming Again to Metro Connect Company Limited (MCC) as Tariffs Bite and IBM's Shares Fall
Blacklists applicable to Chinese suppliers also mean that IBM can no longer cooperate with key partners in Asia
Microsoft's Entire Premise for Its Future Existence Goes Up in Flames
32 minutes ago
GNU/Linux on a High in Colombia
Stereotypes much?
Go Static
Please don't Go(lang) or JavaScript or PHP or...
Techrights Be Like...
K.I.S.S.
Gemini Links 09/04/2025: Autism, Cybersecurity, and LLMs Attacking Services Online
Links for the day
GNU/Linux Would be Measured at Over 5% Globally (by statCounter) Had the Data in India Not Been Changed
GNU/Linux grew a lot in many countries and has expanded since then
Keeping Track of Microsoft Layoffs in 2025
So here's a quick roundup of 2025
The Sixth Anniversary of the Lightweight Alternative to the Web (Gemini Protocol)
Now 11 short of 3,000 active capsules. 65 short of 4,500 total.
Links 09/04/2025: Quartz Fires All Writers (Shutdown, LLM Slop or Slopfarm Instead), "Bitcoin Is Crashing Hard"
Links for the day
People Are Sick of LLM Slop. Offer Them Alternatives.
We never used LLM slop for anything and we never will
Web Surveyor statCounter Sees Apple's macOS Falling From 5.6% to 3.6% in Two Months, It Might Soon be Smaller Than GNU/Linux
Apple's "value" (faked, exaggerated) is back to "pandemic times"
UK House of Lords Recognises the SLAPP Issue in the UK and EFF Pursues "Bill (That) Could Put A Stop To Censorship By Lawsuit" in the US
"A House of Lords inquiry into how the news industry can survive into the future has accused the government of “failing to prioritise” action on strategic lawsuits against public participation (SLAPPs)."
Open Source Initiative (OSI) Privacy Fiasco in Detail: Seeking Class Action Against the OSI
"LETTER SEEKING CLASS ACTION REPRESENTATION"
The Value of Slop, by Alexandre Oliva
Original by Alexandre Oliva
Gemini Links 09/04/2025: Neocities, Tinylogs, and Inter-community Protocols
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, April 08, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, April 08, 2025
You Can Be an A--hole to Women (Even Strangle Women) as Long as You Work for Microsoft
Recalling the Mark Shuttleworth origin story
Canonical is a Proprietary Software Reseller With a 'Debian Base'
"Canonical Ubuntu" is just Debian with some proprietary things sold on top of it