ACCORDING TO THE following short report, Novell was trying to hide its first wave of layoffs, but it just didn't work out.

Transparency, for example, would have served IBM and Novell well in their recent layoffs. Legally, neither was required to publicly announce the layoffs because the number of employees affected wasn't material to the business. But "material" is in the eye of the beholder, and by not talking openly (inside or outside the companies) about the layoffs, both Novell and IBM ended up fanning the flames of rumor. It's unrealistic to expect such events to happen quietly: the Internet is too noisy.

Novell investors should be furious because Novell was trying to keep them in the dark.

It is with great certainty that we say this was only the beginning. Big layoffs will be announced shortly and Novell will not be permitted to keep them secret because of their scale. When it happens, readers will know that Novell lied to the press with a straight face (it still denies the layoffs), as did Microsoft some months ago. Microsoft lied to the press a month or so before it was made official, so it's important not to let such lies be 'airbrushed' from history. ⬆