Bonum Certa Men Certa

Novell News Summary - Part III: SCO, Finance, Netware, GroupWise, Partners, Hardware, and Marketing

Modern Architecture in Berlin, Germany



Summary: Lots of Novell news ranging from SCO and Netware to hardware and people

WHAT a week of pranks it must have been for Novell. Between rumours of an IBM takeover to similar ones involving Microsoft, Novell sure needed a sense of humour. Here is another joke about Novell bidding for Linus Torvalds.



Ron Hovespian, Novell CEO, stopped bidding on behalf of Novell, Inc. at $2.6 Billion. "We just couldn't justify a higher price during these already stressful and uncertain times--even for someone as important as Linus Torvalds." Novell and Hovespian made an unsuccessful bid for Richard Stallman earlier this year.


On to serious matters, we finally have some news about SCO. Groklaw is driving at full speed again.

SCO



SCO is refusing to pay Novell, even if it's just a small portion of what it owes altogether.

There are some filings in the SCO v. Novell litigation. SCO is objecting to some of Novell's Bill of Costs. If you recall, Novell filed their Bill of Costs back on December 10, 2008, after final judgment was entered in the SCO v Novell litigation. SCO then moved the Court to stay taxation of costs, a motion Kimball recently denied. In that Order, Kimball gave SCO ten days to file this objection, and here we are. And in the second filing, the court tried to mail something to Jonathan Lee Riches, but the post office evidently couldn't find him. In prison. "Mail returned as undeliverable... unable to forward." Uh oh.


Moreover, according to Groklaw, SCO gets another slap on the cheek.

I can't believe there's yet more major news, all in one day. But there is, from the bankruptcy front. SCO's period of exclusivity is over, as you can see from the minutes of today's hearing [PDF]. Look at number 1 on the list under the heading "Proceedings" and you will see the word: "DENIED". This was regarding the SCO motion [PDF] to extend the period of exclusivity, it's 4th, the motion that Al Petrofsky objected to pro se, as you can see on the Notice of matters on the agenda for today.


Erwan and PJ have re-organised the material that they have about SCO vs. Novell.

Erwan has put together for us a chart of all the motions in SCO v. Novell that were decided prior to trial in the August 10, 2007 Order and the final two motions decided after trial in the July 16, 2008 Order. Since SCO is appealing that order, based in part on the idea that some motions should not have been decided on summary judgment and needed to go to trial before a jury, it seems a good time to organize them all, so you can follow the arguments in the appeal, particularly if you are thinking of attending oral argument. Novell will file its response shortly, and oral argument will be on May 6, 2009 at 9:00 a.m. in Courtroom I, Byron White U.S. Courthouse, Denver, CO.


SCO's days as a business (even as a litigation business) seem numbered.

Finance



Novell's managers are organising a meeting with their shareholders, whom they disappointed.

Novell, Inc. (Nasdaq: NOVL) today announced that Ron Hovsepian, Chief Executive Officer, and Dana Russell, Chief Financial Officer, will be presenting to investors in New York City on Wednesday, April 1, 2009 at 12:00pm ET.


This press release appears in other sites and CRN reports on Novell's fixed prices for its broken channel.

With an aim at becoming more channel-friendly, and introducing further flexibility, Novell has decided to move to a single price list. It plans to add deal registration and other enhancements for partners and other solution providers to the list.

It is replacing its older model, which had four different price lists, with a single one. Novell is also introducing standardized volume discounts to streamline a partner's ability to negotiate large customer opportunities.


Netware



Going back to Novell's pre-SUSE days, there is some tire-kicking around Novell's client, which this new video shows how to crash.



Netware didn't win the award for yesteryear's favourite operating system, but it was at least mentioned.

urney. Among those mentioned: AmigaOS, Apple DOS, AS/400, Atari TOS, Burroughs MCP, CP/M, DR-DOS, the GEM graphical interface, KRONOS, MPE/iX, MP/M, Multics, Novell Netware, OASIS, OS/8, OS-9, OS/360, OS/400, Pick, Plan 9, PRIMOS, QNX, RDOS, RISC OS, RSTS, RSX-11, RT-11, SSP, TENEX/TOPS-20, TOPS-10, TRS-DOS, UCSD p-System, VAX/VMS, VM, VOS, Xenix and more.


NetWare 6.5 maintains the following certified relationship with Dell:

In terms of operating systems, Windows Server 2008 and Windows Storage Server are certified on the T610, as are Novell's NetWare 6.5 and SUSE Linux 10 SP2 and Red Hat's Enterprise Linux 5.2. The server has flash-based embedded hypervisors for server virtualization, including special Dell editions of XenServer Express and XenServer Enterprise from Citrix Systems and ESXi 3.5 from VMware.


Mail



There was nothing here except this new reference page for SmartSYNC, which supports GroupWise.

SmartSYNC is the complete solution for synchronizing your Palm OS based handheld with Novell Groupwise€®.


Governance/Management



Esj.com is preparing to write about Novell pretty shortly.

In future columns I will discuss CA's information governance wares, as well as those of Novell and SGI. This installment focuses on a Boxborough, MA start-up with big ideas: Digital Reef Inc.


People



There is something called Human Capital Management Summit (also announced in here) and there will be Novell involvement.

A series of executive-level presentations designed around the summit theme of "Strategic Talent Management that Drives Business Execution in Any Economy" were delivered during the one and one-half day conference by a broad range of business leaders from HR and operations, including:




-- Microsoft, Mary Rose Becker, Chief of Staff of Learning and Readiness, SMSG Readiness -- Novell, Kathy Betts, Vice President of Human Resources





Novell was also mentioned here:

Everything Channel Announces the 2009 Five-Star Partner Program Guide



[...]




Novell Inc. Novell PartnerNet Security, Software Infrastructure, Storage





There are always those who are not Novell employees but are Novell-certified, such as this man.

A 1984 graduate of the American College of Technology, he earned a degree in computer electronics. Before joining the staff of Illinois Wesleyan’s Information Technology Department in 1998, Bailey was a former service manager for Thorn Services International and for STL Office Solutions, both in Bloomington. He was a certified Novell administrator for The Pantagraph, and helped custom build their computer system. Bailey also worked for Watts Copy Systems in Springfield, Ill., and for Tandy Electronics in Downers Grove, Ill.


Partners



The news helps in seeing the connections that Novell has with various other companies. Here is the latest set of reports/press releases which show the Novell-APTARE connection, the Novell-SHIFT connection, and the Novell-ANS connection:

With over 400 clients across the UK, ANS works closely with key partners Cisco, Dell, Microsoft, Novell, and Smart Identity to offer an unrivalled level of expertise and experience in the multifaceted industry of IT.


On the Novell-Cisco connection:

While Cisco bared collaboration and partnerships with various IT companies such as BMC Software, EMC, Emulex, Intel, Microsoft, NetApp, Novell, Oracle, Qlogic, Red Hat, VMware and Accenture, it announced that it would also be enter the blade server market, along with its entry into the unified computing system model.


Lastly, the Novell-Trustmarque connection :

The York, UK-based value-added reseller works with Microsoft and a string of security software house such as Symantec,McAfee and Novell.


Hardware



There are some hardware-related videos that come from Novell and here is one them which was added days ago. What happened to Novell's close relationship with AMD? There is another new video about Novell and Intel.



There were some other articles about microchips where Novell was mentioned and Intel is at their centre.

"hundreds of thousands" of the new chips. More than 100 software applications keyed to Xeon 5500 chips were released Monday from companies such as Microsoft, Novell, Oracle and SAP.


Marketing



Novell has also pushed some more marketing, the latest examples being.



This is part of a pattern. For details, see:



On the contrary, Novell sometimes uploads technical videos, which is dine. Here is the latest example from a few days ago.

Other News



In a couple of places, this press release about crowdsourcing was released to show Novell's involvement.

Expanding its European presence, IdeaConnection is pleased to announce that Ms Marina Merlo has joined us as our Client Services Representative in Italy http://www.ideaconnection.com/about.html#marina. Ms Merlo has previously worked with Decision Lens, InnoCentive, Iomega, Kodak, Sony, Strategy Actualization, Google, Novell, Kodak, Creative, Skype, Bentley MicroStation, WPE, Iomega, Novell, and Bose.


Here is Novell mentioned in a formal press annoncement about a Web 2.0 expo:

Major vendors with booths at the show include Nokia, Salesforce.com, Amazon.com, eBay, IBM, Microsoft, Novell and Zoho.


Novell was mentioned briefly in this essay because Digium embraces something similar to the Fedora/RHEL and OpenSUSE/SLE business model.

Companies like Red Hat and Novell offer support subscriptions for enterprise customers who don't want to walk the Linux path alone and now other open source vendors are getting into the act, too.


Here is the fate of one company (SGI) whose realisation of Free software was curtailed for too long. Novell's fate might be similar:

This is not so complicated. SGI was a comet, soaring through the tech firmament during its brief moment of glory. But it's only one in a list of former high-flyers to come crashing back to earth, a roster that includes the likes of Novell, Borland, WordPerfect, Digital Equipment, Wang, Data General-well, you get the point.


Novell was voted the least likely technology company to survive this year (in its current form). Sun may soon prove such prophecies to be not so far-fetched.

Recent Techrights' Posts

Freedom, Not Fame, is His Goal
pursuit of money can be not only tiring but also involve abandoning one's freedom
 
Microsoft Layoffs in October 2026
Microsoft is a market leader. In NDAs.
Links 08/09/2026: "The Green Revolution Has Failed Africa" and Palantir/Microsoft Harming NHS
Links for the day
Microsoft's Silent Layoffs Are the New Normal at Microsoft
Microsoft has a ton of layoffs all the time, but the media isn't mentioning those as no WARN notices get issued
SLAPP Censorship - Part 175 Out of 200: Implicit and Explicit Coalition Against the UK's SLAPP Industry
SRA recognises the problem
Further Transparency Problems at the EPO
The EPO was never meant to be profitable
Gemini Links 08/09/2026: "Everything Must Go", Announcing Perigee, and Presentations in a Browser
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, September 07, 2026
IRC logs for Monday, September 07, 2026
Alleged Manager at IBM Says "[t]here are likely to be a lot (and I meant, A LOT) of RAs before December."
"We’re getting pressure from above to put some team members on PIPs."
Links 07/09/2026: Amazon Cargo Plane Crash, .org/.net/.com Domains Considered Risky
Links for the day
Gemini Links 07/09/2026: Cheese, Text-based Life, and Icons in Swaybar
Links for the day
Links 07/09/2026: Slop Trashes Memory of Parton, Flock Surveillance Infuriates Everyone
Links for the day
Getting Better After 20 Years
Exactly two months from now this site is turning 20
EPO Hiding Cocainegate and Abandoning Transparency (Even Access to Very Basic Information is Denied)
The EPO isn't just becoming like a private for-profit corporation. It's also becoming more secretive.
Richard Stallman Has Resurrected Lost Updates
We didn't ask about it
SLAPP Censorship - Part 174 Out of 200: Cascading Scandals and a Path Towards Much-Needed, Long-Awaited Reform
Reform the UK's law, not "Reform UK"
EPO's Gema Requena Sempere (PD People) Contacted Regarding Children With Disabilities
In the coming week we may be in fruitful contact with some media regarding EPO scandals
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
Gemini Links 07/09/2026: Music Composition, Free Stuff, and Self-hosting Git Repos
Links for the day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, September 06, 2026
IRC logs for Sunday, September 06, 2026
People Who Enforce the GPL Banned From Linux Foundation Board (After Bribes From Prolific GPL Violators), Now They're Banned From Giving Talks at Events
about the "LF" ('Linux' Foundation)
Gemini Links 06/09/2026: The Slop Plagiarism 'Holy War' (Hype, Scam, Scheme), Burning CD-Rs, and Hardcopy Mono
Links for the day
Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) Inaction and Incompetence - Part IV - Insufficient Resources in the Face of Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) by Lawyers
it's about 120KG
OpenStreetMap is the Future, Dictatorship is the Past
OpenStreetMap helped us check maps for transport, various overlays with addresses, and there was 0% reliance on GAFAM or "Google" anything
Silent Layoffs, Cool-down, and Cool-off: How GAFAM and IBM Operate (the Law Doesn't Apply to Them)
Laws? What laws?
How Strikes at the European Patent Office Are Seen by Striking Staff in Berlin, Germany
We have some more EPO scandals to cover later this year and next year
Association for Computing Machinery Cites Techrights in Relation to GemText and Gemini Protocol
published yesterday, Open Access
Links 06/09/2026: More XBox Trouble (Microsoft Unrest, Many Silent Layoffs This Month), John Duffy as Next USPTO General Counsel
Links for the day
Gemini Links 06/09/2026: Avoiding 'Smart' 'Phones' and Setting up Gemini for the First Time
Links for the day
Links 06/09/2026: Sabotage by Slop and "What Happens If 'Open' 'AI' Dies?"
Links for the day
How Back Doors Became the 'Normal' or 'Norm'
"We also allowed a lethal monoculture to fester"
Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) Inaction and Incompetence - Part III - The SRA is Vastly Worse Than Brits Realise, We Have a "Wild West" in London
In the next part we'll begin looking at correspondence with the SRA
SRA and Manslaughter: How the SRA Contributed to Agony in Proprietary Software Scandals With Clear Misuse of "Without Prejudice"
Trying to prevent the public from finding out the criminal stuff that went on, resulting in many deaths
Canonical (or Ubuntu) Rejecting IRC Isn't the Widespread Trend
Internet Relay Chat (IRC) adoption still growing by some yardsticks
SLAPP Censorship - Part 173 Out of 200: Two Years
It was exactly 2 years ago that we filed lawsuits against Garrett
Linux of America
We could not help but notice GNU/Linux in North America yesterday
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, September 05, 2026
IRC logs for Saturday, September 05, 2026
Gemini Links 06/09/2026: Internet Limiting (Limited Time Allotted) and Solar MiniServer
Links for the day
Eight Months of Strikes in EPO, Organised by the Staff Union (SUEPO) Also in Berlin
In Berlin, only one member of staff voted against the action plan