Bonum Certa Men Certa

Novell News Summary - Part III: Past, Present, and Former Novellers All Over the Place

Old clocks



Summary: A look at Novell's many activities in the past week

HERE is the last part of this week's news roundup about Novell.



Finance



Nothing of significant interest was found except this:

Analyst Choice has combined some of the best financial and technical minds worldwide to bring you an array of free quality equity research and reporting. Today we have begun in-depth reporting on our website evaluating the current market condition of Nuance Communications Inc. (NASDAQ: NUAN), Novell Inc. (NASDAQ: NOVL), Riverbed Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: RVBD) and Powerwave Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ: PWAV).


Secondary Novell



eWeek reminisced the days when Novell's NetWare was a lot more widespread.

Most of eWEEK’s readers though the ages have been PC readers, but, then again, when I first started working here (when the publication was called PC Week, incidentally), our readers were overwhelmingly using Novell NetWare.


Novell has meanwhile released this update for its Windows Novell Client.

Novell today announced key updates to the Novell Client for Windows that enables Novell Open Enterprise Server connectivity.


Regarding Novell certification, we were only able to find new articles that put it in a negative light, namely:

i. 6 ways to ruin your resume

I'm not trying to downplay achievements from over 10 years ago; I was a Novell 3.12 CNE. But how relevant are those skills today? Including them on a résumé gives the impression of trying to fill the application with fluff.


ii. Developers keep cheating on certification exams

Braindumps for Cisco, Microsoft, Novell, Oracle and Sun IT certification exams are available on the Web. Braindumps contain copyrighted content, and discussing tests with other parties violates non-disclosure agreements.


iii. Study: IT skills pay drops slightly overall in Q1

Prosoft Master CIW Administrator pay dropped the most of all certified skills in the first quarter, falling 25%, as did Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer+Internet. Microsoft Certified IT professional (-20%), Novell/Certified Internet Professional (-20%) and Novell Certified Instructor (-16.7%) rounded out the top five highest drops.


All that said, Novell is harping about this new review (ish) of ZENworks and some press release speaks about Novell eDirectory.

Policies can be deployed through Microsoft Active Directory and Novell eDirectory.


Novell's business which relies on Windows continues to be lost to Microsoft. It shows what a great partner Microsoft must be.

The university has also started a suite of desktop architecture projects to be completed over a period of 18 months which involved implementing Symantec's Altiris and planning the move from Novell desktop services to Active Directory and Windows Server 2008. The university currently has licences with both Novell and Microsoft. Migrating to one will mean lower fees and a lower support cost in terms of maintaining two skills sets.


ZDNet Germany has just updated/created this page about Windows software that treats Novell's. It's Stellar Phoenix, which has bombarded Google News with repetition for a long time.

Virtualisation



We've found many articles that mention virtualisation in one form or another, starting with the words of Citrix:

It is collaboratively built by the industry’s leading IT vendors, led by Citrix and including Intel, AMD, IBM, HP, Novell, Red Hat, Sun, VA Linux and many others.


IDG had a go at a test drive where it put SLES on Windows, using Microsoft software. That's how Microsoft wants GNU/Linux to behave; it gets paid twice (for SLES and Windows).

We wanted to use an ISO image to initially install a guest VM onto Hyper-V. We setup the guest and chose Novell's SLES 10.2 (64-bit) as the operating system to run on the Hyper-V host. We chose the ISO image we had manually added to the library. We didn't want to copy the ISO image so we chose: 'Share image file instead of copying it'. But when we did that we got an inarticulate error message, telling us in a roundabout way that the machine requesting the image did not have proper access rights. Eventually, the problems were solved with a change in file/folder permissions. But it was no mean feat to get the Library function to work.


Here is a report about PlateSpin, which does not seem to be doing much under Novell's wing.

Novell's PlateSpin Workload Management solutions, on the other hand, are based on technology obtained through the company's acquisition of PlateSpin in February of 2008.

In a conference call to announce the buyout, Novell CEO Ron Hovsepian said that PlateSpin's technologies fit into multi-operating system virtualization and physical infrastructures with support not just for Xen, but also for hypervisors from Microsoft and VMware.


Jaffe wrote this rather abstract post about Novell's strategy in the datacentre, which seems to involve a great deal of collaboration with Microsoft (including its partners like Citrix/Xen and companies where it put its people, notably VMware).

For several years Novell has been building a vision of the next generation data center that addresses new customer needs. These needs are to leverage new technologies that reduce cost and complexity, but manage the risk of introducing them. Our Service Driven Data Center (SDDC) provides the cost reduction in a well managed fashion.


The South African press had this article where Novell's word was used to augment coverage of virtualisation.

Virtualisation gives organisations the power to move resources in an instant, but can pose various problems and lead to increased costs if implemented incorrectly.

So says Justin Steinman, VP of solution and product marketing at Novell, who believes following certain steps will allow organisations to successfully deploy virtualisation in a mixed data centre environment.


There was another article from the same publication which prepared the readers for a virtualisation conference. Novell South Africa will be there.

The two-day event will see 17 speakers cover various topics such as workload management and disaster recovery, presented by channel manager of Novell SA, Matthew Lee. He will discuss how to meet the challenges of adhering to current regulations concerning virtualised data, analysing the benefits and drawbacks, and responding to disaster recovery.


Mail



Here is a new press release about software for the iPhone which boasts Groupwise compatibility (mentioned here also).

The Esnatech Telephony Office-LinX platform is already tightly integrated with MS Exchange, IBM Lotus Domino, Novell GroupWise, Apple MAC OS, Apple iPhone, Research in Motion Blackberry, Nokia devices, and MS wWindows mMobile devices. The gateway server can be administered directly from an organization's Microsoft Management Console or through Terminal Services over the web. Users can be managed through Active Directory and Group Policy.


Here is another press release that mentioned the role of GroupWise (same here):

When unified messaging was first introduced to the Firm by their IT Director, Jan Durant, AVST’s CallXpress was supplied by Avanquest and integrated with a Mitel€® PBX, Novell’s GroupWise and Citrix.


Some wise guy from TMCNet already rewrote the press release (fake journalism):

Officials at Avanquest say they installed AVST’s (News - Alert) CallXpress solution a decade ago at Lewis Silkin, integrating the platform with a Mitel (News - Alert) PBX at the firm, Novell’s GroupWise and Citrix.


This is what TMCNet does most of the time. Their output is just the 'massaged' output of actual companies.

Security



Novell Teaming has addressed known vulnerabilities, but new ones may be showing up.

SEC Consult, a security consulting service, has advised of three vulnerabilities in Teaming, Novell's collaboration and conferencing software.


Over at CNET, Novell was mentioned as an example where identity management meets security.

People



There are all sorts of interesting moves this week.

Starting with this press release about Eric Schmidt, it turns out that he visited CMU a short while ago.

Prior to joining Google, Schmidt was chairman and CEO of Novell, where he led the strategic planning, management and technology development for the global software corporation. Before leading Novell, he was chief technology officer and corporate executive officer at Sun Microsystems Inc., where he led the development of Java, Sun's platform-independent programming technology, and defined Sun's Internet software strategy.


Her spoke at the CMU graduation. The Novell connection is well known to many:

Before joining the Mountain View, Calif.-based search giant in 2001, Schmidt was chairman and CEO of software company Novell. He also worked as CTO at Sun Microsystems Inc. and worked at Bell Laboratories.


Some days ago we wrote about Novell's board changes and now arrive some details from nearby (Novell's headquarters in Boston).

Software developer Novell Inc. said Friday it appointed two new members to its board of directors.


Other people to watch include Bill D'Amico, who becomes a Vice President at Learn.com. He has Novell history.

D'Amico worked for a number of technology companies including Pathlore Software, Novell Software Corporation, and Computer Associates.


The same goes for Patrick McCarthy, who becomes a Vice President at BroadVision.

He was also Senior Vice President of worldwide sales for Selectica and held senior management roles with Novell and Autodesk. Mr. McCarthy initially joined BroadVision in 1998 and served four tremendously successful years running the Central United States sales organization. He holds a B.S. degree in computer science from Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.


Ed Ryan has less direct connections with Novell.

His demonstrated achievements span small start-up organizations to billion dollar companies, including Citrix Systems Inc, Novell Inc, and Platform Computing.


In the Utah press we find:

The company was founded by four guys -- besides Cranny, Jim Kilgour, Michael Wright and Peter Boucher --- who left Senforce Technologies after it was bought by Novell.


There is also this from Utah:

This workshop will be taught by Michael Eagar, who has extensive experience as an online entrepreneur and manager for many Internet start-up ventures. Some of the companies that Eagar has been associated with are Novell, Provo Labs, My Princess Pearls, US Family Tree and OrangeSoda. Eagar owns his own company, Utah Labs, which specializes in online business training and consulting.


Partners



Here is new evidence of the CORAID-Novell connection and the SAP-Novell virtualisation connection (not just plain SUSE). There is also this to do with Dolphin Digital Media.

At the heart of Dolphin Digital Media's high-tech security platform are the solutions of its technology partners: Novell Corporation, Stratacache, Rackspace, and 123ID, all integrated through an exclusive worldwide license with Weblock International.


Here is Novell standing shoulder to shoulder with Forrester (which was paid by Microsoft to smear GNU/Linux) and rPath (see background [1, 2, 3]).

We'll be taking on this topic in depth on Thursday, April 30th, with "Tackling the Last Mile of IT Process Automation," a webinar rPath is hosting with Forrester Research, Novell and BlueLock.


Marketing



Novell and its circles have circulated all sorts of videos that they put on YouTube. There's this new one for example and this one which was pushed in by Novell. There are also all sorts of pro-Banshee lyrics in new promotional videos.



Yes, he's promoting Banshee (Mono infection); just put it in there for good measure. Here it is from Novell's PR department too:

Grab your video camera, or your friend’s if you don’t have one, and get ready to answer the question: “What do you do with Linux?” Then channel your inner Tarantino and submit a 1-minute video entry that answers the question in a creative, entertaining or unique way. Luke Skywalker using the force of Linux? Butch Cassidy and the Linux Kid? Or maybe an instructional video on how to use Banshee to play music?


This video was uploaded by a Novell employee, NovellVideo, and the following was uploaded three separate times for some unknown reason (all are identical):



A competition of some sort appears to have produced the following videos which were uploaded some days ago:



For those who wonder why we track this, it's intended to show that Novell is consciously using YouTube as a free-of-charge advertising space.

There are also new GroupWise commercials:





Novell also talks about those videos which it uploads and it attempts to capitalise on the end of Windows XP support. There is nothing wrong with that, but why has Novell pushed this video into YouTube four times for no apparent reason? Novell is notoriously bad at marketing and it appears to be misbehaving on YouTube.

Recent Techrights' Posts

Social Control Media Relies on Advertisers, So It'll Always Be Hostile Towards Free Software
Sales, sales, sales
Fragmentation of Data
Life is too short to "hoard" data
Jamie Zawinski Complained About Wayland, Then Decided to Give It a Go, Now Complains Again About Wayland
Ask IBM (Red Hat) why it's worth throwing so much away just for Wayland fanaticism
Russia Set to Ban Facebook?
If WhatsApp is made to "leave", that means Facebook or "Meta".
Taking Stock of a Good and Productive Week
We shall now be taking a break, unpacking the new hard drive (8 TB), and making backups of everything
 
The Tactics of the Opposition (Microsoft Lunduke): Associate With K00ks, Throw in Vaccines to Muddy the Water
Who stands to gain from this?
Europe's Second-Largest Institution (EPO) and Largest Patent Monopoly Office Needs More Transparency, Not Less Transparency
In the EPO, what good are elections when one candidate literally bribes all the voters?
How Not to Report News About Microsoft
This pattern of misreporting is so widespread that it's hard to believe it's not intentional
Computer Science is Under Attack, They Want Everyone to be a Consumer
If people can no longer acquire Computer Science education and real Computer Science experience, they will not know how to control their own digital destiny or emancipate the very same universities that now control the syllabus and instead of teaching Computer Science encourage the outsourcing of systems
The Best Tools Are the Simplest Tools
There's a hidden message here about the merits of sticking with X
Ofcom Online Safety Group Speaks of Protecting Women Online, Will Brett Wilson LLP Ever Listen?
They've essentially became like the Taliban's "burka police"
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, July 20, 2025
IRC logs for Sunday, July 20, 2025
In Defence of "Spinning Rust"
Just because something is "old" (or older) doesn't mean it ought to become extinct
Using Free Software to Prepare Legal Documents
LibreOffice is openly complaining about OOXML as an obstacle
Tech and Technology Are Not the Same Anymore
"Are you into tech, Sir?"
Our Articles About SLAPPs Receive Recognition and Interest
This week we shall continue writing about the 3 lawsuits we filed
Are You Served?
For many people, advocacy of Free software and GPL enforcement are assumed to be happening
Conspiracy or grooming? Alex Jurado, Voice of Reason compared to Outreachy
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Links 20/07/2025: Security Breaches and Former 'Open' 'AI' Engineer on Hype and Culture Issues
Links for the day
Links 20/07/2025: Fending Off BRICS and US Government Attacks Its Own Media (Like China and Russia)
Links for the day
Framed by social control media: Alex Belfield, Voice of Reason
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Gemini Links 20/07/2025: Summertime and OCC25 Wrap-up
Links for the day
Slopwatch: Planet Ubuntu, LinuxSecurity, and More
former "Linux" blogs which basically became slopfarms
Links 20/07/2025: More GAFAM Lawsuits, Layoffs, and SLAPPs
Links for the day
Nice Recovery (From Actual Fire) by PCLinuxOS, New Version of PCLinuxOS Released, Now Top of DistoWatch
PCLinuxOS is a community-driven distro
More Microsoft Shutdowns That Mostly Slipped Under the Radar
Remember what happened to books 'sold' by Microsoft?
Microsoft Lunduke Still Fighting Cancel Culture With... Cancel Culture
There will be no "winners" in such 'debates'
The History of Daily Links and Politics
"I support Wayland, but I also support abortion..."
Ageism in Tech
Your protocol is "old"...
Microsoft is at 0% "Market Share" in Most Areas
Depending on the taxonomy chosen, there may be dozens of categories other than desktops and laptops
"The moment MSFT stock fails to start tumbling, that’s the beginning of another corporate giant going under."
There are far more layoffs at Microsoft than at Intel, but you would not get this impression based on Wall Street media
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, July 19, 2025
IRC logs for Saturday, July 19, 2025
Gemini Links 19/07/2025: Git For Authors and Filtered Antenna
Links for the day
UEFI 'Secure' Boot Abuses by Microsoft to be Brought Up in the UK High Court in 3 Months
we'll seek compensation
Next Year It'll Be Half a Decade Since the Fall of Freenode (and IRC is Still Doing OK)
Our IRC network is still accessible using the exact same software that ran in Windows 3.x
Lupa Will Soon Know of 3,100+ Active Gemini Capsules
And some people in the "Small Web" try to tell us that Gemini is dying?
The Slopfarms Are Taking Real News Articles and Replacing Them With Lies Generated by Machines
Bluntly speaking, Fagioli is nothing short of an online scammer
Links 19/07/2025: Techtarget to Cull 10% of Staff, New Threats to Free Press in the US (Home of Dangerous and Violent Stranglers From Microsoft)
Links for the day
Gemini Links 19/07/2025: "Climate Justice” and Forking Programs
Links for the day
What Wayland and Microsoft/IBM systemd Have in Common
focus on what IBM (Red Hat) is pushing while running over critics.
Linux Already Has About 60% of the "Market"
"When mentioning the client side," opines an associate, "it is essential to recite the list of other markets where Microsoft is negligible or a no-show. It is repetitive to do so, but it needs saying -- often."
In Norway, Android/Linux Has Just Hit All-Time High (First Time Since 2020), GNU/Linux Already Very Prevalent
Despite its small population size, Norway gave us Qt and many other things
Finland (and NATO) Must Move to GNU/Linux and Dump Microsoft Even Faster
"Microsoft is not a technology problem, it is a staffing problem."
Microsoft's Mass Layoffs Very Wide-Ranging, Media Focused on Gaming Though Microsoft Mass-Firing Lawyers and "AI" Staff (Contradicting Its Supposed "Investment" in "AI")
Microsoft plans to fire almost half a thousand people in legal roles
2012 Article About the Free Software Foundation Blasting Canonical/Ubuntu Over Adoption of "Secure" Boot (Microsoft's Remote Control Over GNU/Linux Since PCs' Power-on)
By Katherine Noyes (article has since then became 404, not found)
The Microsofters We Sued Helped Microsoft Make GNU/Linux 'Expire' This Year
"Linux and Secure Boot certificate expiration"
linuxconfig.org Joins linuxtechlab.com and Others, Becomes a Slopfarm With Fake Linux 'Articles' (LLM Slop)
They contain "linux" in their domain names, but they are just slopfarms
Links 19/07/2025: Microsoft Cuts in China and Wall Street Journal Sued for Reporting on Jeffrey Epstein
Links for the day
Debian Can Dump Blind Users Because I am Not Blind
the sort of mentality we're up against
Fascistic Policies Got 'Normalised' in 'Public Office'. Let's Not Let the Same Happen in 'Tech'.
Political discourse typically guides what's "normal" and what "good citizens" should believe/feel
The European Patent Office Cannot Attract Proficient Patent Examiners Who Master Their Domain
They are enablers and facilitators of corruption
Yes, Your Mastodon Instance Will Also Shut Down
Few people run a one-person instance in the Fediverse
The Demise of GAFAM Necessitates Greater and Broader Awareness
Morale at Microsoft is really bad
Free Software Foundation Reaches 75% of Funding Goal
Not bad for this "Fosschild"
Slopwatch: 7 New Examples of Fake 'Linux' Slop Pieces (Plagiarism With Misinformation)
Serial Sloppers need to be shunned
Links 19/07/2025: Kapo-berg Settles, Software Patents Challenged
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, July 18, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, July 18, 2025