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

General Assembly Covers EPO Strikes on Thursday, September 17th (2026)
The EPO's staff representation at The Hague has asked people to join an upcoming online session about industrial actions
SLAPP Censorship - Part 182 Out of 200: UK Dockets With Machine-Generated Applications to the Court (From American Slop Companies)
Earlier this year Garrett was using machine-generated output as legal papers and submissions
 
Software Freedom Day 2026 is 5 Days From Now, Fresh Reminder to Boycott Proprietary Software
Let this be a timely reminder of why people should avoid proprietary software
Links 14/09/2026: Slop Hardly Used for Actual Work (Chatbots Are for Lonely People), Slop Bots (Scrapers, Plagiarism) "Are Thirsty for Power"
Links for the day
Gemini Links 14/09/2026: Trip, Hiding, and OCR
Links for the day
IBM PIPs Are Layoffs (RAs Come Later Even If You Satisfy the "Performance" and "Plan")
Notice how "the media" almost never mentions silent layoffs, as if just because they're silent, there's nothing to investigate, nothing to see there
Slop Companies Engage in Plagiarising the Web, Now They Pay People to Contaminate the Web With Their Lies
Remember that the lawfare against us is funded by slop salaries!
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, September 13, 2026
IRC logs for Sunday, September 13, 2026
Microsoft is Laying Off All Year Long (It's Just Keeping Quiet About It)
The issue here is also the media. It's complicit.
MElon's Twitter Takeover Was Meant to Amplify People Like Himself or David Heinemeier Hansson (Slop Pyramid Schemes and Bigotry)
Social control media is not neutral
Microsoft Lunduke of 'Linux Sucks' (and Microsoft Corp.) Tries to Replace GNU/Linux With Toxic Discussions About Toxic Politics
Poisoning the well people drink from
Links 13/09/2026: Republican Campaign Aide Uses Nazi Photo and Convicted Felon is Wielding Power to Stifle Speech
Links for the day
Gemini Links 13/09/2026: Never Settling, Plain Text Digital Life, and Newsgroups
Links for the day
Efforts to Cancel Matt Mullenweg Have Made Us More Sympathetic Towards Mullenweg and More Sceptical of the People Who Run Automattic (Named After Mullenweg)
Mullenweg, unlike Automattic, is not "in it for the money"
Boosters of Omarchy Are No 'Underdogs'
There are many Arch derivatives that do not rely on "viral" marketing in MElon's child porn-pushing social control media and are instead relying on real development, not slop
PIPs Are a Setup: They Set Workers Up to Fail While Working Their Arse Off Before Getting Kicked (Out) in the Arse
Malicious and exploitative
SLAPP Censorship - Part 181 Out of 200: This is Really More Like Brett Wilson LLP v Schestowitz (Using Money From American Slop Companies, Plagiarism Pushers)
We approach the parts where we explain that the Application to the Court with Garrett's name on it was instead complaining about fair criticism of the combative law firm (irrelevant to any injunctions) as if it was impermissible to explain what it had done - and still does - to my wife and I
It Sometimes Feels Like Slop Companies Are Committing Online/Digital Crimes
"GPT" out of control
Gemini Links 13/09/2026: Why Omarchy is "Plain Disgusting" and "AI Slop" and Why "Plain Text To Do List" Rocks
Links for the day
Links 13/09/2026: Scam Altman Admits Issues (Financial), Rival Says Stop Slop (Plagiarism)
Links for the day
Windows Down to New Lows as Switzerland's Federal Government Abandons Microsoft (Where Feasible for Now)
That's how it starts...
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, September 12, 2026
IRC logs for Saturday, September 12, 2026
Televisions Have Become Billboards
Bottom line: you get what you pay for
Mass Layoffs at Microsoft as "Voluntary Separation Agreement" (or PIP)
the man who kept lying about the layoffs has just left the company
The Cyber Show on Media Clickbait About Slop as 'Existential Threat' and Derek Thompson's Response to That
Ignore the hype, focus on real news
Links 12/09/2026: "Revolt Is Here" Against Slop and "Top Chinese Court" Cracks Down on Slop That's Fake/Misleading
Links for the day
Gemini Links 12/09/2026: Rants About Slop, Switching From QWERTY, and Why TVs Are 'Cheap'
Links for the day
SLAPP Censorship - Part 180 Out of 200: A Third Act, (Mis)Using Your Client's Application to the Court for Your Own Purposes as a Law Firm (Reputation Management and Censorship)
How much can a lawfare firm get away with?
Canonical Has Withdrawn Ubuntu 24.04.5 Installer Due to a Critical Bug Connected to Microsoft-Controlled Restricted Boot and TPM
already breaking systems running GNU/Linux [...] Who asked for TPM in Linux?
SLAPP Censorship - Part 179 Out of 200: Using One's Clients to Save Face at Their Expense
Who's being served really?
Switzerland's Software Freedom/Digital Sovereignty is Improving as People Move to GNU/Linux
Well done to them
Links 12/09/2026: "U.S. Debt Surpasses $40 Trillion" and "Trump Wants to [Illegally] Bribe Voters."
Links for the day
Gemini Links 12/09/2026: Readjusting, Fighting Sleep, and FreeBSD bhyve
Links for the day
Matt Mullenweg Got the 'Linus Treatment' or 'RMS Treatment'
"back, but not in charge any more..."
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, September 11, 2026
IRC logs for Friday, September 11, 2026