Bonum Certa Men Certa

Novell News Summary - Part III: SCO/UNIX to Conclude in March, eDirectory Patched

Capitol reef



Summary: News ranging from SCO to former Novell staff and some security setbacks

NOVELL'S biggest news from the past week would have to be the financial results. The next post will deal with these separately. We'll start with news about the SCO case.



SCO



The main Web site that covered this was Groklaw of course. Here is SCO's motion against Novell:

SCO has responded [PDF] to Novell's Notice just filed in Utah District Court. Novell is asking that court to assign both the Novell case and the IBM case to the same judge or to consolidate the two cases. SCO's Chapter 11 Trustee, Edward Cahn, also submits a statement in support of SCO's position, which is basically that it needs to hurry up and finish the Novell trial. It's running out of money. It doesn't want to detour to decide the SUSE arbitration first, which Novell also is requesting, and it sees consolidation with IBM to be not only not necessary but something that will drag things out.

Granting the Novell request for the same judge to be assigned to both cases surely wouldn't slow down the Novell case at all, but it would help the new judge having to suddenly deal with these complicated and interwoven cases to at least comprehend how they interact, particularly with respect to the GPL.


Novell has also responded.

Novell has filed its Reply [PDF] to SCO's Response Concerning Novell's Notice of Related Proceeding, which asks the new judge now assigned to the Novell case in Utah, Hon. Ted Stewart, to consolidate the two cases, SCO v. IBM and SCO v. Novell, or in the alternative to at least assign the same judge to both, which SCO opposes. Novell's position is that the two cases were assigned to the same judge before, and for some very good reasons they should still be with one judge.


Many reports from Utah surfaced in Groklaw, which writes:

I just received our first word on the hearing in Utah on SCO v. Novell from one of our reporters. "looking for a march 8th trial date, to run 3 weeks" is the report. I'm sure there will be more info on the way as soon as they can type it up. We had several eyewitnesses in attendance. So stay tuned for updates.


That would be March, indeed. Well, that's confirmed by the local press too.

A federal judge has scheduled a trial that will pit the Lindon-based SCO Group against Novell Inc. over the question of which owns the Unix computer operating system.


Finally, there is this update about AutoZone.

ZENWorks and eDirectory



ZENWorks certification was listed in this occasional roundup from a Web site whose focus is certification.

New ZENworks Certification from Novell Starting this month, individuals can earn Certified Novell ZENworks Administrator (CNZA) certification. This is a 1 test certification that covers ZENWorks configuration management including remote management, personality migration, asset management, and optimized application delivery, among numerous other topics. The exam contains 60 items and has a time limit of 55 minutes. A full list of objectives can be found on Novell's website.


Novell and Windows find love, as Novell's marketing people are showing:

This week ZENworks Patch Management won silver in the Best Patch Management category of the 2009 Windows IT Pro Editors’ Best and Community Choice Awards.


Here is a widely-distributed press release about eDirectory and iBoss (also in here, in here, and in here). From PRNewsWire:

Phantom Technologies is excited to announce that it has expanded the authentication capabilities of its iBoss Enterprise Web Filter to fully integrate with Novell eDirectory multiplatform environments.


Mail/Pulse



It is mostly about GWAVACon and GroupWise this time around. Here is a new video.



Pulse was finally mentioned by Jeff Jaffe and even SAP is entering this space with a proprietary product. A comparison is made again to Google Wave, which is expected to become Free software (not yet).

Security



eDirectory has suffered a security flaw, which was patched by Novell.

Novell has released a security update for its eDirectory server to remedy a heap overflow vulnerability. Attackers can remotely exploit the flaw to crash or penetrate a server. The vendor says that the vulnerability can be exploited with a specially crafted NDS Service Request.


From Heise (the H):

Novell has released a security update for its eDirectory server to remedy a heap overflow. Attackers can remotely exploit the flaw to crash or penetrate a server. The vendor says that the vulnerability can be exploited with a specially crafted NDS Service Request.


There are other noteworthy flaws and patches, e.g. [1, 2].

People



A person with past Novell association is becoming the Chief Technology Officer of Religare Enterprises Limited (REL).

Prior to his stint at Reliance Money, Mr. Nagaraj has also been associated with organizations like Reliance Capital, Novell India Pvt. Ltd., ICICI Bank, HDFC Ltd.


The position of executive vice president of operations at dataguise goes to another person with Novell association.

His previous companies include Trend Micro (IPO), IntruVert Networks (acquired by McAfee), Senforce Technologies, (acquired by Novell) and Reconnex Corporation (acquired by McAfee).


From a "press trip with Novell", Stones moves on to quitting her job in journalism.

One of the country’s leading technology journalists has resigned from her job. Business Day IT editor Lesley Stones said on Wednesday morning that she had tendered her resignation and would go freelance in the new year.

[...]

After she’d visited SA on a press trip with Novell, she fell in love with the country. “I brought my CV with me and I went back with a job.”

Stones, who studied journalism in the UK, left Computing SA after six months to take up the post at Business Day.


Another Novell connection, however loose:

Currently a general partner of Wheatley Partners, Barry Rubenstein has been investing in technology companies for 35 years and was a founder or founding consultant to several successful ventures, including Applied Digital Data Systems, Safeguard Scientifics, Novell, and Cheyenne Software, where he served as chairman and CEO. Rubenstein serves or has served on the boards of USWeb, Picazo Communications, CosmoCom, FatWire, CertPoint Systems, Seniors 4 Living and other technology companies.


Virtualisation



Stephen Pollack quit Novell after his company, PlateSpin, had been bought by Novell. Now he joins the advisory board of VM6 Software.

He most recently was founder and CEO of PlateSpin, a leading solutions provider in the virtualization space where he grew the company into one of North America's fastest growing high tech companies which was sold to Novell in 2008.


More on PlateSpin from the news:

Donovan said all PlateSpin partners had also now been integrated into PartnerNet under the datacentre tier and could access the same channel levels and benefits. Novell acquired the virtualisation vendor in April 2009 for $US205 million.


There's this bit about Novell's backing of Xen:

Although x64 hypervisors are heading for commoditisation, they are not there yet. Even when they reach that stage, there is no guarantee that customers will be able to switch from one to the other easily. That raises an important question about the future of the open source Xen hypervisor and the virtualisation platforms built on it by Xen’s three main backers, Citrix, Oracle and Novell.


Marketing



Novell is sharing more "success stories" in YouTube and there is this new promotion of BrainShare 2010. "It might be cancelled like last year's (or downsized, like Novell)," I argued. In response I got: "Cost effectiveness has a price, are they really downsizing ? or are they simply trying to be more efficient in difficult financial times. Ms is downsizing big time to, Dell the same, all those massive American corporation can no longer waste money as they have done up to now"

Novell was also mentioned amongst others in lists of vendors, including in press releases. For example we have:

The report lists a large number of vendors who are potentially affected, although only Cisco, Juniper, SafeNet and SonicWall having so far been confirmed as being vulnerable to this problem. Vendors who are not affected include Extreme Networks, Kerio, McAfee and Novell.


In general, few articles or press releases actually focus on Novell. There is not much going on there and as the next post will show, the financial results are accordingly made worse. ⬆

Recent Techrights' Posts

Trillions of Dollars in Debt Are Not "Investment", More People Realise This Now
"Investors started offloading shares on Wednesday in response to an X post about the debt load of CoreWeave Inc..."
Intercontinental Brigading - Part V - Keeping Linux Under Users' Control, Not Microsoft's (NSA) Control, Leads to Weaponisation of Cops (Killing the Messengers)
Transatlantic lawfare
 
Inevitable Things
"Bitbucket was Inevitable"
Andy's Passing Thoughts on Media Dying, Not Reporting News (Even Critical News About Itself)
No more news
Stallman Was Right About Torvalds
The crowd/audience Linus Torvalds panders to is paid by GAFAM to go attend and dominate (speak at) LF events. They're people whose employer forces them to use slop, it's inorganic.
Links 17/10/2026: "Why Math Dumped OpenAI", US Third Circuit Has Confirmed LLMs and Other Slop Constitute Plagiarism or Copyright Infringement
Links for the day
GPL Was Right (About Hoarding, Now Automated With Plagiarism Blenders)
Some time next year the UK's High Court might listen to arguments related to this
Microsoft Allegedly Asks Many Workers to Leave at the End of This Year (or Get the Boot), It's Called Voluntary Exit Program a.k.a. Voluntary Early Retirement Program (or VEP) Even for People Far Too Young to Retire
"Everyone at Microsoft knows what those acronyms mean."
The Torvalds-led Slopfest as a Reminder to Pursue Software Freedom, Not Plagiarism Endorsed (for Money) by 'Linux' Foundation
What's happening this month moreover proves that he is not in control of important decisions in his project
Why We Never Got Back to IPFS
Practically speaking, we could get back to IPFS any time
Red Hat Silent Layoffs: October 1 Bluewashing, Then Leaving IBM Altogether
It's said that weeks from now there will be another "round" (of "RAs")
Gemini Links 16/10/2026: Metrovision, Smartwatches, and Rekindled Love for Geminispace
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, October 16, 2026
IRC logs for Friday, October 16, 2026
TeamBlind Accused of Censorship, Maybe Surveillance in the Future
It's expensive to protect whistleblowers and to resist censorship of what whistleblowers try to expose
Another Friday 'Litter' of IBM Workers, Discarded and Sometimes Replaced to Cut Costs
The little that IBM earns is spent buying companies to pretend there's "growth" and headcount stability
Gemini Links 16/10/2026: Carrie, Games, and Slop
Links for the day
Links 16/10/2026: Election Interference by Slop; White House Backs Russia, Not Ukraine
Links for the day
The Register MS Has New 'Article' That Has "AI" 20 Times. "SPONSORED POST" As Usual.
At the end, both the media and the pyramid scheme will collapse
UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) Says Microsoft is Still Abusive
Today, ahead of the latest fake 'results' [...] Microsoft cheats the system everywhere it can
Links 16/10/2026: "Data Centers Are Driving Conservative Rural Voters to The Democratic Party En Masse" and Slop Bros Bribe Candidates "for Congress"
Links for the day
Deplatforming People You Disagree With Is a Losing Strategy
Trying to deplatform people you don't agree with is oppressive and petty
Microsoft Cannot Pay Salaries
Microsoft is deep in debt
IBM "support that is USA based will migrate over 4 years to Indian based just because it lowers costs substantially."
IBM is not capable of growing, so it tries to find ways to shave off costs
Gemini Links 16/10/2026: Publishing and Licensing, Going to Movies, and Nature/Seasons Change
Links for the day
Microsoft's OSI Calling Slop "Open Source AI" (Microsoft Paid OSI to Do This) Has Helped Associate "Open Source" With Pedophilia
Microsoft deflecting?
Fridges Do Not Need an Internet Connection
Keep it simple, stupid (KISS)
Wikileaks Still Matters
The world needs more sites like these
'Cocaine King' Campinos Should 'Get the Message', Pack Up His Things and Go Already
His staff is constantly on strike and engaged in various industrial actions
We Don't Do Slop
People tend to appreciate genuine work, not fakes
On Lying With Confidence
LLMs are hype
Market Share of Windows in the United Kingdom is Shockingly Low
Microsoft's losses are very profound
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, October 15, 2026
IRC logs for Thursday, October 15, 2026
Microsoft Can Barely Afford to Colonise Africa Any Longer (Too Much Debt)
"Before the announcement, former Microsoft employees publicly described staff being placed on performance improvement plans or offered “voluntary” exits."
Intercontinental Brigading - Part IV - Harassment Registered With the Police Before Projection Attempts Made From America
The thing one gets subjected to for opposing back doors in Linux
Gemini Links 16/10/2026: Dogs, Slop, and Blogging
Links for the day
The Fate of "Alicante Mafia" at the EPO Yet to Be Determined
It'll be interesting to hear what they say about the secret meeting regarding the future of Campinos
Gemini Links 15/10/2026: Medical Difficulty, Science Fiction, and Playstation 3 Dies
Links for the day
Links 15/10/2026: Cuts to Public Health and Misuse of License Plate Data for Social Control
Links for the day
Links 15/10/2026: ALPRs Are Mass Surveillance, GAFAM Front Group ('New' EFF) Asks the Wisconsin Supreme Court to End Warrantless ALPR Searches
Links for the day
IBM RAs: "It's on Me"
IBM has no respect for the workers and it tries to hide the layoffs
Gemini Links 15/10/2026: Literature, Funerals, and Devices
Links for the day
The Efforts to Criminalise Opposition to a Ponzi Scheme Sold as "Super Intelligence" (Plagiarism Engines, Disinformation Generators)
Cops are becoming combatants for slop bros, i.e. they use power to promote a Ponzi scheme
Clownflare Sees Most Requests in Africa Coming From Android (Linux)
Android is the dominant platform
IBM's "RA Season" is Nearly Upon Us, But Tens of Thousands Are Already Marked for Removal With PIPs (as "Low Performers")
IBM is a dying company
Microsoft Has Confirmed It Had a Plan to Cut Azure (or Azure Costs) by 20%
So basically... yes! Microsoft did have a plan to slash Azure.
No Noticeable Libera Chat Exodus After Code of Censorship (CoC) Scandal Earlier This Month
Libera Chat pissed off some people by unmasking the CoC's real purpose
Red Hat Silent Layoffs Seem to Carry on Throughout This Month
How much longer will these silent layoffs (e.g. PIPs) carry on for?
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, October 14, 2026
IRC logs for Wednesday, October 14, 2026