http://technologysource.org/author/derek_keats/

This probably applies to anyone who signed the petition for a very particular reason, which is liaising with a convicted monopolist and betraying “the community”. Other than Novell and Microsoft, there still remain some tools that substitute some, if not all, the above. But your point is a good one nonetheless, I just hope it does not reflect on the truth.

Novell has eDirectory, GroupWise, Open Enterprise Server, ZENworks, identity management, etc.

What other company has a complete network solution? That’s right, the very company we are all upset that Novell has decided to partner with. What is the choice other than Novell? Microsoft.

Do we all now turn our back on Novell and just go straight to the devil’s hands?

“Derek Keats, Executive Director, Information and Communication Services The University of the Western Cape Cape Town, South Africa

Note from Derek Keats: As a non-trivial CUSTOMER of Novell, we will be looking at all our applications during the next 3-4 months, with a view to finding the fastest possible way to get ALL NOVELL PRODUCTS completely out of our environment. As a company that we have been customers of for over a decade, you have let us down badly, and as customers, you may expect us to vote with our feet and encourage others within the education domain to do the same.”

Judging by the tone, this professor is a Free software advocate, so I am sure he will avoid Microsoft (and its ‘allies’) at all costs. Since it’s in SA, he’s most likely to choose Ubuntu, I guess. It’s somewhat of a partiotic move. I think that one of the comments in the petitions (maybe it was his) pointed in this direction. I think it was a University in Africa that was mentioned, but I can recall for sure. It’s worth exploring.

As a side note, a migration from Linux to Windows is often an imposibility. Not because of finance, but because too many features are lost, as well as stability and security. This applies to servers and desktops, although many Open Sourc programs run under Windows.