Microsoft has launched a new and controversial anti-Linux Web site. Since it appears to be down at the moment, have a look at this modified screenshot, which tells a thousand words.
Novell’s PR Blog has a guest entry from Justin Steinman, in which he explains that he was indeed in error when he made those disputed statements regarding Novell’s financial support of the Free Software Foundation:
Further research inside Novell confirms that Peter Brown is correct and I spoke in error. I want to make it clear that I had no intention of making false claims or providing misinformation to the market. I simply said what I believed to be true. Now that I have learned my statement is not true, I want to correct that error.
Thus, I want to apologize to the Free Software Foundation and to the open source community for making this misrepresentation. I should have double-checked the accuracy of my information before speaking, and for that, I offer no excuse.
Since I get corrected around here all the time, I am certainly willing to believe there was no malice here – a simple error, and we move on…
Previously we covered Bruce Perens’ efforts to steal Novell’s thunder. Head over to pthree.org which offers the most comprehensive coverage (photos and audio at xmission.com) of Bruce’s small-yet-loud event.
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Novell continues to play with the NASDAQ’s patience as it collects another non-compliance notice. Meanwhile, the flood of press releases from Novell shows no signs of abatement, so they clearly invest a lot of money in getting the word out. It is not just the announcement of new products. It’s a lot of ‘fluff’, based on what I see in the feeds.
In other news, Novell still tries to lure in Red Hat administrators and the GPLv3 suffers obnoxious delays. The next draft, which is just around the corner, intends to isolate Novell successfully.
Lastly, here is some food for thought. As people begin talking about Microsoft latest anti-Linux campaign, Novell gets a mention as well. Here is one such example:
Microsoft is blatantly anti-Linux
A few years ago, they launched the Microsoft Get the facts campaign, where they often make outrageous and unfounded claims, backed by so-called proof that is clearly unfounded. Now, they’ve taken it one step further with the Linux Personas website, a site where they profile customers who are currently using GNU/Linux and other Unix or Open Source environments, and how to get them to buy Microsoft products replacing the non-Microsoft products. And check what it says on the front page of that site… “Winning against Linux the smart way”. Against Linux. Microsoft is against Linux.
[...]
And the plot thickens… previously I blogged about the Digital Freedom Expo, well, today I read Novell is canceling their stand at the expo. The reason? Budget constraints. Budget constraints? When you’ve just been paid millions and millions of US dollars by Microsoft? And you don’t have a few thousand dollars budget for what’s going to be the biggest Open Source event in Africa this year? Wow Novell, is that really what you mean by being committed to Open Source?
Once again, as expected, Novell was hit with a Nasdaq non-compliance notice due to their latest filing delay.
In response to the first notice of non-compliance, Novell requested a hearing before a NASDAQ Listing Qualifications Panel (the “Panel”). On Jan. 9, 2007, the Panel granted Novell’s request for continued listing subject to the requirements that Novell 1) provide the Panel with certain information relating to the Audit Committee’s review on or about March 1, 2007, which was submitted to the Panel, and 2) become current in its delinquent reports and file any necessary restatements by March 13, 2007. On Feb. 20, 2007, Novell received a letter from the NASDAQ Listing and Hearing Review Council (the “Listing Council”) indicating that the Listing Council had called for review the Jan. 9, 2007 decision of the Panel and had determined to stay the Panel’s decision and any future Panel determinations to suspend Novell’s securities from trading pending further action by the Listing Council.
In connection with the call for review, the Listing Council has provided Novell with the opportunity to make an additional submission for
the Listing Council’s consideration by May 4, 2007 describing Novell’s plan for filing the necessary periodic reports. NASDAQ has also provided Novell with the opportunity to make a submission by March 22, 2007 specifically addressing the delay in filing its First Quarter Form 10-Q. The Company intends to timely provide both submissions to NASDAQ.The Company is working diligently to complete all necessary filings and thereby demonstrate compliance with all applicable requirements for continued listing on the NASDAQ Global Select Market; however, there can be no assurance that the Listing Council will determine to grant the Company a further extension following its review of the forthcoming submissions.
I am considering creating a boilerplate template for these articles if this continues every quarter…
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Really, there isn’t much meat to this entry, but I wanted to post this and make sure that we can link back to it later…
I have more than once wondered aloud Why didn’t Microsoft just buy Novell?, and many feel that the eventual acquisition of Novell by Microsoft is indeed possible, including Bruce Perens. Well, Ron Hovsepian scoffed at the suggestion:
Perens, the critic, said he would not oppose this union if it were simply a technological partnership. But in his view, Microsoft is using it to destroy competition, compelling Novell to abandon its former allies – small- and intermediate-level software developers in the open-source community – in return for protection from Microsoft attacks.
What Novell did is not illegal but it is a matter of bad faith, Perens contended. The result could doom Novell to becoming a Microsoft subsidiary, he said, because Novell does not write its own software but gets it instead from those small independents.
Hovsepian scoffed at that scenario. “Them [Microsoft] buying us? I think that’s deep in the conspiracy theory bucket.”
Time will tell, time will tell…
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For those who wish to keep track of products and services announcements:
Novell announced the next generation of its OES (Open Enterprise Server) operating system, at its annual BrainShare tradeshow March 19. OES 2 adds 64-bit Xen-based virtualization, dynamic storage support, and Windows domain support, and marks the final transition from Novell NetWare to SLES (SUSE Linux Enterprise Server).
Here is another bunch (self promotional):
Finally, some financial analysis of Novell does not seem entirely encouraging.
Birinyi Associates checks out Novell on the Ticker Sense blog and finds that the software firm is the only stock in the S&P 500 that is up at least five days in a row. Novell has had five-day winning streaks 11 times in the past five years, but on the sixth day it’s been ugly — an average drop of 2.06%, according to Birinyi. How’s it doing this time? On a big day for many stocks, Novell’s barely staying true to form — down one cent to $7.
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From the Raining on Novell’s Parade Department…
Bruce Perens spoke out today against Novell’s self-serving and morally questionable attempt to circumvent the spirit of the GNU General Public License, referring to the arrangement as he had in the past: as a "protection racket"
Perens, a vocal opponent of the Microsoft/Novell patent deal, stated that while the arrangement was legal under the GPLv3, Novell’s deal was made in “bad faith with the open-source community and [was] not moral.”
More than that, though, Perens said, if the Novell-Microsoft patent deal is allowed to stand. It would take only as few as “two or three intellectual property law-suits” of open-source developers or small business at a cost of at least $5 million dollars a pop, to destroy open-source development. So, from where he sits, Novell is running a “protection racket” with “Big Mikey” as the enforcer
Perens also surmises that the deal may be the beginning of Novell’s exit strategy from their Linux business, which "hasn’t taken off, and won’t anytime soon". Perens also believes Microsoft may indeed buy Novell, since Novell would lack the resources to fork the numerous essential GNU utilities that will be moving to GPL3.
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