03.01.09
Gemini version available ♊︎The Novell/Microsoft Deal Failed, But Not for Ron Hovsepian
McBride #2?
Summary: More about the bonuses/benefits given to Novell’s CEO and the grim future which lies ahead as a result of self-imposed dependence
NOVELL’S CEO may be a happy man not because of his company’s performance (Novell may still be fudging its numbers) but because of his person gains [1, 2]. Boycott Novell is not the only Web site to have noticed this. Here is another gem from the news:
Information technology icon Novell, Inc. (NDAQ: NOVL ) fared poorly even in this economy: down more than 50% over the last 12 months. This didn’t stop CEO Ronald Hovsepian from getting compensation valued at almost $7 million for the year, with nearly $3 million of that in cash. Will Novell’s first quarter results vindicate the pay?
With imminent layoffs (VNUNet referred to them by name a couple of days ago), Novell’s CEO deserves flak. If people don’t speak out against this robbery, then nothing will change. This happens to be the man who is responsible for the deal with Microsoft, at least in part.
Dana Blankenhorn has always understood what was happening with this deal, which he continues to view negatively. He has published a very critical post under the headline “Does Microsoft still need Novell?”
Novell is now facing the consequences of leaving its fate in another company’s hands.
This is hardly news, but to Blankenhorn’s credit, he saw and wrote about the deal without any optimism pretty much since its inception. Despite his erroneous judgment on topics he does not understand [1, 2] (due to lack of direct experience), he is able to see the evilness in Novell’s patent deal, unlike reporters who so conveniently ignore the problems.
Sadly, however, Blankenhorn has been posting lots of open source-hostile opinions under the “open source” heading. It sometimes feels like a FUD blog — but hey — it’s ZDNet. It’s intended to be this way (Microsoft sends its staff over there). It’s actually interesting to find that Forrester too has a blog there and it writes about GNU/Linux. Is this the same Forrester which published anti-GNU/Linux studies in exchange for payments from Microsoft? █
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