Bonum Certa Men Certa

Novell News Summary - Part III: File Management Suite

Summary: Two weeks of proprietary software news from Novell

ANOTHER IDLE fortnight passes by and Novell is said to be facing more threats from Google's expansion.

To be fair, Wave is still at an unstable, preview stage, but Google has seemed satisfied thus far just hoping the platform will evolve naturally as a tool for enterprises once companies like Novell and Salesforce.com have a chance to game around with it.




Well, Novell is already creating Pulse, which it announced just over two months ago [1, 2]. It will apparently be proprietary, unlike Wave. Novell has almost nothing with which to stop Google from eating Groupwise share. Novell's PR Director was caught spreading unnecessary fear about SaaS (anti-Google) last week and Novell uses some analysts to do so too (along with the CEO).

Aging products like ZENworks withstanding, some things just have their shelf life expire, a bit like Windows (Vista 7 is just more of the same). Some products beg Novell to just let go.

Netware



Moving on (or back in time) to Netware, here is an unusual new deployment:

Upstate New York School District Replaces Unreliable DLT Tape-Based Solution with Disk-to-Disk Backup Appliance for Novell NetWare, GroupWise and Microsoft Windows Environment

[...]

SCS investigated multiple options but was discouraged by the high pricing for some and the lack of protection for their Novell NetWare platform from others. Maintaining Novell security attributes was an important selection criterion for SCS’ data protection solution so when Holmes found Unitrends he was pleased to learn that it would backup NetWare including trustee assignments, access control lists and other advanced options. Unitrends’ BareMetal backup and recovery features was also a significant advantage for SCS, as was Unitrends’ advanced protection for Novell eDiscovery and GroupWise.


"Tech Dinosaurs of Years Past" is the headline of this article which mentions Novell's Netware:

I cut my IT teeth in the ‘90s on Novell NetWare 3.12, the bindery, and IPX. While Novell may have moved more quickly to LDAP than some others with successive versions, it was Microsoft that quickly supplanted NetWare with Active Directory and built-in IP support.


Finance



Nothing too interesting has happened with Novell's shares. Isolated coverage includes:

SmarTrend Detects Continued Buying Pressure in Shares of Novell (NOVL

SmarTrend identified an Uptrend for Novell (NASDAQ:NOVL) on January 06, 2010 at $4.53. In approximately 2 weeks, Novell has returned 5.3% as of today's recent price of $4.77.


Options Alert for Novell

Smartrend Detects Continued Buying Pressure In Shares Of Novell (Novl

Novell Inc. (NOVL) Corporate Event Announcement Notice

Owners Research Group Announces Initiation of Investor Consensus Study for Novell, Inc. (NOVL)

Owners Research Group (ORG) today initiated research coverage of Novell, Inc. (NASDAQ: NOVL). ORG has invited the shareholders of Novell to voice their opinions and priorities on strategic issues impacting the company.


Options Alert for Novell (NYSE:NOVL)

Virtualisation



ZDNet has published the article "Novell: Virtualization not for all servers"

Here are some of the things Novell is saying:

Not all servers can--or should--be virtualized, says Novell cloud computing CTO, Moiz Kohari, who urges cloud service providers to focus on making their heterogenous setups work as one.

In an interview with ZDNet Asia, Kohari said virtualization has yet to overcome I/O (input/output) latency issues at the hypervisor level, as compared to provisioned servers. As a result, virtualization is not the choice in cases where service providers and businesses need to ensure as little latency as possible, for example, in a stock exchange environment, he explained.


Novell was also mentioned (but hardly) in this virtualisation survey (ZDNet).

Mail



An announcement that was already mentioned in the last Novell News Summary appears in some more Web sites right now. Among them:

Transend Integrates With IBM to Launch Email Migration Solution

Transend Corp., a provider of email migration and conversion solutions, announced Transend Migrator for IBM Lotus Foundations, a special edition of Transend's email conversion utility.


Transend Delivers E-Mail Migration for Lotus Foundation

Transend Migrator for IBM Lotus Foundations allows users to move their e-mail messages, address books, calendars, tasks, and archives from any e-mail system to Lotus Foundation. Users can move the data mailbox-by-mailbox or migrate mailboxes in bulk from a command line batch processor. The software also includes a GUI, and batch templates for competing products, like Microsoft Exchange and Novell GroupWise.


Someone has uploaded this video which shows how to ditch Groupwise for Microsoft (wrong route).



More Groupwise coverage can be found in a variety of news pages [1, 2, 3] and this press release from GWAVA, which boasts 1 million page views in the knowledgebase last year. Boycott Novell serves a similar number of pages but per month, nor year.

Identity Management



Novell is mentioned in this IDG report about authentication:

This newsletter was still the "Directory Services" newsletter, and the immanent release of Windows Server 2000, with Active Directory, took up much of the discussion, especially issues around migrating from Windows NT. But Novell's directory also made some news with a new release of eDirectory (Version 5.1, called "NDS eDirectory"), which featured the new "NetWare Management Portal", supposedly more secure for remote management of servers. January 2000 also saw the release of Novell Modular Authentication Services (NMAS), the first release of a major authentication product that allowed plug-in modules and featured multiple authentication methods (passwords, biometrics, tokens and so on).


The biggest news this week came after a press release covering a file management "suite" (marketing terms alert!). Ross from Novell wrote about it and the official announcement says:

Novell today announced the release of Novell€® File Management Suite, an integrated file storage solution that provisions, moves, optimizes and reports on file storage based on user roles and customized business policies. For the first time, organizations, regardless of operating system or existing storage management solution, can intelligently manage file storage at its source, tying the file to the user for the entire data lifecycle. Providing organizations with a clearer picture of its data, Novell File Management Suite enables an organization to plan for and deploy an efficient and cost-effective storage infrastructure as well as execute on compliance and governance requirements.


This press release was rewritten by CBR, which adds nothing new (just parroting of the marketing/PR stuff).

Novell has rolled out a new File Management Suite that provisions, moves, optimises and reports on file storage based on user roles and customised business policies.

The company said that the new suite enables organisations to manage file storage at its source, tying the file to the user for the entire data lifecycle. It helps them to plan for and deploy a storage infrastructure and execute on compliance and governance requirements.


Security



Processor.com seeks a lot of comments from Novell staff and this new article is no exception:

The first step to preventing data leaks is to simplify and centralize the control and management of your data end points, says David Ferre, senior product manager of endpoint security at Novell (www.novell.com). Ferre suggests a policy-based approach to systematically prevent data leaks before they can take place, stressing three key areas: removable storage devices, wireless security, and data encryption.


Novell fixed some flaws in SUSE Linux and also on the proprietary side [1, 2]. The following new video shows how Novell may be affected by a serious hack.



There seems to be something in the stack which can take the blame for giving improper permissions. There are some more innocent videos that were uploaded last week.

People



Schmidt's roots/past in Novell (as CEO) still make the competition between Google and Novell rather odd. But here is another angle:

- Its relationship with Microsoft is very bad, because Google actively opposed its acquisition of Yahoo and other deals. Mr Schmidt is behind that opposition, he spent many years fighting with Microsoft when he was head of Novell. That strategy didn’t work then and it isn’t working now.


Other cases of (former) Novell staff on the move:

Polycom Revamps Partner Program To Challenge Cisco-Tandberg

Polycom has been busy building out its internal channel ranks, and Capuzzo -- who held sales and channel roles at IPC, Avaya, Symbol,Ingram Micro (NYSE: IM), HP (NYSE:HPQ) and Novell (NSDQ:NOVL) in the past -- is among several channel veterans to have joined Polycom in the past eight months.


Virtual Bridges Solidifies Role as Major VDI Vendor

Tom is the former EVP at Novell and Vice President Software Group Sales Europe at IBM; Srini Gurrapu, VP of Product Management, formerly of RingCube Technologies, Moka5, Juniper and Microsoft; Dr. James Clark, VP, Business Development, Asia Pacific; Dr. Clark was formerly chairman of DASCOM and President of ATT Unix Systems Labs, Asia Pacific, and Brad Fidler, VP of Sales, former Director of Sales at BuildForge.


Express Digital Branding” for Small and Medium Sized Businesses

Jocelyne Attal, Founder of JAGENCY, has more than 20 years of marketing experience and a record of growing revenues at IBM, Novell, and Gateway.


Republican announces bid for Johnson's U.S. House seat

An Atlanta businesswoman is the latest to join the race to represent Georgia’s fourth congressional district.

Liz Carter is the only Republican running against U.S. Rep. Hank Johnson.

[...]

This is Carter’s first time running for office.

Carter, 40, has run her own consulting and recruiting company for the past four years. She previously worked for Novell and State Street Corp.


SCTE Adds to Advanced Network Development Team

From 1995-98, Harris was a Novell network administrator with Rowan University.


Former Novell employee Matt Asay mentions Novell in CNET:

Convenience still pays. It's why people pay for a Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) subscription when they can get the same bits from CentOS--or effectively the same bits from Canonical (Ubuntu) or Novell (Suse). It's why I buy "Jane Eyre" on my Kindle instead of just downloading a free version.


Partners



Novell examinations can be seen in this article from the East:

Today’s employees must be able to work in different global environments which is why TAR College is giving its students an avenue to soak up the experiences of the world.

[...]

“For example, our information technology students will sit for Microsoft, Novell, Cisco and various other professional examinations during their course of study.”


More on certification where Novell is mentioned:

Koenig Announces InstallShield Training

Koenig now offers training on InstallShield

Koenig now offers training on InstallShield

Baron - CED Solutions student - January 2010

DemandGen has Novell as a client, it argues:

Some of DemandGen's clients are Adobe, Conject, Microsoft, Messe Munich, FARO, NetApp, NXP Semiconductors and Novell.


A company called Xepa is also involved with Novell:

Xepa is an ICT Solutions Provider focusing on Infrastructure Solutions based on the Novell, Linux and Microsoft platforms. In addition to Novell and Microsoft partnerships, Xepa is a VMWare Enterprise Partner, GlobalSign Authorised Partner and GWAVA Authorised Partner. Xepa also has partnerships with other hardware and software vendors, including HP, EMC, Juniper, Cyberoam, TrendMicro and Symantec.


Novell was mentioned in many other press releases and a few articles, usually at the bottom [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12].

Other/Videos



Novell plans to have a BrainShare conference in Europe. Novell also sponsors the nasty SYS-CON, arousing some suspicion that it is sponsoring in order to attend and present in its private events.

Here is an old video that has just been filed under YouTube. It's from Banyan, which the video claims "got killed by Novell and Microsoft."

Another new addition to YouTube is this talk from Novell, but it's not in English and it goes a few months back (only uploaded days ago, though).



In summary, nothing too special has happened, but there was one press release of significance (about File Management Suite).

Recent Techrights' Posts

IBM: We Can't Make 'AI' (Voice Recognition) Do the Work of a McDonald's Teenager, So Let's Try the Same on Saudi Planes
IBM is lost. It's truly lost.
The General Public License (GPL) Inspired the Web's Original Openness/Freedom, According to Tim Berners-Lee
"During the preceding year I had been trying to get CERN to release the intellectual property rights to the Web code under the General Public License (GPL) so that others could use it."
The Real Problem With Rust is Not "Wokeness" (It Never Was)
Don't feed the trolls who attack "Rust People" on political grounds
 
Links 21/12/2025: U.S. Strikes in Syria, "Epstein Files Photos Disappear From Government Website"
Links for the day
Gemini Links 21/12/2025: Labrador Retriever of Lagrange's Developer Dies From Cancer, Political Philosophy, and "Getting to Inbox Zero"
Links for the day
Microsoft is Becoming Irrelevant: The Case of Georgia
Not Georgia Tech
Sirius Open Source is Now Imminently Dead (Struck Off)
compulsory strike-off
Dr. Richard Stallman, Invited by LibreTech Collective, is Giving a Public Talk in Georgia Tech Next Month (Scheller College of Business)
They can probably squeeze about 400 people into this room
25 Years of Activism for GNU/Linux
My passion for GNU/Linux brought a lot of contentment
Africa, Where Microsoft Used De Facto Slaves to Pretend to be "AI", Chatbots Usage is 0.2% of Measured Online Traffic
Judging by recent trends in Africa, many "Windows PCs" are being converted into GNU/Linux computers
New Drone Footage Shows IBM is Dead (Parts of It)
The people who participated in IBM when IBM actually mattered probably have boasting rights, unlike people who work for IBM today
Michael Larabel Adds Slop Category to Phoronix, Quickly Realises That It's Worthless
Phoronix nowadays gets carried away; it made a new category to talk about slop and it decided to call it "intelligence" with some caricature of a brain (that's misleading)Phoronix nowadays gets carried away; it made a new category to talk about slop and it decided to call it "intelligence" with some caricature of a brain (that's misleading)
After 35 Years the World Wide Web, HTML, and HTTP Are Proprietary
HTTP/2 added a lot of complexity (it's just a Google protocol, based on SPDY originally), many image formats are proprietary and patented, HTML got 'replaced' by Java-Scripts [sic], and many URLs (the URL system was created in the early 90s) are just long strings for proprietary 'webapps'
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, December 20, 2025
IRC logs for Saturday, December 20, 2025
The Register MS Has Lowered Its Standards Considerably
Incidentally, we've only just noticed that "US editor for The Register since July 2025" has not been active for 4 weeks already
Scamfarms, Spamfarms, and Slopfarms in "Linux" Clothing
Today, Linux searches in Google News produced no slop at all. That's an improvement.
Did Bill Gates Lobby to Blur the Face of the Young Woman He Openly Braces (and Who Isn't His Wife)?
"This photo of of Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates with a woman whose face is blurred out is just one of 68 more photos and documents released today."
Links 20/12/2025: Microsoft Ruins Televisions, 'Epstein Files' Deeply Sanitised (to Protect Particular Culprits)
Links for the day
Gemini Links 20/12/2025: Merry Christmas 2025 and Running a Factorio Headless Server on FreeBSD with the Linuxulato
Links for the day
With 10 Days Left, the Free Software Foundation (FSF) Has Already Raised Close to $300,000 This Winter
they're besieged by despicable corporations and very despicable people
2025 in Numbers
What was very good about this year is that we truly got "into the rhythm" of publishing
More Microsoft Layoffs Coming Soon
When I spoke about Microsoft layoffs (routinely) I got very viciously attacked by Microsoft boosters
My Humble Assessment of the Future of Red Hat, A Company That IBM is Flushing Down the Loo
GNU/Linux will be OK without Red Hat, but shaping the future of it matters because we don't want companies like Valve (DRM) to set the agenda
Probably the Least Useful Gadgets, Ever
as if a "smart" thing worn on the wrist is the "new Rolex"
Former Manager at IBM Research (Yorktown) Says Why IBM is Doomed and the Anonymous Tipline (Speak Up) is a Trap
IBM isn't willing to change or to address internal issues
Links 20/12/2025: Fentanylware Becomes CheeTok and "Why Roomba Died"
Links for the day
Linux Foundation: Richard Stallman Developed Only a Software Licence
We already criticised this report several times last night
Impulsive Writing, Quotas, and Keeping Things as Concise as Feasible
A 10-word sentence being read by a million people can have the same impact or magnitude (exposure-wise) as a million-word book being read by just 10 people
Gemini Links 20/12/2025: Christmas Songs, Storms, and Old Web
Links for the day
Coming to Grips With a Lack of Future at IBM
Red Hat's future doesn't look bright under the auspices as they seem right now
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, December 19, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, December 19, 2025
Links 20/12/2025: Media Layoffs, a Third of Online Traffic is Bots
Links for the day
Barbados: Significant Gains for GNU/Linux
over 5% if one counts ChromeOS as well
Very Shallow LLM Slop for IBM Disguised as Journalism About a "Plan to Train 5 Million Learners in India by 2030" (Unverified Figures With Very Distant Future Date/Year)
The Web has become somewhat of a laughing stock
'Linux' Foundation: The Foundation Has Almost Nothing to Do With Linux, It Just Misuses the Name "Linux"
Only a tiny portion of the Foundation's budget actually goes to Linux
Austria vs GAFAM
another win against GAFAM
Microsoft Has Purchased Another Linux Foundation Seat
From the latest (new) report
No Electronics, No Clocks, No Phones
We're meant to think that more gadgets will make life easier
Gemini Links 19/12/2025: Great Website Rebuild of 2025 and Running OpenBSD in a Hostile Environment
Links for the day
Google News Helps Slopfarms (What's Left of Them)
Lately we've noticed that nothing in the RSS feeds we follow is burping out slop
Links 19/12/2025: Privacy International's Reports and Russian Assets in EU
Links for the day
Today, The Register MS is Parroting Marketing Spam for Ponzi Scheme ("AI") in Exchange for Money
The Register MS should be held accountable when the bubble pops
Red Hat Senior Engineering Manager Leaves (or Gets Pushed Out by IBM) After Nearly 20 Years at the Company
The recent massive wave of IBM layoffs impacted Red Hat and so will the next (impending, Q1) wave
Why We Got Told by Insiders That Almost Everyone at EPO Reads Techrights and Many at IBM Track IBM RAs Via Techrights
In a nutshell, we cover topics almost no other site dares touch
IBM Research Shutting Down Labs, Lots of Workers Laid Off (Even Days Before Christmas in Devout Catholic Country)
Heartless, soulless company
Links 19/12/2025: Windows TCO in NHS, "Locked Out of Apple Account Due to Gift Card"
Links for the day
Nearly Three Months Have Passed Since EPO Cocainegate and the EPO's Management Still Refuses to Talk About It
But it's clearly aware of it
Richard Stallman Explains Why Software Patents Are Really Bad and Very Much Unnecessary
"The relationship between patents and products varies between the fields"
The Copycats of the FSF Have Serious Problems
If you care about Software Freedom, then support the real thing
Once Again, Just in Time for Christmas, UEFI and Its Boot System Turn Out to be a Giant Bug Door (Also a Microsoft Remote Kill Switch)
This industry - even academia - has been deeply compromised
In Activism and Journalism, If You're Ineffective They Ignore You, When You Become Effective They Stalk and Harass You, Failing That They Threaten You
"the Wikileaks effect"
Google Has Begun Linking to commandlinux.com in Google News, But It Seems to be a Slopfarm
This is not innovation, it's sloppiness, laziness, and a modern form of plagiarism
Microsoft Reportedly Tries to Cause Top-Level Managers to Resign If they Don't Participate in the Ponzi Scheme
Apparently even executives who don't play along are given marching orders
Microsoft, Over 120 Billion Dollars in Debt, Prepares Next Round of Mass Layoffs (After Christmas)
Microsoft is not managing to pay back its debt
Links 19/12/2025: Scam Altman Humiliates Self in Public, Climate Alarm Sounded, Egyptian Economist Convicted Over "Social Control Media Posts Critical of the Government"
Links for the day
You Can Get Work Done With Lean Software
obviously!
"The War on Privacy" is Real
"He Built a Privacy Tool. Now He’s Going to Prison."
The Cost of Being Influential
The "tech world" and its monopoly enforcer (patent system) are sleepwalking into autocracy
More Shutdowns and Layoffs at IBM
if someone covers correct but suppressed information, then people will make an effort to find it
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, December 18, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, December 18, 2025
EPO Violates Laws to Profit More From Invalid Patents, Then Cuts the Budget Allocated to Staff
taking away what was already promised to staff
Only a Few Examples of LLM Slop Found, Mostly via Google News
Is it fair to say that sites learned LLM slop does not offer any real value?