Bonum Certa Men Certa

Novell News Summary - Part III: SCO, GroupWise, Videos, and Utah

Winter morning - Monument Valley



Summary: The remainder of Novell's news from the past week

THOSE who expect interesting news from Novell should probably skip this post. There is almost no output from Novell and mentions in the press are therefore of little value.



SCO



SCO's liquidation may be imminent, but SCO is fighting against this. For those who have not been following the saga, Novell and IBM are pushing for liquidation. Groklaw covered all this in the following new articles:

i. SCO Files Response to Motions to Dismiss/Convert & Files Objections to Claims - Updated: Response as text

SCO has filed its Response to Motions to Dismiss or Convert, the motions filed by the U.S. Trustee, Novell, and IBM. It has also filed Objections to the claims of Novell, IBM, SUSE, and Red Hat.


ii. Groklaw's Annotated Version of SCO's Response to Motions to Convert/Dismiss

I thought it would be fun to carefully respond to each inaccurate or misleading statement we see in SCO's Response [PDF] to the motions to convert or dismiss The US Trustee's Office, Novell and SUSE, and IBM all filed such motions in the SCO Chapter 11 bankruptcy, and there will be a hearing on the motions on June 15th. I hope some of you plan to attend.


iii. Herb Jackson Files Objection to Motions to Convert/Dismiss

iv. SCO Files Motion to Seal Appendix to its Response and Motion to Shorten Notice

v. IBM Replies to SCO's Opposition to Motion to Convert

vi. Novell Replies to SCO's Opposition to Novell's Motion to Convert

Finance



Here is Novell's 10-Q for this quarter.

A former Novell employee put some positive spin on Novell's financial results a couple of times over the past week, namely:

i. As chip sales plummet, which software vendors will survive?

Recent earnings reports from Novell and from Red Hat suggest that Linux and open-source vendors may clean up even as spending gets chopped.


ii.Red Hat: Go big or play it safe?

Yes, SAP, Oracle, IBM, HP, and others benefit from having Red Hat serve as a strong standard-bearer for Linux. But only if Red Hat never gets too powerful. That's why IBM has invested in Novell to shore it up against Red Hat, and it's why few are probably crying that Novell's partnership with Microsoft appears to be paying handsome dividends.


Here are some remarks on Novell's position in Moblin. It's no longer unique in that regard and SUSE sales were not impressive.

I did see a number of machines running other flavors of Linux in booths from the various Linux makers, notably Linpus and Novell. Intel was the big place to see non-Windows machines. The company was promoting its Moblin version of Linux on a number of netbooks and nettops, and I was particularly surprised by the number of all-in-one designs.

Moblin has its own user interface, but the company also showed off other versions of Linux running on top of it, including Ubuntu, Novell Suse, and Linpus.


Mail



Novell's PR blog has been quite active over the past week and it wrote about GroupWise a couple of times.

Check out this recently published eContent case study to see how Whitelaw Twining is using GroupWise to simplify filing, streamline its legal practice, and get control of the data being stored on it servers.


Here is a little new profile Novell is referring to.

Vendor of Choice: Novell GroupWise Headquartered in Waltham, Mass., Novell first started touting the need for secure corporate networks in the 1980s. It now focuses on providing collaboration tools, security, identity management, resource management, data center applications, and open source operating systems. Novell has more than 50,000 customers in 43 countries. GroupWise 8 provides a collaborative workspace that combines email, calendars, tasks, and content management. It connects to Web 2.0 innovations in a customizable productivity dashboard for each end user.


When it comes to phones, GroupWise was mentioned in relation to Apple's iPhone.

Neither IBM’s Lotus division nor Novell have iPhone clients, so their e-mail access is handled through the Web. That means there’s no local data stored on the iPhone to be stolen, but it also means that there is no mechamism for remote management, such as to kill a device that has access privileges to network-based e-mail, contacts, and calendar information. IBM has announced it will provide Notes synchronization to the iPhone via Microsoft's ActiveSync technology in a forthcomig version of Lotus Notes Traveler, but the security and management implications remain unclear.


GroupWise was also mentioned in relation to BlackBerry.

The smartphones, which support cellular and Wi-Fi networks, work in conjunction with the BlackBerry Entreprise Server software to enable users to access their corporate networks and e-mail (IBM Lotus Domino, Microsoft Exchange or Novell Group Wise) and access the internet.


According to this press release, Palm Pre will support GroupWise.

ompanionLink€® Software, a leader in synchronization solutions, announced record breaking sales of their CompanionLink for Google product, which supports PC desktop synchronization to Palm€® Pre(TM) through Google(TM). Thousands of Palm Pre users installed the software to synchronize contacts, calendar, and tasks between Microsoft Outlook, Palm Desktop, Lotus Notes, Novell GroupWise, ACT!, GoldMine, Time & Chaos, and other PC desktop data sources.


Support for GroupWise in Pre is also mentioned here.

"We look forward to Palm announcing a Synergy SDK to allow CompanionLink to synchronize Outlook, Lotus Notes, ACT! by Sage, Outlook Business Contact Manager, and Novell GroupWise data directly to the Palm Pre. Until that time, our currently available products will support the early adopters of the Palm Pre. As we improve our products, Palm Pre users will be able to upgrade without charge by downloading from our website," says Wayland Bruns, CEO of CompanionLink Software.


Webmail poses a threat to GroupWise, as the following article explains:

Google has been asiduously courting partners like LTech and has given his company much more support than he received from Microsoft, Oracle or IBM, Laczynski said. “Google does a lot with helping us develop a viable business,” he added. That’s exactly how Microsoft built its application server business in the 1990s, by doing a better job of supporting its channels than competitors like Novell.


More on Google versus Novell:

Given that fact, many of Google's competitors long ago saw fit to support Outlook as a client in their battle-against-Exchange strategies, including IBM and Novell, and lesser known alternatives such as Alt-N Technologies, CommuniGate, Gordano, Kerio, Mailsite Fusion, Open-Xchange, Scalix and Zimbra.


People



Not much to see here except the mentioning of Eric Schmidt's roots in Novell.

We sympathize: The criticism of Bartz's background seems more like thinly-veiled swiping at her age and gender than at anything substantive. Eric Schmidt escaped such second-guessing when he moved from PC software company Novell to running Google.


Security



An article about security happened to mention Novell in a much broader list of companies.

Microsoft has built a selector program, CardSpace, into its Vista operating system. Stand-alone selectors are available from two other companies, Novell and Azigo. Google, Oracle and PayPal have joined the industry foundation and there are a few working sample cards available, but no major retailer or financial institution has implemented the system yet.


Partners



Novatium's relationship with Novell [1, 2, 3, 4] was mentioned very briefly in a new press release from Novatium, so coverage inspired by it echoed the same bits.

With enhanced features such as 3G connectivity, printer support, Navigator 2.0 reduces boot up time to fastest of 5 seconds, and includes improved service-category panes on the desktop, display-effect of network on applications, configurable online radio, Task Manager utility, Zoho applications and Clipboard support for Openoffice applications. The company has partnered with technology companies such as HP and Novell.


This can also be found in other sources like CIOL and The Indian Express.

Novell was mentioned in the following press releases in the footer (for affiliation):



Videos



"How to make your own profile on Novell" is the title of this video which landed on YouTube a few days ago.



NovellServices, a YouTube account which promotes the company's products, has added the following:



Utah



Greg Butterfield was mentioned here before as he moved between companies in the region [1, 2]. He has roots in Novell and he is now being recognised.

Greg Butterfield, Managing Partner of SageCreek Partners, Named to Utah Technology Council 2009 Hall of Fame



[...]

Prior to joining Altiris, he served as executive vice president of worldwide sales at Vinca Corporation where he increased revenue from $1.7 million to $24 million in less than three years and positioned the company to be sold to Legato Systems for $92 million in 1999. He also held executive level positions at Legato, Novell and WordPerfect Corporation. Butterfield received a bachelor's of science in business administration, finance from Brigham Young University.


This is also covered here (almost identical):

Prior to joining Altiris, he served as Executive Vice President of Worldwide Sales at Vinca Corporation, where he increased revenue from $1.7 million to $24 million in less than three years and positioned the company to be sold to Legato Systems for $92 million in 1999. He also held executive level positions at Legato, Novell and WordPerfect Corporation.


Also in the local news:

Butterfield is managing partner of SageCreek Partners, a consulting company that provides mentoring, strategy and coaching to technology companies. He also held executive-level positions at numerous companies, including Altiris, Legato, Novell and WordPerfect Corp. He was winner of the 2002 Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year award and served as the chairman of the board of the Utah Information Technology Association (now Utah Technology Council) from 2003 to 2005.


A couple of weeks ago we wrote about Novell offshoring Utah-based staff. The local press has just written about it.

Novell Inc.'s Provo office will become a showcase for a new deal between the business software developer and giant Affiliated Computer Services that both companies see as a key strategic alliance.

As part of the deal, ACS will take over Novell's computer operations based in its Provo office. That means about 100 Novell employees in Provo will go to work for ACS.


More information can be found here.

In May, Affiliated Computer Services (News - Alert), Inc. and Novell, Inc. announced a strategic partnership to expand their core technical capabilities and suite of services.

As part of the partnership, Novell will outsource part of its internal IT operations to ACS, which will also provide SAP (News - Alert) consulting and applications development and maintenance system integration services as part of a $135 million, five-year contract.

ACS will also partner with Novell (News - Alert) to enhance its global data center operations and will purchase at least $30 million in Novell products during the first three years of the partnership.


Novell insists that no job losses are involved in this peculiar move.

Leftovers



Novell was mentioned very briefly in the following articles too:

i. Practical Analysis: It's Not Disruptive If It's Not Cheaper

Software vendors had better be ready to sharpen their pencils, because this is the sort of game that Microsoft plays very well. There's no doubt that it's still playing catch-up against VMware, and others will offer management software with more features, but you can bet that Microsoft will set the bar for midmarket data center automation pricing and functionality. Its close partnership with Citrix has resulted in a good management product in System Center, and a great add-on with Citrix Essentials. Just as Microsoft marginalized Novell with its file sharing, Active Directory, and adequate management tools for each, it can do the same to automation vendors.


ii. WWDC Preview: iPhone 3.0 hopes from an IT pro

LDAP is support is important for anyone in an LDAP environment, (Apple’s Open Directory, Microsoft’s Active Directory, OpenLDAP, Novell’s eDirectory, etc.), as it allows iPhone users to access contact info that is stored in the company directory, rather than relying on their own contacts. This would allow iPhone users to not have to use third party software, (like LDAPeople) or have to copy a company’s global address list to their iPhone to have things like email addresses and phone numbers for coworkers on the device.


iii. Preview: IPhone 3.0 Hopes From an IT Pro

Nothing of significance to see here overall.

Recent Techrights' Posts

Thank You, London! There Was No Way to Still Reliably Host Gemini From Home (on a Raspberry Pi 4) Due to Scale
The only regret we've long had is that we hadn't made the move earlier
The Summit of Future (Kerala, 2025): Dr. Richard Stallman (RMS) to Give Keynote Talk
promotional video was uploaded
Computer Users Aren't Zoo Animals
Animals don't belong inside cages in zoos, either
 
Links 16/01/2025: Conflicts, Overpopulation, and Software Patents
Links for the day
[Meme] Lock-down With DRM Server/s (in a Nutshell)
Companies like Microsoft and Apple have a 'God complex'
Richard Stallman's Talk This Coming Monday (European 'Tour')
bunch of talks in Europe
Total Lock-down Ambitions - Part II - Down to the Very Core, Including the Hardware (CPU, GPU, Peripherals, and More)
instead of distinguishing themselves and antagonising these broadly reviled "antifeatures", both Canonical and IBM decided to join Microsoft in advocating lockdown
FSF, Guardian of the GNU Project, to Reach $400,000 in Winter Fundraiser Ahead of 40th Anniversary
The GNU Project Turns 42 later this year
Links 16/01/2025: "Meduza, IRL" and the Clock is Ticking on TikTok in the US
Links for the day
Gemini Links 16/01/2025: Yesterday's Gone, The Hour of the Dragon by Robert E Howard
Links for the day
Links 16/01/2025: Scale and Scope of Microsoft Layoffs Revealed (Two Waves of Layoffs in 2025 Already)
Links for the day
Gemini Links 16/01/2025: Meta Has a Pixelfed Problem and Space Time Scoping
Links for the day
Anti-Linux 'Articles' in linuxsecurity.com (Guardian Digital, Inc) Are Composed by Bots, Probably Microsoft's
linuxsecurity.com has become a mindless stream of LLM slop
"New Year, New Career"
published a few hours ago
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, January 15, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, January 15, 2025
If You See Many Microsoft Puff Pieces That All Say More or Less the Same, Consider the Possibility That Microsoft LLMs 'Wrote' Those
There are also many phantom fake 'reports' about Microsoft in relation to some "hey hi" (AI) things
[Meme] The Crybully
Crybullies shrug
IRC Logs Complete in Geminispace (Even in GemText Format!)
We still envision ourselves - a community of justice-seeking enthusiasts - as a multi-protocol platform, not just some ordinary Web site
It Was Only a Matter of Time
We're going to pursue justice
[Meme] "Well, He’s Dead So," Bill Gates Tells the Media (Which He Pays) About His Close Friend Jeffrey Epstein
Does the police in San Francisco cover up crimes instead of solving them?
The Rumour Was Right, Today is the Second Large Wave of Microsoft Layoffs in 2025
It has only been two weeks since the year began
The Free Software Foundation (FSF) Has Had a Good 2025 Already (Its "Year 40")
FSF will reach $400,000
[Meme] Not About How Many Locks One Adds
Some people try to point their fingers in all the wrong directions now that a new patch is available for rsync
Total Lock-down Ambitions - Part I - DRM and TPM Need Not be the Future of Computing, There's Another Way
Who is being restricted? Us, the users.
[Meme] His Existence is Proof It's Not Infeasible
We salute the FSF's original mission
New Upcoming Series About DRM and TPM
We'll do our best to name and explain some of the alternatives that are still available
Links 15/01/2025: Efforts to End Wars and 'Newsflation'
Links for the day
Gemini Links 15/01/2025: Abandoning Windows for GNU/Linux, SIS Progress Update
Links for the day
Links 15/01/2025: Social Control Media Spreading Lies, TikTok Banned in 4 Days
Links for the day
More Microsoft Cuts and Layoffs (Microsoft Media Mole Jordan Novet Tries to Float "Hiring Freezes" Spin After the "Headcount" Spin Failed)
As one might expect...
Microsoft Breaks Linux Again
Does it even care? It's selling Windows.
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, January 14, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, January 14, 2025
Links 14/01/2025: Vaccination Hesitancy Problems and Kangaroo Courts (UPC)
Links for the day
Gemini Links 14/01/2025: Introduction to GrapheneOS and Small Internet
Links for the day
Dr. Miriam Bastian From the Free Software Foundation (FSF) Gives a Talk in a Couple of Weeks at FOSDEM (Brussels, Belgium)
It's good to see people from all around the world and with very different backgrounds united around digital philosophy
Andy Farnell on Eating Your Own Dog Food
focuses on security but goes beyond that
EPO Uses the Misnomer "AI" to Attack Software Developers in Europe
The EPO is nowadays a huge pile of crimes
The European Patent Office’s (EPO) Communication on "Reform" is "Incomplete and Misleading," Says the Central Staff Committee at the EPO
This puts Europe at risk and makes it more vulnerable
[Meme] How to Lose Social Life (While Pretending to Still Have It)
Talk to people, not to microphones
Android (or AOSP) is More Free Than iOS, Both in Practice (as OEM Bundles) Both Are User-Hostile
In a perfect world, people would choose and deploy software that is entirely made up of reciprocally-licensed bits
Neuroscience of Consciousness Paper: Why Social Control Media and Proprietary Spyware Harm Your Health
"Software Freedom turns out to be good for your health"
Access to the Source Code of the Programs You're Using Matters (Even If You're Not a Coder and Cannot Fix Bugs)
Companies like Microsoft tell us that full access to all the code isn't important
Guardian Digital (linuxsecurity.com) Publishes Fake Articles About Linux and About (for) 'Linux' Foundation Openwashing
Brittany Day is at it again
Links 14/01/2025: LA Crisis and EU, UK Respond to "X.com" Threat From South African Oligarch
Links for the day
The Word About the Upcoming Talk by Richard Stallman - Scheduled for Friday This Week - Has Spread ("The Cost of Freedom," Lausanne, Switzerland)
So the word is spreading
"AI Music" is Not Music and It's Hardly "AI" Either
Synthetic garbage is a solution in search of a problem
Webspam in BetaNews
Not only is it marketing SPAM
[Meme] 13 Years a Slave of Microsoft
Might makes right?
Gemini Links 14/01/2025: The Gemtext Print Hurdle and New Game: Fill!
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, January 13, 2025
IRC logs for Monday, January 13, 2025