Bonum Certa Men Certa

Novell News Summary - Part III: SCO/UNIX to Conclude in March, eDirectory Patched

Capitol reef



Summary: News ranging from SCO to former Novell staff and some security setbacks

NOVELL'S biggest news from the past week would have to be the financial results. The next post will deal with these separately. We'll start with news about the SCO case.



SCO



The main Web site that covered this was Groklaw of course. Here is SCO's motion against Novell:

SCO has responded [PDF] to Novell's Notice just filed in Utah District Court. Novell is asking that court to assign both the Novell case and the IBM case to the same judge or to consolidate the two cases. SCO's Chapter 11 Trustee, Edward Cahn, also submits a statement in support of SCO's position, which is basically that it needs to hurry up and finish the Novell trial. It's running out of money. It doesn't want to detour to decide the SUSE arbitration first, which Novell also is requesting, and it sees consolidation with IBM to be not only not necessary but something that will drag things out.

Granting the Novell request for the same judge to be assigned to both cases surely wouldn't slow down the Novell case at all, but it would help the new judge having to suddenly deal with these complicated and interwoven cases to at least comprehend how they interact, particularly with respect to the GPL.


Novell has also responded.

Novell has filed its Reply [PDF] to SCO's Response Concerning Novell's Notice of Related Proceeding, which asks the new judge now assigned to the Novell case in Utah, Hon. Ted Stewart, to consolidate the two cases, SCO v. IBM and SCO v. Novell, or in the alternative to at least assign the same judge to both, which SCO opposes. Novell's position is that the two cases were assigned to the same judge before, and for some very good reasons they should still be with one judge.


Many reports from Utah surfaced in Groklaw, which writes:

I just received our first word on the hearing in Utah on SCO v. Novell from one of our reporters. "looking for a march 8th trial date, to run 3 weeks" is the report. I'm sure there will be more info on the way as soon as they can type it up. We had several eyewitnesses in attendance. So stay tuned for updates.


That would be March, indeed. Well, that's confirmed by the local press too.

A federal judge has scheduled a trial that will pit the Lindon-based SCO Group against Novell Inc. over the question of which owns the Unix computer operating system.


Finally, there is this update about AutoZone.

ZENWorks and eDirectory



ZENWorks certification was listed in this occasional roundup from a Web site whose focus is certification.

New ZENworks Certification from Novell Starting this month, individuals can earn Certified Novell ZENworks Administrator (CNZA) certification. This is a 1 test certification that covers ZENWorks configuration management including remote management, personality migration, asset management, and optimized application delivery, among numerous other topics. The exam contains 60 items and has a time limit of 55 minutes. A full list of objectives can be found on Novell's website.


Novell and Windows find love, as Novell's marketing people are showing:

This week ZENworks Patch Management won silver in the Best Patch Management category of the 2009 Windows IT Pro Editors’ Best and Community Choice Awards.


Here is a widely-distributed press release about eDirectory and iBoss (also in here, in here, and in here). From PRNewsWire:

Phantom Technologies is excited to announce that it has expanded the authentication capabilities of its iBoss Enterprise Web Filter to fully integrate with Novell eDirectory multiplatform environments.


Mail/Pulse



It is mostly about GWAVACon and GroupWise this time around. Here is a new video.



Pulse was finally mentioned by Jeff Jaffe and even SAP is entering this space with a proprietary product. A comparison is made again to Google Wave, which is expected to become Free software (not yet).

Security



eDirectory has suffered a security flaw, which was patched by Novell.

Novell has released a security update for its eDirectory server to remedy a heap overflow vulnerability. Attackers can remotely exploit the flaw to crash or penetrate a server. The vendor says that the vulnerability can be exploited with a specially crafted NDS Service Request.


From Heise (the H):

Novell has released a security update for its eDirectory server to remedy a heap overflow. Attackers can remotely exploit the flaw to crash or penetrate a server. The vendor says that the vulnerability can be exploited with a specially crafted NDS Service Request.


There are other noteworthy flaws and patches, e.g. [1, 2].

People



A person with past Novell association is becoming the Chief Technology Officer of Religare Enterprises Limited (REL).

Prior to his stint at Reliance Money, Mr. Nagaraj has also been associated with organizations like Reliance Capital, Novell India Pvt. Ltd., ICICI Bank, HDFC Ltd.


The position of executive vice president of operations at dataguise goes to another person with Novell association.

His previous companies include Trend Micro (IPO), IntruVert Networks (acquired by McAfee), Senforce Technologies, (acquired by Novell) and Reconnex Corporation (acquired by McAfee).


From a "press trip with Novell", Stones moves on to quitting her job in journalism.

One of the country’s leading technology journalists has resigned from her job. Business Day IT editor Lesley Stones said on Wednesday morning that she had tendered her resignation and would go freelance in the new year.

[...]

After she’d visited SA on a press trip with Novell, she fell in love with the country. “I brought my CV with me and I went back with a job.”

Stones, who studied journalism in the UK, left Computing SA after six months to take up the post at Business Day.


Another Novell connection, however loose:

Currently a general partner of Wheatley Partners, Barry Rubenstein has been investing in technology companies for 35 years and was a founder or founding consultant to several successful ventures, including Applied Digital Data Systems, Safeguard Scientifics, Novell, and Cheyenne Software, where he served as chairman and CEO. Rubenstein serves or has served on the boards of USWeb, Picazo Communications, CosmoCom, FatWire, CertPoint Systems, Seniors 4 Living and other technology companies.


Virtualisation



Stephen Pollack quit Novell after his company, PlateSpin, had been bought by Novell. Now he joins the advisory board of VM6 Software.

He most recently was founder and CEO of PlateSpin, a leading solutions provider in the virtualization space where he grew the company into one of North America's fastest growing high tech companies which was sold to Novell in 2008.


More on PlateSpin from the news:

Donovan said all PlateSpin partners had also now been integrated into PartnerNet under the datacentre tier and could access the same channel levels and benefits. Novell acquired the virtualisation vendor in April 2009 for $US205 million.


There's this bit about Novell's backing of Xen:

Although x64 hypervisors are heading for commoditisation, they are not there yet. Even when they reach that stage, there is no guarantee that customers will be able to switch from one to the other easily. That raises an important question about the future of the open source Xen hypervisor and the virtualisation platforms built on it by Xen’s three main backers, Citrix, Oracle and Novell.


Marketing



Novell is sharing more "success stories" in YouTube and there is this new promotion of BrainShare 2010. "It might be cancelled like last year's (or downsized, like Novell)," I argued. In response I got: "Cost effectiveness has a price, are they really downsizing ? or are they simply trying to be more efficient in difficult financial times. Ms is downsizing big time to, Dell the same, all those massive American corporation can no longer waste money as they have done up to now"

Novell was also mentioned amongst others in lists of vendors, including in press releases. For example we have:

The report lists a large number of vendors who are potentially affected, although only Cisco, Juniper, SafeNet and SonicWall having so far been confirmed as being vulnerable to this problem. Vendors who are not affected include Extreme Networks, Kerio, McAfee and Novell.


In general, few articles or press releases actually focus on Novell. There is not much going on there and as the next post will show, the financial results are accordingly made worse. ⬆

Recent Techrights' Posts

Links 09/11/2026: Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang Cheats on Wife With A Suspected Chinese Spy, "400,000 Russians Killed in Battle Since 2022 Invasion"
Links for the day
Digitalisation Is Not Inevitable or Unavoidable
Nor inescapable
Intercontinental Brigading - Part XXXXIV - Why the Swatting Failed
After that we only ever heard from or spoke to cops when we invited them to our home to collect evidence
 
When Some Footage Causes Your 'Company' to Lose Almost Half a Trillion Dollars in 'Value' in a Few Minutes Your Company is Fictionally Valued
stock slips 8% because the CEO cheats on the wife
Intercontinental Brigading - Part XXXXV - The Brand (and Reputation)
"Russell Brand sentenced to 10 years and six months for rape and sexual assault"
Links 09/11/2026: 'Humanitarian' Putin Knocks 600,000 Civilians Off the Grid, Eminem’s Publisher Sues Suno
Links for the day
Like Crooked Politicians, The Register MS is Selling "Dinners" (Access, Sponsors)
Talk about "hey hi".
The Register MS is Not Objective Regarding "AI", It's Paid by Pushers of the Pyramid Scheme (including Nvidia)
Some time soon we'll name some companies that pay millions to The Register MS in order to cement their role in the house of cards (while it lasts)
GAFAM Moribund
A lot of what we say about Microsoft in respect to debt is equally applicable to the rest of GAFAM
NVIDIA as a Scam Company Run by Scammers Who Fake Demand for Their Waste of Energy (Subsidising GPU Sales for Use Cases That Don't Exist)
First they targeted gamers, then fake 'currencies' (which turned out to be a bust), now it's slop (obfuscation of plagiarism using brute force and fusion) [...] We're quite glad that Huang publicly broadcasts how untrustworthy he is
Zero Tolerance for Slop
very few sites that dabbled in slop ended up well off (for it)
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, November 08, 2026
IRC logs for Sunday, November 08, 2026
Gemini Links 09/11/2026: "The Blue Wave Won't Save Us" and "Discoverability Is Only Solved If You Can Be Discovered"
Links for the day
IBM 'Robbery': No More Car Allowance in the UK, Severance Shredded, CEO Pay Up 51% in One Year While Thousands Laid Off in Secret
Why does a CEO reward himself so much when the company does so badly?
Gemini Links 08/11/2026: "Back", Zot, and Information Overload
Links for the day
“Concerned Microsoft Workers” Say “Working at Microsoft Has Become Joyless and Demoralizing.” (That's What Microsoft Wants, More Will Leave That Way)
Many Microsoft employees are going to leave
The Register MS is Losing Hundreds of Thousands of Pounds a Year While Directors Pay Themselves Hundreds of Thousands of Pounds a Year in Dividends
they take money from slop pushers and have clearly compromised some journalistic standards in the process
GNU/Linux Measured at 7.4% in the UK This Weekend: Clownflare Radar
I hope that one day GNU/Linux will be everywhere here
Never a One-Person Project
Just because I'm the main "public face" of the site (who takes all the insults and SLAPPs) doesn't mean I deserve all the credit
“I Always Expect to Lose. I Fight Anyway, and Sometimes I Win.” — Richard Stallman
To change the world meaningfully people must think big
Stop Looking for News About "Layoffs", Layoffs Are Over (They've Been Rebranded)
To properly assess the status quo we need other yardsticks
Links 08/11/2026: Bosses Who Were Forcing Their Workers to Use Slop Change Mind, "Rapper RBX Files Ninth Circuit Appeal in Fraud-Focused Class Action Lawsuit Against Spotify"
Links for the day
Links 08/11/2026: Why Vikings Stayed in Iceland and "TikTok Accused Of Promoting Sex Industry To Young Girls"
Links for the day
Gemini Links 08/11/2026: "Before Sunrise" and LLM Scrapers Versus Self-Hosting (or Web in General)
Links for the day
Intercontinental Brigading - Part XXXXIII - Weaponising Cops in Another Continent (Europe), Knowing They Cannot Come to Your Home in America, While Threatening Women
This year it culminated in death threats
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, November 07, 2026
IRC logs for Saturday, November 07, 2026
The Decade Ahead, a Decade of Suppressed Stories
Our stories aren't discouraged or considered taboo because of racism or "toxic politics" or anything like that; they just hurt powerful people and corporations
Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) Inaction and Incompetence - Part V - "Reports Closed Without the Evidence Being Examined."
Totally what the SRA did regarding Brett Wilson LLP
Gemini Links 07/11/2026: Illusion Garden and Lagrange 2
Links for the day
Complexity is the Tyrant's Friend
Slop is for feeble minds and cheaters
IBM Firings (or Silent Layoffs) After Bluewashing; "IBM’s Employment History is More Troubling Than its Patriotic Marketing Suggests"
"It has zip to do with race but everything to do with the greed of the 1% who have been doing all they can to destroy the middle class..."
“Week van de Werkstress” and Work-Related Stress at the EPO, Where Staff is Bullied Into Granting Illegal Patents for Foreign Monopolists
"poor working environments, including discrimination and inequality, excessive workloads, low job control and job insecurity pose a risk to mental health"
Czech Republic: GNU/Linux Rises Above 5% in Desktops and Laptops
A year ago it was somewhere around 4%
EPO's Local Staff Committee The Hague Says Almost or About a Third of Staff Assembled to Organise at "a Time of Continued Social Unrest"
They speak of "circa 850 staff members in attendance" (in The Netherlands there are about a couple thousand)
Suggestions That XBox Will be Offloaded by Microsoft, Rather Than Shut Down, Make the False Assumption XBox is Profitable (It's Not, It's a Liability)
Microsoft has serious financial troubles
Which "Smart" "Phone", Which "Social" "Media", and Which "Cloud" "Storage"?
Let's take back control of the language
State of the (Linux) Slop, Late 2026 Edition
Google News (Gulag Noise) is a plagiarism booster
Year 21
It's 5PM here
Links 07/11/2026: "Flock Cameras Got Eviscerated by the Midterms" and Joshua Wong Shows China is Highly Repressive and Fully Controls Hong Kong
Links for the day
At The Register MS the Net Liabilities Doubled in One Year, Tangible Assets Down About 35% in One Year
signed off in 2026
Intercontinental Brigading - Part XXXXII - Running One's Mouth
British Police told me "making a false complaint to police is a crime" in relation to Lozza
Another 20 Years of Exposing Corruption
We'll focus on carrying on what we do
EPO Budget and Finance Committee (in Very Recent Meeting) Increases Bribes to People Who Vote on Campinos Reappointment ("Cooperation Activities")
Buying 'elections' to protect the cocaine-stained regime in Europe's second-largest institution
Links 07/11/2026: London's SLAPP Industry Now Targets Kirkenes (Northern Norway) at the Behest of Corrupt Thieves in Russia and Microsoft’s 'Buyout' Offer Crashes Microsoft Systems
Links for the day
Links 07/11/2026: "The Moon is Waning Crescent", Homeworlds, and "Can't Handle The AVIF!"
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, November 06, 2026
IRC logs for Friday, November 06, 2026