The Monday after …

Wow. There is almost too much to think about after BrainShare
2004. Being that I worked at Novell four different times, in
numerous different roles, I can see there is a lot that has changed … and a lot
that is still the same. It was great to see a lot of my friends
and former co-workers …

First, although I really loved NetWare as an operating system and a
kernel, it is obvious that its days are numbered. The “100%
Linux” message being communicated at the conference seems to seal the
fate of this, once-dominant, operating system. It will be very
interesting to see how quickly the $300mm-$350mm revenue stream
generated from NetWare sales will shift to the new strategy proposed by
the leaders of Novell. Customers who are still committed to
NetWare, IMHO, are going to find themselves painted into a corner if
they do not quickly begin the progress of planning their
migration. These types of migrations are complex and will take
time … and they will have to look at NetWare as the old 8-track or
cassette player in their stereo rack … it works, but don’t expect
much of a future out of it. In addition to that, it seems that
Novell customers are being pushed to adopt the “100% Linux” strategy
… which brings into question the Novell strategy on two fronts.

First … what is Novell going to provide to customers if they are not
interested in moving from their existing desktops to GNU/Linux
desktops? What if customers are just fine with Windows on the
desktop? Will Novell be able to offer them anything? I
believe that the world has been – and always will be – a place filled
with multiple-choices, and heterogeneous environments. Windows is
not going away anytime soon. We are working on solutions that
bring the best of UNIX and Windows together in our customer
environments … that is what they are asking us for. In
addition, we are looking for ways to leverage the best of the Open
Source world … within the law.

The second big issue … what is the impact to the Novell strategy as
the intellectual property issues continue to expand? Jack and
Chris made a really bold move in altering the foundation of the
business … they moved from one where they had a sinking platform, to
one that is on shakier ground! I can only imagine that they are already
accounting for the impacts on their business as the issues are resolved.

Novell’s future hinges on somehow resolving the revenue issues –
replacing the dying $300mm+ stream with a $40mm+ stream – and surviving
the transistion period … not to mention dealing with the implications
of the lawsuits surrounding the new foundation. Quite a risky bet.

Outside of that, I have to admit that I am also surprised by the amount
of “misinformation” or poor marketing when they continue to represent
UNIX-compatible software as “Linux software”. As I wrote through
my week of blogging … there are numerous areas and projects where
they seem to alter the “truth” and grab for the “Linux” market hype …
at the expense of customers and partners. I’ll be experimenting
with many of their projects on UNIX since they are completely
UNIX-compatible … and demonstrating where the “Linux” that they are
talking about is just a UNIX-compatible kernel.

And did things pile up while I was out of the office! Bummer … ;-(

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