NETWORK WORLD NEWSLETTER: DAVE KEARNS ON NOVELL NETWARE TIPS
11/18/04
Today's focus:  Novell swaps an old suit for a new one

Dear [EMAIL PROTECTED],

In this issue:

* Novell plans to file anti-trust lawsuit against Microsoft over 
��WorldPerfect
* Links related to Novell NetWare Tips
* Featured reader resource
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Today's focus:  Novell swaps an old suit for a new one

By Dave Kearns

Hard on the heels of Novell Vice Chairman Chris Stone's 
resignation came word that Microsoft was paying Novell $536 
million to settle an anti-trust action related to Novell's 
former NDS for Windows NT products. Some observers think there 
might be a connection.

After accepting the payment, Novell withdrew its support from 
the European Union's anti-trust action against the Redmond 
monopolist. But some conspiracy theorists (and the Linux 
community seems to have even more of those than the state of 
Montana) began rumor mongering that Novell sacked Stone at Bill 
Gates' request and snagged a bunch of money in the process.

While it's true Stone was the lead evangelist for Novell's move 
into open source (and, thus, probably anathema to Microsoft), it 
is Novell Chairman and CEO Jack Messman himself who is 
frequently quoted as a champion of the open source way - and he 
isn't leaving the Waltham, Mass., company just yet.

What intrigued me about the settlement with Microsoft was the 
suit that didn't get settled. Novell said it planned to file a 
new anti-trust lawsuit against Microsoft tied to decade-old 
competitive practices involving Novell's WordPerfect word 
processing software.

Novell reportedly had Redmond dead to rights on the NDS for NT 
issue, including a "smoking gun" quote from the former head of 
the networking group for Windows NT, who had warned Novell that 
if it proceeded, Microsoft would break the product.

The WordPerfect story, though, is different. Novell is charging 
that Redmond manipulated Windows in order to give an advantage 
to its own Microsoft Office package of office productivity 
software while disadvantaging Novell's WordPerfect Office suite.

Microsoft settled the NDS for NT suit (in my opinion) because 
the company couldn't easily defend itself. Microsoft refused to 
settle the WordPerfect suit, though, because in that case it's 
Novell that will have the difficult time proving its case. 
Difficult because Microsoft didn't bring about the downfall of 
WordPerfect  (except indirectly, by providing an alternative) 
which, in turn, allowed Novell to buy the company.

WordPerfect was done in by its own faulty decisions, a situation 
which also seemed to survive the company and accompany the 
product as it went from hand to hand - first to Novell and then 
to Corel. Come back next time and we'll look at that 
fascinating, but fatally flawed, journey.

RELATED EDITORIAL LINKS

Novell bets on Linux desktop suite
Network World, 11/15/04
http://www.nwfusion.com/news/2004/111504-novell-linux.html
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To contact: Dave Kearns

Dave Kearns is a writer and consultant in Silicon Valley. He's 
written a number of books including the (sadly) now out of print 
"Peter Norton's Complete Guide to Networks." His musings can be 
found at Virtual Quill <http://www.vquill.com/>.

Kearns is the author of three Network World Newsletters: Windows 
Networking Tips, Novell NetWare Tips, and Identity Management. 
Comments about these newsletters should be sent to him at these 

respective addresses: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, 
<mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>.

Kearns provides content services to network vendors: books, 
manuals, white papers, lectures and seminars, marketing, 
technical marketing and support documents. Virtual Quill 
provides "words to sell by..." Find out more by e-mail at 
<mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> 
_______________________________________________________________
This newsletter is sponsored By BMC Software  

Linking IT Priorities to Business Objectives, an IDC whitepaper. 
Get insights from IDC on aligning business goals and IT 
priorities. IDC offers practical, actionable information on how 
Business Service Management can help you reduce operating costs, 
improve service levels, respond faster to business needs and 
protect delivery of business-critical.  Click here to download 
this whitepaper now. 
http://www.fattail.com/redir/redirect.asp?CID=88332
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ARCHIVE LINKS

Archive of the Novell NetWare Tips newsletter:
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Novell news page
The Novell news and analysis from Network World Fusion.
http://www.nwfusion.com/news/financial/novell.html
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