NETWORK WORLD NEWSLETTER: DAVE KEARNS ON NOVELL NETWARE TIPS 10/07/04 Today's focus: Novell appears to have trouble digesting Linux
Dear [EMAIL PROTECTED], In this issue: * Reader experiences Novell reseller confusion over Linux * Links related to Novell NetWare Tips * Featured reader resource _______________________________________________________________ This newsletter is sponsored by Novell Want to add Linux to your NetWare environment? You're invited to the Novell / IBM "Expanding Choice" seminar. See how Novell Open Enterprise Server (OES) gives you the flexibility of open source and the power and reliability of proven networking services - so you can move to Linux at your pace. Register Today! http://www.fattail.com/redir/redirect.asp?CID=83517 _______________________________________________________________ ARE YOU UP TO DATE ON THE EVOLVING STANDARDS AND REGULATIONS? Sign up for Network World's Standards and Regulations News Alert. This weekly alert covers what new standards are emerging, how they are progressing through various standards bodies and how you can take advantage of those standards. Plus, readers are kept up to date on actions by government regulatory bodies that may affect their service providers. Click here to subscribe: http://www.fattail.com/redir/redirect.asp?CID=83531 _______________________________________________________________ Today's focus: Novell appears to have trouble digesting Linux By Dave Kearns Last issue, I talked about Novell's plan to roll out Linux on the desktop to 5,000 users and how, according to a news report, the company's target of 2,500 by this month had fallen short - by 1,000 users. I received a note from a reader last week, detailing his experience with Novell, a reseller, SuSE Linux and SuSE's OpenExchange product which might shed some light on Novell's problem in rolling out Linux to its users. Here's what the reader had to say: "We were potentially looking at a new mail system about two months ago and I thought that I would give SuSE's (Novell's) OpenExchange a try. It took about two days for a reseller to contact me after I submitted my interest via a Web page. When he did, I found out that I actually had to pay for a demo version. After I mentioned how serious I was about trying the product and the fact I was not going to pay for a demo version he agreed to 'loan' me a standard licensed version that I could use as a trial version. I played with it for a total of about four hours. "If you use anything newer than Office 2000 as a client it doesn't work. It took a total of about three weeks from the time I expressed interest in the product to the point where I actually had a version that I could play with. Neither the salesman nor the company that he was working for knew the product didn't work with Office 2003 - they had to contact Novell. After one more business day, I got a phone call saying 'You're right, it doesn't work'." Note that it was the Novell recommended reseller who didn't know what the requirements were. Note also that while you can freely download an evaluation copy of SuSE Enterprise Server that you can't get a free demo of OpenExchange. And three weeks to actually get the demo product in-house? Well, part of that might be attributed to the training that the reseller had gone through. As the reader added: "I've always been a fan of Novell back in the [NetWare] 4.1 days but after this episode, I'll never talk to them again. They let their reseller handle the whole thing, which turned out to be a huge waste of time. The reseller wasn't properly trained and at times couldn't remember if SuSE was Novell's product or if it was IBM's. It seems that SuSE and Novell don't properly communicate with their resellers and can't offer anything substantially more than what you can download free from RedHat." Now it may be that this was an atypical reseller. And it may be that Novell was so busy rolling and (and documenting the rollout) of Linux in-house, that reseller training suffered. But it seems at least equally plausible that the integration of SuSE into the corporate structure of Novell is "missing the target" just as the migration of desktops from Windows to Linux is doing. Could it be that, when it comes to Linux and open source, Novell bit off more than it could chew and is suffering integration indigestion? This might be just a bump in the road on the path to the new open source future, or it may be the sign of some serious problems ahead. I'll keep monitoring the progress, and you should keep writing to let me know about your experience. _______________________________________________________________ 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 Novell Want to add Linux to your NetWare environment? You're invited to the Novell / IBM "Expanding Choice" seminar. See how Novell Open Enterprise Server (OES) gives you the flexibility of open source and the power and reliability of proven networking services - so you can move to Linux at your pace. Register Today! http://www.fattail.com/redir/redirect.asp?CID=83516 _______________________________________________________________ ARCHIVE LINKS Archive of the Novell NetWare Tips newsletter: http://www.nwfusion.com/newsletters/netware/index.html Novell news page The Novell news and analysis from Network World Fusion. http://www.nwfusion.com/news/financial/novell.html _______________________________________________________________ FEATURED READER RESOURCE THE NEW DATA CENTER Today's top companies are accelerating toward Web-based computing. That means building the new data center -- where grids, virtualization, autonomic computing and other big changes shatter the traditional boundaries on applications and information, and bring the extended enterprise to life. Learn about The New Data Center on NW Fusion's Research Center at: <http://www.nwfusion.com/topics/datacenter.html> _______________________________________________________________ May We Send You a Free Print Subscription? 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