Hi Joe...About MSFT FUD
Afterall, even with Novell low key PR, the media is aware of MSFT FUD. This article is a little old but it talks about the stuff you and Elmo are talking about. Here it is:
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Network World
Don't Count Out Novell Just Yet
By Dave Kearns
3/3/96
There's been much talk of late about the relevance of Novell, Inc. and NetWare/IntranetWare in this increasingly Windows NT-centric network world.
A recent flurry of activity, however, shows that the NT-centricism may be more a product of Microsoft Corp. press releases than a reflection of reality.
This week, I mentioned how Microsoft had taken recent sales information from International Data Corp., spun it through its marketing mill, then announced NT was No. 1. Anyone who reads the
report, though, can easily tell that Novell maintains its lead in network server installations, sales of network operating systems and total clients connected for at least the 10th straight year.
Novell irrelevant? Hardly. Novell recently released software for NT workstation clients, including a snap-in for NetWare Administrator called the NT Workstation Manager. With this tool, a NetWare 4.X administrator can control the local Security Access Manager (SAM) database on all connected workstations running Windows NT 3.5 or above.
NT workstations become Novell Directory Services (NDS) objects, which users can be associated with through Novell's NWAdmin tool. Once the user is associated with the NT Workstation object, he is automatically entered into the workstation's local SAM database the first time he logs on to the NDS tree. It's a slick tool, and it works well. It also means you no longer need an NT server with its messy domain structure to control your NT Workstations.
Predictably, Microsoft quickly reacted to spread fear, uncertainty and doubt (FUD) about Novell's product. Among its claims:
You cannot use NT Workstation Manager and NT Server on the same net.
Using NT Workstation Manager reduces network security.
You must upgrade to IntranetWare/NetWare 4.11 to use the Novell offering.
Don't believe it. For Novells full response, go online to www.novell.com/intranetware/ntint/msfudd.html.
Novell also has just released what amounts to a public beta of a new NDS add-on called Novell Administrator for Windows NT. This software canbe used to manage NT servers and domains.
Later this year, Novell will release a native NT implementation of NDS that will compete directly with Microsoft's Active Directory, which supposedly will come with NT Server 5.0 late thisyear.
My forecast is for a huge cloud of FUD to be moving out from the Northwest over the course of this year.
(Kearns, a former network administrator, is a freelance writer and consultant in Austin, Texas. He can be reached at dkearns @msn.com.)
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Let's send this guy some compliments about this article. Maybe, he writes some more articles like this one.
Somehow puzzled by the fact that Dave Kearns is using MSN!!!
Regards
Salah |
