Eric (and Salah) Yes, COMDEX has been quiet, but not the rags: READ
Now I understand what they are doing with giving up NDS, however,
this is only _one_ sample of how it is being interpreted.
My beef is that, I see no PR to counter this type of reporting, and I do not see Margengi telling his people to do it. Salah, this is in line with the question you posed last night. Anyway, READ:
(From CRN)
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May Sell Without Royalties
Novell Offers NDS At No Charge To OS Vendors
By Stuart Glascock
Orem, Utah
..............
Novell Inc. plans to distribute its Novell Directory Services to
operating-systems vendors at no charge, pinning its future NDS
earnings on add-on services.
Operating-systems vendors will have the rights not only to develop
applications with NDS source code, but also to sell the applications
to their customers without paying Novell a royalty.
"This is very much like Sun [Microsystems Inc.]'s Java model," said
Michael Simpson, marketing director for Novell's Internet
Infrastructure Division. "Our goal is to get to the point of electronic
commerce. The industry is not moving fast enough for global
commerce. We believe a common infrastructure is necessary, and
we will provide it."
Ken McLeod, president of DPE Systems, an integrator in Seattle,
called Novell's move proactive. "If they can proliferate their
directory out there, they might stand a chance," he said.
In theory, once NDS is established on multiple platforms, then
Novell can build services on top of it, such as open file and print,
security and administration tools.
"Getting that out there gives them a wonderful market opportunity,"
said John Olstrich, senior analyst at Forrester Research Inc.,
Cambridge, Mass. "But Novell is fighting uphill."
"It's a desperate act of a desperate company," said Michael Gould
of The Patricia Seybold Group, Boston. "Basically what they are
saying is, OHere is the last thing of value that I have on the planet
Earth, and it's yours free.' "
The move resembles a similar effort by Banyan Systems Inc. to
propagate its own StreetTalk directories last year. That effort has
met with limited success, observers said.
In addition, Orem-based Novell said it will turn NDS APIs over to
a standards body so all licensees will have a say in future NDS
development. The binaries for NDS for Windows NT will be made
available free of charge to developers. "We want to make sure there
is a common set of APIs that will work across all platforms," said
Simpson.
SHAWN WILLETT contributed to this story.
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Comments? (Anyone?, Eric Hall?, Barry Nance?, eh?)
Joe...<Whew! Hi Leo, do you know how much one could charge for the answers to your request <G>. Seriously, you have a very comprehensive
case study there.> |
