Before I proceed I admit the following:
1) I'm currently a Novell employee (engineering)
2) What I'm about to say is my opinion, not Novell's
3) My current basis is $14 after averaging down
4) I attended the NDS meeting which was for the benefit of Novell employees in helping clarify what our goals and strategies are. This was not a public meeting and was never intended to be so. It was a
pretty good meeting btw...
Try Microsoft to see if they'll allow you to listen in on strategy meetings for their employees. I don't think so.
If you really want to know the details, there are some well-paying positions available for competent individuals who have the desire to be involved in advancing this company forward. I'm bullish about an era in Novell where our management focuses its effort on solving customers' problems than blaming the previous regime and making excuses for their own failures.
Now that I've introduced myself, let's stop for a moment and consider some of what's been said over the last couple of days:
1) Noorda controls the board and doesn't give a damn about the stock price.
Fact: Ray Noorda resigned from the board shortly after Frankenberg took control of the company. If you owned as many shares as Mr. Noorda, would you be happy to see the stock price languish as it has?
Get real! I'm sure Mr. Noorda is not any happier about the circumstances than any of us fellow shareholders, employees, etc...
2) Caldera is a direct competitor to Kayak
If you look closely, you'll find that Caldera goes out of their way to endorse and support Novell products/technology. Again, why would Mr. Noorda fund the spawning of a product that has the potential to diminish the value of his NOVL shares. It does not. In fact, if you look closely, you'll find that Caldera supports Novell technology consistently. Caldera is more a competitor of SCO and NT as a workstation and do-it-yourslf app server than a NOS. If you're really interested, go see for yourself at caldera.com .
Now, I'll admit that I'm as p*ssed as the next guy when it comes to being fed-up with the share price, bad press, and the apparent lack of progress in finding a new leader for our company. I will, however, back Joe Marengi as pres. simply because he has a plan and is supporting efforts inside the company to do the right thing. In 6 months I may feel differently but, for now, I'm willing to give him a shot at it. Is he CEO material? Don't know. My personal feeling is that finding a strong industry player with good technical background in large-scale communications infrastructure would be ideal to be complimented by Joe's get-stuff-done-no-excuses attitude.
Regards,
Drew |
