Jet-lagged, Novell's Eric Schmidt eats breakfast at lunchtime. Is this any way to do battle with Microsoft? Defensive Game
By Dyan Machan
IT'S NOON, AND NOVELL INC.'S ERIC SCHMIDT, 44, HAS JUST awakened to order a breakfast of eggs and toast. "Time zone is the problem," says the sleepy Schmidt, who had arrived for this interview in Switzerland only a short time earlier from Novell's headquarters in Orem, Utah.
Time zone changes are one problem for Schmidt. Timing is a larger one. Novell, the $1.3 billion networking software company, has launched its biggest marketing drive ever to promote its Internet directory and related services. But why now, just as Microsoft begins shipping its Windows 2000, which houses a directory service and other goodies?
Microsoft's Windows 2000 had been delayed for years, representing a great window of opportunity for Schmidt. The truth is, Novell wasn't ready to roll. In the last six critical months it had two key resignations, including that of John Slitz, head of marketing. Sixty others were let go, many in the marketing department. Steve Adams, hired from software company Citrix to lead the worldwide corporate marketing charge, is five months into the job. It's also the second time Novell has torn up its marketing department in the last couple of years. (continues)
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