Hi Fred. PMFJI. I don't want to start a p*ssing match cause, if it goes into the 6's (like I think it will), I'll probably get back in long again just for the eventual carving up. In any event, you said:
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They are breaking tradition by getting products out the door, on-time will good reviews and feedback. The feedback I'm getting from beta users over their recent IP-compatible MOAB release is fantastic. And the offerings from Novonyx are very attractive and compelling.
>>>>>>>>
If you read the two articles DJBEINO posted upthread (current), they headlines were nice, "but" the the content wasn't too nice. Here's the one on MOAB. Unless the guy writing the article is totally off base and doesn't see the same feedback you see. I see this as something Novell's got a problem with, yes/no?
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*******(HERE'S THE GOOD PART)********
User loyalty buoys NetWare
Customers claim Novell's NOS is still indispensable
for file, print services
By Erin Callaway, PC Week Online
12.01.97 10:00 am ET
NetWare users, having kept the faith this long, aren't about to desert the
tribe this close to Moab, the next release of Novell Inc.'s network
operating system. They say that NetWare still provides indispensable file
and print services and they can integrate Windows NT as an application
server without abandoning NetWare.
This user loyalty may be borne out in the positive financial results Novell
posted in the most recent quarter. Novell reported a surprisingly strong
profit of $7 million, or 2 cents per share, on sales of about $270 million
in its fourth quarter ended Oct. 31. In the previous quarter, the Orem,
Utah, company lost $122 million on $90 million in sales, including a
restructuring charge of $55 million. For fiscal year 1997, the company
posted a net loss of $78 million, or 22 cents per share, on sales of $1
billion.
"I'm pleased to report that demand for our products came back from
our entire distribution channel," Novell CEO Eric Schmidt said in a
release.
*********(NOW COMES THE "BAD" PART)***********
But users' patience has been tested by Novell's long development cycle
leading to Moab. Most are still yearning for a glimpse of the release. The
closest Randy Merrill, who is systems manager for the U.S. Bankruptcy
Court in the district of Arizona, has gotten to Moab was when a Novell
engineer talked about the product at his NetWare User Group's
conference last month in Phoenix. And Ralph Davis, business systems
manager for Fischer Homes, in Tell City, Ind., so far has been able to
learn about the system only through word of mouth.
"I would ... like to have a little bit better idea about what Moab is
supposed to be doing," Davis said. "One of the things that happens
when you don't get that is you begin to wonder if [Novell] knows what it
is supposed to be doing."
One of the things Novell is doing is adding native IP to NetWare in
Moab. This will eliminate NetWare's dependency on IPX, the native
NetWare LAN communications protocol. "As much as IPX has been a
very useful thing, it is an idea whose time has come and gone," said Josh
Turiel, president of the Boston NetWare User Group. "It's about time
Novell rebuilt their system to be IP-centric because that's the direction
the world has gone."
Fred DeCosta, network manager at Delta Dental Plan of
Massachusetts, in Medford, has stuck with NetWare because he's
found that it isn't an either/or proposition with NetWare and Windows
NT. "Integrating the two platforms hasn't been as difficult as one might
think. The integration tools from both [Microsoft Corp. and Novell]
have worked very well," said DeCosta. He relies on NetWare for print
and file services on his 350-node network, but uses three NT
application servers.
******(AND HERE'S THE "UGLY" PART)*********
Chuck Stuettgen, network manager at John L. Wortham & Son LLP, in
Houston, is committed to staying with NetWare for print and file
services, but was recently forced to replace the Novell Web server he
was using to run the insurance company's intranet with an NT
application server because the application was available only on NT.
Merrill also had to "give in" and purchase an NT application server so he
could deploy an NT-based bankruptcy court application. He thinks
Novell would be wise to deliver Moab as soon as possible. "Hopefully,
they won't push back the [delivery] date. I think that will only hurt them,"
Merrill said.
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????????
You tell me.
Regards,
Joe... |
