Subject: Response To FUD About NDS In Computerworld...
Date: 2/23/99 10:24 PM Central Standard Time
From: FKSmart
Message-id: <19990223232443.02375.00002441@ng-fr1.aol.com>
In December of '98 Computerworld came out with a classic FUD-filled article which lauded Active Directory and Microsoft - this was right on the heals of the the Lucent, Nortel and Cisco news in support of NDS.
I sent an email off to the author and got this back....
>>Original author's comments>>
>author's follow-up comments to me>
Subj: RE: Get the hook out....
Date: 2/23/99 10:28:26 AM Central Standard Time
From: GHayes@cslinc.com (Garrett Michael Hayes)
To: FKSmart@aol.com ('FKSmart@aol.com')
CC: James_Connolly@cw.com (James Connolly (E-mail))
Mr. Smart,
Please see my comments below.
Garrett Michael Hayes
System Controls Manager
Client/Server Labs, Inc.; 8601 Dunwoody Place, Suite 332, Atlanta, GA 30350
mailto:ghayes@cslinc.com <mailto:ghayes@cslinc.com> , cslinc.com
<http://www.cslinc.com>
770-552-3645 voice, 770-993-4667 fax
(Opinions expressed are my own and may not be those of Client/Server Labs,
Inc.)
----Original Message-----
From: FKSmart@aol.com [SMTP:FKSmart@aol.com]
Sent: Saturday, February 20, 1999 6:06 PM
To: webmaster
Subject: Get the hook out....
Hey Garrett Michael Hayes, how much did they pay you guys to spread
this FUD?
>I am not familiar with the acronym FUD, but I assume it is intended
to be derogatory. Regardless, the piece as written fairly represents my
view of the products as tested. You clearly disagree with significant
portions of what I have said. The fact that we disagree, however, does not
mean that I have been "bought off". It means only that we are likely
focussed on different factors.
>>Here's how the three stacked up, based on our examination:
Microsoft is preparing a strongly positioned product with packaging and presentation that may overshadow Novell's pioneering developments in the field. Without
adding fundamentally new concepts, Microsoft has mounted a clean user and administrative interface to a directory.
Novell has developed and deployed all the right pieces, while still not quite crossing the ease-of-use finish line.
Sun, which lacks the easy accessibility of either of its competitors, may find it difficult to drive its offering into new markets. >>
Microsoft DOES NOT have a product. They have nothing, period. The
King has NO CLOTHES. Too, late, period. The deal with Banyon was a knife in
Cisco's back.
>If you mean that Microsoft has nothing substantively new, you are
correct, and that is what I said. If you literally mean they are selling
nothing, that simply is not the case.>
>>NetWare Directory Services>>
It's NOVELL Directory Services.....
>You are correct. Typographical errors do happen.
>>For four to five years, Novell has been trumpeting the value of
directory services in managing the corporate network. Introduced with the NetWare 4.x product line, NDS was a significant advancement in the concept and
implementation of a directory service engine, at a time when few people
understood the real value of directory services.
Key features promised by Microsoft are already in NDS. Today,
with NDS 7.09, under NetWare 5.0, Novell is in the curious
position of having been too good, too early. >>
How about FIRST TO MARKET!! Perhaps "too good, too early" for
Microsoft. But given that you were paid by Microsoft and Computerworld I can
understand your perspective.
>I believe I indicated that Novell was first to market, though not in
precisely that phrase. What I meant by "to good, to early" was simply that
from a MARKETING position they were pushing directory services before the
wide marketplace was ready to listen. As to your last assertion, we were
paid by ComputerWorld only.>
>>The most immediately obvious way in which NDS is superior to
Active Directory is simply that it's here, commercially available,
with a track record of several years of operation. Unfortunately, that may also be the greatest hurdle Novell faces in marketing the product.>>
What are you talking about? Just because it didn't come from Microsoft???
>Not at all.>
>>The biggest problem for NDS is simply that there are few if any "killer" applications already out there which make use of any directory services concept. Existing applications that do, such as Novell's own GroupWise, have yet to drive
demand. In fact, the tie to directory services has in the past been
seen, unfairly, as a negative factor in adoption of such applications. For
current adopters, the key question will be: "Do I have critical applications with a need for directory services that can be satisfied via LDAP?" If the answer to that question is yes, then NDS provides a very usable answer today. >>
There are many, many killer apps being created as I type this. By the time
Microsoft comes out with Active Directory sometime in the 21st Century, there
will be many, many more. I wonder if Cisco is still on board.
>Indeed there are. The key here though is that the killer apps are *BEING* created. There is little already established with a broad enough market presence to drive the buying decisions for most organizations.>
Garrett, you've done a wonderful job muddying up your reputation.
The Windows tracks have run out. The fat PC is over. Win2000 is a
slow train wreck.
Good luck.
Fred Smart
Smart Bandwidth, LLC
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