Vinod (and Joe),
Let's get a little bit real here about the accusations etc. made here. Several statements have been made about the 'lack of knowledge' of Novell employees and that 'we can not be objective because of our Bread and Butter jobs'. First, most of the better engineers at Novell can get any job in the industry they want. I get job offers all the time. I choose to be at Novell because I believe I can make a difference, and I also believe that Novell is well positioned in the industry. Secondly, we all have options, so we are shareholders as well. We know the stock price at least as well as you do. The difference between you and I is that I see beyond the stock price. The stock price of today, is not necessarily indicative of the actual long term growth of the company. It is a market perception at THIS particular instance as to the long term value of the company. It is ALL of our jobs to help change that perception to a more positive one. This means that engineers need to create new paradigm shifts in technology, marketing/PR needs to communicate our goals and directions, sales need to beat down the doors of customers and communicate on a more personal level, and management needs to somehow pull it all together. To say that any ONE of these is at fault for the current stock price is unfair. I say we all may have contributed to some degree or another. The reality is that we are ALL working very hard to change that, and I would say are having fairly good success at improving it for the long term. The simple fact is that you are not going to have HUGE price jumps in the stock overnight. I would say Novell mgmt has done a great job refocusing our core competencies after the diversion into the wordperfect arena, and are not "off eating caviar in the board room". The fact is we contain the second greatest amount of data on the network (second to DB2) and have remained profitable for a substantial duration of time. I think you will see NOVL increase over the long term because of the things we are doing today. So stop quoting the fact that we didn't meet the Q1 numbers. That is simply one data point. I plan on sticking with it and putting in my best until the game is over. I am not giving up after one 'non-perfect' round....
Remember, it is very easy to criticize in a blind and accusatory manner, but very difficult to offer CONTRUCTIVE criticism. It is also very easy to blame the leaders for the actions of all of their people. Offer your advice on what you want to see done, besides giving up, and maybe you will be suprised....
Jim Olsen |
