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Technology Stocks : Novell (NOVL) dirt cheap, good buy? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Bearded One who wrote (28347)	10/1/1999 3:19:00 PM
From: Bosco	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 42771

G'day all - I am new here, so plz bear me out. I like NOVL [no position yet] and Dr Schmidt seeems to be doing the right things, but Stone is the 3rd exec to leave the company in recent months. I understand the new blood argument, but Stone is widely and highly regarded. Besides, the real old blood, pre-schmidt, was jettisoned, so what gives. I understand hi tech execs tend to want to move to the top spot, so it is not surprising; however, considering NOVL doesn't have a deep bench, and Dr Schmidt seems to be in no hurry to replenish the pool, any idea? I mean, does Dr Schmidt feel NOVL should not be top heavy? Or is he autocratic [note, I know little of him, so I am not suggesting he is] TIA best, Bosco

To: Bearded One who wrote (28347)	10/1/1999 3:40:00 PM
From: ToySoldier	Respond to of 42771

Bearded, I do agree with you that 9 times out of 10 the departure of a top Executive spells bad news for the stock - specially one as highly regarded as Stone was (Slitz was a good thing). The current day's trading of NOVL proves this out. If one wants to grasp for any good news on this departure without the positions being refilled - it saves a hell of a lot on Salaries - ehh? Beyond me why Schmidt does not want to fill these positions that quickly. Could it be that the positions are hard to fill or is it that Schmidt does not want them filled unless the "GEM" shows up for the position? Toy

To: Bearded One who wrote (28347)	10/1/1999 8:10:00 PM
From: Paul Fiondella	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 42771

Let's think this one through "Reporting to Stone were vice presidents responsible for developer relations, corporate development and corporate partnerships. Stone led the creation of Novell Ventures, which is now managed by corporate development." When Stone came in they didn't know what companies to buy or even what internet strategy they could use to play off their enterprise base. Now Schmidt clearly has an internet strategy. Look at BTB and digitalme and you see the strategy. So the strategy is there and Stone's job was over on that front. Mission accomplished! Mission successful! As to partnerships, well Novell needs partnerships with banks, credit card companies, internet clearing houses, integrators of corporate and vendor ecommerce sites etc. etc. But this is beyond Stone. Who amongst the current senior management can present a convincing case to major companies to partner with Novell on internet technology? Only Schmidt. This is Schmidt's job and that of anyone with a big name they bring on board. Was it Stone's job? I doubt it. I do not see why a man can't simply finish his job and look for something more challenging to do. A job where he is a little closer to "the doers" in the company and is the CEO. Only a startup will let you do that, not a huge corporation like Novell with its careful corporate pecking order. There are two areas in which I agree with you. First yes it is true that Novell never thinks about the effect any of its corporate actions will have on its stock. This is an area Schmidt hasn't thought enough about. But he is going to New York next Tuesday to tell the Street exactly what Novell is doing with digitalme. Secondly Novell is in an execution stage of its growth cycle. They have to get the lead out and not squander their technical lead but they do not lack direction. Schmidt knows where he wants this company to go. I expect Schmidt will address the problem of execution. If you don't think they can execute, on digitalme, on ichain, on directory based network apps, then the best thing to do is sell the stock. I'm not selling. ============== Even in the worst possible scenario Novell gets bought out. I'm really surprised that noone is going after them right now. In fact its the weekend and I've known stranger things to happen over a weekend when it comes to hostile takeovers.