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

To: mar8tin who wrote (30963)	4/8/2000 9:15:00 AM
From: Captain Jack	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 42771

Apr. 07, 2000 (InternetWeek - CMP via COMTEX) -- Even as I was dinging Novell a few weeks ago for not being loud enough in its marketing efforts, the company was cooking up a marketing splash somewhere deep in Mormon country. EDirectory for Windows 2000 arrived with a bang at this year's BrainShare. Overall, Novell actually looks to be in good shape for once. Microsoft may have a marketing advantage, but in light of its losing battle with the DoJ, I doubt the company can afford to tie Active Directory as tightly to the Windows 2000 platform as it would like. That leaves a neat gap for a quick competitor to exploit, and Novell is right there with bells on...and a promise. True, NDS is here and working as well as ever, but eDirectory for Windows 2000 didn't live up to its implied promise of neatly joining AD and NDS into a single, easily managed system. After quizzing some unsuspecting Novellites at BrainShare, one of our Reviews staff spies reported back with the surprise finding that eDirectory not only can't sync with AD, it can't even sync with NDS. You can import directory information by the truckload, but you can't keep it automatically synched between directories-and every instance of eDirectory effectively winds up acting as an independent directory, not a consolidated whole. This is where that promise comes in. In this instance, that promise is Novell's DirXML, which, as its name implies, will be an XML network directory capable of managing a single directory resource over any platform-Windows, NetWare, Solaris and even Linux. The idea is that departments standardized on one platform (like Windows NT, for instance) will use the corresponding version of the eDirectory product to install directory services. Later when all your NT, Win2000 and Linux users have directories, you'll be able to use DirXML to tie all these disparate services into a cohesive whole. What a pain. Why manage all these separate directories when what you really want is only one? That's bound to be an initial reaction, but there's no single directory service available right now. Microsoft certainly isn't promising such a tool at any time in the near future. Active Directory is strictly a Windows 2000 creature, and Microsoft has released no tangible information that this will change. Installing eDirectory really doesn't seem like such a bad idea. And there's no requirement that you need to install everything right away. A test conversion with eDirectory is a great idea, and if it works, maybe just your largest departments can be migrated. It's not a perfect world. But with nothing easier on the horizon, this may just be the best directory bet around.

To: mar8tin who wrote (30963)	4/8/2000 10:28:00 AM
From: zwolff	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 42771

have the proposal to hire invest banker to sell company. please give views. many shareholders have told me yes yes yes mglotz@aol.com YES YES YES

To: mar8tin who wrote (30963)	4/8/2000 10:44:00 AM
From: James W. Bradsh	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 42771

For what it's worth... NO, NO, NO. Let a buyer come to you with a proposal, normally you get a better price. Why go begging? Is it necessary??

To: mar8tin who wrote (30963)	4/8/2000 11:01:00 AM
From: p friend	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 42771

Martin Could you give us an update on the current status of the poison pill. Did the board take any action after the shareholder vote? I admire your efforts on behalf of all shareholders.

To: mar8tin who wrote (30963)	4/8/2000 11:32:00 AM
From: EPS	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 42771

I would phrase the proposal somewhat differently. The purpose of hiring an investment banker should be TO INCREASE SHAREHOLDER VALUE. A buyout or a spinoff or whatever could be done to make this company really grow. This company has been on the average a 5-8 bill market cap company for the last 10 years. It is UNABLE to grow. Shareholder value has always been the LAST CONSIDERATION for the board. FOr starters here is an example of what NOVLs board could do: To: Terrapin who started this subject From: EPS Sunday, Feb 13, 2000 1:57 PM ET Reply # of 1947 NYTimes 2/13/2000 Cashing In Gets Tougher at Tyco Late last year, after questions about his company's accounting practices and a big stock drop, L. Dennis Kozlowski, the head of Tyco International, announced that Tyco would have to hit impressive financial targets for executives to exercise future stock options. The company took the step of tying options not only to Tyco's stock price but also to its earnings. "That's very unusual," said Ira T. Kay, the director of the executive compensation practice at Watson Wyatt & Co. It also seemed aggressive: for Kozlowski and other senior managers to exercise any of their new options, Tyco's stock price must reach at least $53 -- or $75 to exercise them all -- up from $39.25 on Friday, according to preliminary plans. Earnings per share and cash flow also must double over the next three years. Tyco hopes that these clauses will rebut accusations, first made by an investment newsletter, that the company used misleading bookkeeping. As a result, Tyco stock lost nearly half its value late last year. Now Kozlowski, one of the most highly paid chief executives in recent years, is betting that he can stay on that list by proving his critics wrong. -- David Leonhardt

To: mar8tin who wrote (30963)	4/9/2000 11:58:00 AM
From: Scott C. Lemon	Respond to of 42771

Hello mar8tin, I wanted to jump in and say a couple of things ... First, I want to apologize to those people who were upset about my post the other day about departures of employees ... I received numerous PMs and e-mails from a lot of people ... both positive and negative. It seems that the people who are leaving Novell, or have left Novell, sent me positive messages, and indicated that they still feel that much of the incredible engineering, and many of the ideas, inside of Novell are still being stifled. But they also commented that even in this situation, there are still many employees that continue to "fight the good fight" and produce incredible products and technologies ... and a small percentage of them get through the product management maze ... But I also received numerous messages from folks who were very strongly worded about why I would say such things, and what my intentions are. I thought about it this weekend, and wanted to answer a few of those people. I am still a shareholder of Novell (I exercised all of my outstanding shares when I left Novell) and I am not shorting the stock or anything along that line. I actually was hoping to see a pop with Brainshare (read back through my posts) and with the end of the quarter coming. Instead, what I saw and heard was that a lot of my friends inside of Novell, who are/were trying to pull Novell to the forefront of the industry, continue to be "punished" by old-time management and their buddies ... people who seem to have more interest in building their own empires internally, and they protect these empires by destroying and keeping down alternative ideas which might disrupt them. And so frustrated people leave ... innovative ideas die or are grabbed by the idealess ... and Novell does not become what it could become. And this makes me very angry ... I'll admit that I then get pretty upset with "Novell" ... not the whole company ... just the people who are in charge in Provo who are making decisions which are painful to so many people. I don't like to see a place with so much potential, bogged down by a few self-serving individuals. If only management would allow the best and brightest to deliver what they know is needed ... if only product management would trust the people who actually use the products, instead of guessing what is right by reading magazines and sitting on the sidelines. One other issue about departures of employees ... in some cases they might be very good! And I'll be the first to admit this. Obviously as employees leave, new employees will be brought in to replace them ... and this "change" can often spark what is needed. Maybe this change in people will be good for Novell ... maybe it will shake up the management that is stifling innovation, and trapped in "control" mentalities ... maybe it'll be a good thing in the long run ... So I'll try to sit back and watch through the next month or so ... I'm not sure if I'll be able to ... but the next 30-60 days seem to be the time table for the biggest indication of success. Scott C. Lemon