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

To: Spartex who wrote (22252)	5/23/1998 2:31:00 PM
From: Spartex	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 42771

Gosh, I was a bit wrong on the link to Economist....Novell did get a some coverage as it relates to MSFT NT5 and Novell NDS.....hmmmm, I've got to get a subscription to The Economist.....smart people writing there. PS: I can't wait for IBM and Novell to get more serious as dancing partners by early 1999 <grin>......... <<The price you pay For all Microsoft's swagger, there is a whiff of tragedy in all this. Whatever the firm may say, the investigation will take its toll. Microsoft will be distracted. A wonderful company, one of the best in any industry, will be damaged. Just how much, is far from clear. The scope of the investigation is unlikely to be as narrow as the initial complaint or the sought-for remedies indicate. Given Microsoft's history, nobody has much confidence that new attempts to change its ways will succeed. More radical solutions, such as declaring Windows a regulated "essential facility", will probably gain momentum. The government also has time on its side when deciding what to do about NT 5.0-the real future money-spinner, which incorporates features that may crush Netscape's server-software business and Novell's directory-service product. If this escalation comes to pass it will be because Microsoft has a flaw at its heart. Bill Gates has an ability to visualise and implement a business strategy that is almost unmatched. But the clarity of vision is too often accompanied by blinkers. The flip side of flawless execution is a ruthlessness that takes Microsoft to the edge of-and perhaps beyond-the law. Mr Gates dominates his company as few men do. The reporting structure is flat, he controls every detail. For the bright, aggressive, relentlessly striving people who work for him "face-time with Bill" is everything. The Redmond campus, a few miles from Seattle, though superficially relaxed is in fact a tense, nervy place that feels far removed from the other technology centres of America. Without the day-to-day contact with rivals and partners that shapes the ecology of Silicon Valley, Microsoft's tendency to see itself as permanently embattled is intensified. Noticeboards at Redmond carry slightly sinister cartoons showing how erstwhile rivals like Lotus and Novell have met their match. The thing that strikes anybody who has followed the fortunes of this extraordinary company and which puzzles both friend and foe is the absolute refusal of Bill Gates to accept the responsibilities that go with monopoly-or even that he has a monopoly. Intel's Andy Grove, though not averse to the occasional act of brutality, realised more than 12 years ago that his company was heading for dominance and would consequently need to watch its act. Everyone at Intel who has dealings with other companies is schooled in antitrust law. Intel insiders regard the macho memos circulating in Redmond, and which the Department of Justice has netted in such numbers, as, at best, examples of near-suicidal indiscipline. Intel has its own problems with regulators-it is once again under investigation by the FTC-but seems confident that at least it hasn't created a veritable arsenal of smoking guns. It may be that this antitrust case will prove unnecessary. The advance of technology may in time be unkind to Microsoft. The firm could be left with its monopoly of the desktop PC-but big fully-featured operating systems like Windows might come to seem like IBM's mainframes, important only as one element in a computing world of great diversity. With hindsight, then, the case could seem beside the point, an instance of generals continuing to fight the previous war. But for now, and on the basis of the evidence revealed so far, it is justified.>> Regards, QuadK

To: Spartex who wrote (22252)	5/23/1998 8:45:00 PM
From: Paul Fiondella	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 42771

I wasn't kidding when I mentioned those MSFT Calls a while back MSFT has won this case before it starts. The trial in Septemebr followed by the Judges's ruling in November or early December followed by Microsoft's appeal followed by an Appeals Court ruling say in Feb. 99. And at most the Judge can order not a recall but an unbundling like he did with Win95. Its a joke. Unfortunately Orin Hatch is not the CEO of Novell, because next year when it comes time for Novell to play the role of Netscape in the saga of NT5 nothing is going to happen to save Novell's butt.