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

To: ToySoldier who wrote (24208)	11/4/1998 3:48:00 AM
From: PJ Strifas	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 42771

Hello! I've spent the last few days reading the thread here about Novell and I'm glad to see there are some real knowledgeable supporters here. I was worried that I would find more people like Keith who have their heads buried in the hay while riding the MSFT Bandwagon. I only want to point you to an article which some of you may have read. It starts off with some news on MSFT's new campaign against Novell Channel partners and resellers and ends off with some retractions on MSFT's part regarding news releases shedding bad light on Novell. Peter Strifas ------------------ MSFT steps up campaign against Novell zdnet.com MS steps up Novell campaign By Mary Jo Foley & Joseph C. Panettieri, Sm@rt Reseller Online October 28, 1998 3:07 PM PT Microsoft is renewing its pursuit of Novell's channel partners -- with paper and promises. Microsoft Corp. is stepping up its campaign to win over Novell Inc. resellers and customers, and is using weapons ranging from targeted recruitment events to press releases to do so. In a continuation of the effort it launched a year ago to recruit Novell channel partners, Microsoft is inviting a number of Novell Platinum resellers to nearby Bellevue, Wash., in early November for a networking summit, Microsoft officials confirmed. Simultaneously, Microsoft is flying its execs to major U.S. cities and is holding recruitment seminars for Novell resellers who haven't been invited to the all-expenses-paid Bellevue seminar. At the same time, Microsoft is cranking out press releases designed to show that NetWare's momentum is dwindling, and is claiming mass defections from NetWare to NT as proof. But some of these wins, such as Dell Computer's abandonment of NetWare, cited in a late October Microsoft release, aren't all that they seem. Same Old Tactics? Some industry watchers say the stepped-up marketing campaigns by Microsoft are a direct result of the renewed interest in NetWare, especially NetWare 5.0. But others say it's just more of the same old Microsoft tactics. "Microsoft is going strongly after Novell dealers," says Jeff Cohn, president of Sage Computer Associates, an Albany, N.Y.-based Novell Platinum VAR. "They [Microsoft] wanted us to fly down, train down, drive down to hear them in New York City for a few hours." Instead, Microsoft ended up sending an official to Sage's offices this week to give Cohn Microsoft's Solution Provider pitch, he says."We're absolutely interested in what Microsoft has to say. We need to be around. But Novell has a strong installed base and we're still making good money off them." Another reseller whose company is both a Microsoft Certified Solution Provider and a Novell Platinum VAR, says Microsoft's recruitment campaign is simply a continuation of its effort to target Novell's dealers launched a year ago. The first group of Novell resellers that Microsoft recruited was called the "Special Forces," says the reseller, who requested anonymity. "We had to commit to training a certain number of our CNEs [Certified Novell Engineers] to be MCSEs [Microsoft Certified Software Engineers," the reseller recalls. Some Platinum resellers are willing to make the switch to Microsoft's program, but only if Microsoft agrees to designate them as MCSP "Partners," rather than "Members," the reseller continues. But "Microsoft doesn't see Partners and Platinums as equivalents. And it [Microsoft] isn't really interested in growing its Partner program right now." War Of Words Reseller programs aren't the only battleground. Microsoft issued a release a month ago claiming the Kentucky Dept. of Education had dumped NetWare for NT a month ago, a claim the KDE is disputing. The latest white lie: Microsoft last week issued a press release claiming that Dell Computer Corp. was replacing 225 of its internal NetWare servers with 25 servers running Windows NT Server. However, a Dell spokesperson claims that the direct PC giant is migrating only a small number of servers from NetWare to NT, and that Dell remains strongly committed to using NetWare. In fact, Dell continues to hold a 25,000-user NetWare license. "Dell was replacing both legacy hardware and software in a single department with NT," acknowledges a Novell spokesman. "But their manufacturing groups still run on NetWare and they have more than 13,000 nodes running on NetWare 5.0." Back in mid-1997, Microsoft issued a press release claiming that market researcher International Data Corp. (IDC) reported that NT Server was outselling NetWare. IDC and Novell both claimed otherwise, and Microsoft was forced to issue a follow-up release that made less ambitious claims about NT Server's popularity. Microsoft doesn't need to stretch the facts. Annual NT Server licenses (1.3 million units) now outpace NetWare licenses (900,000 units), according to IDC. And while most large companies use NetWare side-by-side with NT Server, a handful of organizations -- including Pennzoil Co. -- have migrated virtually all of their systems to NT Server