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

To: Alomex who wrote (25518)	2/18/1999 7:29:00 PM
From: Villemure	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 42771

Alomex, I believe that you are making a mistake by confusing the desktop and the network. On the network, different technology is needed and different rules apply. The "average user" does not buy the network. The network system must be more reliable, manageable, and transparent to the user; otherwise, the business just can't work. Plus, the network is much harder to rip and replace. The superior Mac interface and file system, from an IS standpoint, is a luxury and doesn't outweigh the advantage of all the PC applications. The superiority of NetWare over NT, from an IS standpoint, is more a matter of urgency. How can you keep track of all 5,000 PCs and 500 new ones this year with the same staff and not much extra budget? NT runs more server-based applications, but Novell is making a good case that you can have your NT apps and manage them too if you blend in NetWare servers and NDS. I think you are also overlooking that an increasingly larger piece of Novell's business will come from NDS and applications linked to NDS. These products will be designed to flourish in a world in which NetWare, UNIX, and NT all continue to sell very well. That is the real world. If you look at Novell this way, as a developer of specialized, cross-platform services and applications, then you see once again that it is not a zero-sum game. Novell does not have to become another Microsoft to make most of us investors happy. An important niche player in the Internet (the niche is directory, not application serving as you indicated in your earlier post) with steady growth continuing over the next few years will be good enough for me. ###

To: Alomex who wrote (25518)	2/20/1999 12:31:00 AM
From: PJ Strifas	Respond to of 42771

<<You are betting your money that the average user will be technically sophisticated enough to see the difference between NT and Novell>> YOU are assuming the average user is buying Novell OS and installing it. From where I sit, MSFT's "win" over Apple had more to do with PC beating out the MacIntosh. I don't see many home users buying NT or NetWare last time I checked. If there were, the numbers were not impressive enough to shift percentages as you're assuming. The only market either company is worried about is Corporate America and Small Businesses. Forget how MSFT beat Apple and how the PC won the day. This is a completely different "battle" if you will. If MSFT sees this as the same thing, NOVL has won it already. It's not about USERS wanting anything, it will come down to what busiesses BUY for their users. The network has to be ubiquitous. Transparent to the user. User's don't care if it's NT or NetWare that let's them print, share files or access the internet. They want to do it when they need to do and and without having to pick up the phone and call the Help Desk. Period. When you look at it from this perspective, it's MSFT that has the uphill road. USERS are already more familiar with NT's "Blue Screen of Death" than anything else. So let's talk about them USERS.... Peter Strifas