Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

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

To: Loring who wrote (26499)	4/6/1999 4:43:00 PM
From: PJ Strifas	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 42771

Honestly, I think that MSFT is re-thinking their AD strategy in light of their recent beta test. This is evident in their deal with Banyan which will take some time to bear fruit but they will ship AD with Windows 2000. There just won't be any tools to go with it. In the past, MSFT has allowed 3rd party developers to create and maintain tools for their OSs. This is how they create a market for smaller fish to feed on and creates more demand for their product. But honestly, if the underlying foundation (AD) is too rigid and non-scalable, all the tools in the world won't matter much. I do think that MSFT will instead focus on integrating Banyan's directory services (especially LDAP and LDUP support) into AD version 2.0 which will be some 2-3 years off. Will this product compete with NDS? Depends on your perspective. In the enterprise, NO. In the small biz, yes. In branch offices, maybe. AD will have to overcome architectual design limitations to do what NDS does today. It's like taking a classic Corvette convertible and restoring it. Looks great, sounds great but underneath, it's still ancient technology. But in the small biz market (up to 50/75 users), NT is a very powerful tool. NetWare has just now only slowed NT's push into this market segment. Will Windows 2000 push NetWare completely off the map? No, but it will cause alot of people to think 3 and 4 times about going to NT who in the past have resisted it. Then again, those people who aren't on NT already have a real good reason NOT to be. What does this mean for Novell? There are too many variables to say for certain that one OS is better than the other. Each has strengths and weakness while NetWare does the better job of co-existing in a hetergenous environment. We all know good and well MSFT's mantra of embrace and extend. In the end, NetWare's ability to work in a mixed environment with a fully functional directory service will keep it thriving well into the next decade and beyond. I'd be more worried if MSFT gets clear of the DOJ and still has it's ability to "innovate" intact. What keeps MSFT from integrating their products with NT to kill off UNIX, NetWare, AIX et al? Oh yeah...TCP/IP :) Peter J Strifas

To: Loring who wrote (26499)	4/7/1999 11:29:00 AM
From: PJ Strifas	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 42771

I don't know exactly how MSFT is going to handle the head-to-head comparisions of NDS to AD. It's goint to be difficult to do that from a technology standpoint. I can see them touting AD and Windows 2000 as a vastly improved product over NT 4 but beyond that... What they will do is incorporate new features into their current line of products (and their upgrades) that leverages AD over NDS. They will work to make their products NDS unfriendly in as many ways as possible. Will that be enough? Will that really deter users from using NDS? Possibly... But to do that would alienate all the software developers they have supporting their WinAPIs. Once they start down that road...I don't see how they would be able to hide such an overtly monopolistic play. A browser war is one thing, a directory war will be a totally different animal. Also, this approach would be harmful to it's own products since they would have to literally re-engineer the login process which of course leads to changes in Active Directory. Which leads us back to the start of this circle, why not just develop a better directory? I think MSFT will take a step back from AD and see that it's really a huge undertaking which will in no way, shape or form be a competitor to NDS at the same level for a few years to come. They will try to get people to wait it out but anything more than 2 years and the game changes. NDS will continue to evolve and at some point, no marketing hype can hide it from customers eyes. Peter Strifas