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: Frederick Smart who wrote (26784)	4/28/1999 12:19:00 AM
From: Frederick Smart	Respond to of 42771

Novell Sings..... Posted on AOL........ Subject: Novell Sings...... Date: 4/27/99 11:13 PM Central Daylight Time From: FKSmart Message-id: <19990428001338.23627.00000498@ng38.aol.com> I have been around this board for some time. Forgive me to diverting the attention away from Novell, but the massacre last week in Littleton should have sent shock waves through the glass houses we, too often, seem to find ourselves living in from day to day as we passively watch the tragedies of the world flicker across our screens from day to day. I did not partake in the news last week. I quietly listened to the trama from real sources second and third hand - from associates, bits on radio talk shows, my wife, even my little 5 year old son, etc. The human race seems to be lurching from one disaster to the next. We've all become too immune to the underlying signals. Sometimes it's best to take a walk in the forest and just listen to the wind. We've lost some of that inner voice. We've lost many of the songs and underlying music of our souls. For all the talk of "revolution" in technologies sweeping the world, let's first get our priorities in line. For while all these really neat changes are happening to free and enlighten us with more power, control and flexibility we are really having to re-learn many of the old truths that use to guide us from day to day. I firmly believe that mankind has been gradually losing touch with the value of our inner voice for years. We've taken pushed aside the quiet depth of inner peace in favor of the many loud voices, pictures, sounds, images that we now bathe in from day to day. It's fitting that this week is national "TV Tune-Out" week. I heard this from our Montessori school where my son goes to pre-school. I have the good fortune to have the time and flexibility to drive my son to school each morning - 10 minutes only, but I use this time to engage in a variety of conversations, stories, songs and made up words and melodies which I've been blessed to be able to creatively make up as I drive. I ask my son "Frederick, what story would you like for me to tell you this morning about when I was a little boy?" We have several subjects and story lines we've covered over the months and years. He gets to pick the story and then I launch into an exciting mix of song, intrigue and humor which all the necessary pauses, highlights, the climax and conclusion which I try to wrap up when I turn the corner into the parking lot at his school. I read to my son in depth during his first 2-3 years. With our second son, Thomas, this pattern has been more difficult to repeat. Too much going on, but the combined mix is still there - only one more set of ears to reach and somehow touch. These early years represent the golden age of our lives. It's when our foundations are laid which define our direction in life, the level of confidence we achieve to maintain our ground to hopefully remain true to that inner guide, that energy and voice that's our beam and direction throughout life. The two teenagers in Littleton set a horrifying example for millions of others throughout this country. This at a time when we are losing our way elsewhere in Europe. Polls, politics and news don't matter anymore. We've reached a stage where the entire field of world events is strewn with the wreakage of our collective failure to become responsible for our duty to live up to our potential - to live a basic moral life. For truth is on trial. And it looks like power and control has the upper hand. The massacre was a perverted exercise in exerting power and control in a way that only power and control acts - through acts of destruction, loss which leads to more emptiness, loathing and a search for more answers. I'd like to see more INDIVIDUALS from our day to day lives step up to the plate and set examples for others to follow. Examples of faith, hope and the positive energy we all have which can be shared freely and openly with thankfullness and not an ounce of any expectation of any return. During the past year I have been experimenting in the streets of life here in the inner city of Chicago with my own message of hope and encouragement. The energy of hope and faith mixed with good ideas has a way of naturally spreading and radiating goodwill. I am just one person, but I believe there is a movement afoot in which the collective voices of individuals like myself will - with these new technologies - find more of a home and sense of community. Just when you think the world is at it's darkest point is the exact time when rays of light peak through new openings which you never new existed. This is what I feel is happening right now. Please join me in this collective crying song which derives from the combined inner voices of many - all wondering why, all wondering when, all wondering how things can somehow be changed and moved into an unfolding of a positive, hopeful spirit which can save us. Novell is singing this song. It's the song of individual energy, community and a new positive, creative spirit which has the power to reshape everything in the world. It's time for the "era of the individual." Leverging our God given right to reach out, impact others in positive ways that add value to life and the world around us. Individuals need more time. These new technologies have the potential to radically restructure how we go about allocating time. I see the Internet and a growing legion of empowered individuals embracing this trend, working new ways to allocate what we spend on basic goods and services more efficiently, freeing up more time for people to leverage their imact for positive change in this world. Call me naive. Call me idealistic. Call me whatever you want. But this is the way of the future. Get out of the way. We've come up with four words that define this process: MEET....NETWORK.....EMPOWER.....GROW Get out of your comfort zone. Meet people. Get to know and respect them in a plane that emphasizes the many wonderful examples of shared ideas and energy between us, them and the people and experiences we have all come to know and learn from along the road of life. Empower those around you to grow. Encourage them to be bigger, better than you are. Envision their future success. Be a mentor to anyone you meet - strangers and friends alike. Then sit back and watch the magic take over as positive energy begins to assert itself and growth sets in. Sorry for this diversion away from Novell, but Novell IS in this model. Novell's future rests within these new trends. It's all about the responsibility we all have to to become the unlimited, great ambassadors of positive energy during this very short time we have to spend on this earth. GO!! Ida5683

To: Frederick Smart who wrote (26784)	4/28/1999 12:45:00 AM
From: ToySoldier	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 42771

Fredrick, I have Senior Technical IT Architects and Customer IT Architects that still do not have a strong understanding of what NDS and a full-service DS can provide our customer/themselves. Selling NDS is very difficult and I still think NOVL is missing the boat it engaging some really smart advertisers that can humanize the NDS concept and then broadcasting this message. I still think they should start a few TV ads that would equate a Directory Service (NDS) to some common DS icons in life. Example: Clip1: A woman looking through a telephone book & she says "I'm using a Directory" Clip2: A man looking through a card catalog at a library says "I'm using a Directory" Clip3-4: Other common scenes.... Clips5-7: Novell Logo and partner products like Groupwise, Lucent, IBM, Peoplesoft, etc. and the users on the product also say "We're using a Directory" Closing clips: Novell & NDS logos and words... Just a lame TV commercial idea (I never said I was a great advertising company prospect) but you know what I'm getting at. NOVL must get they concept in front of corporations that are not currently interested in NOVL because of the "NOVL is a dying company" thoughts. Believe me, there are still a TON of these IT directors out there that think this. It has just been too quiet at NOVL. I have a bad feeling about the prospects of Digital-Me within NOVL. And the longer that NOVL is staying quiet about Digital-Me, the more nervous I get. I have worked closely with NOVL for 13 years and I have seen many good ideas go a muck because of political in-fighting. I hope I am wrong that with Eric there now, this in-fighting on a GREAT concept won't cripple Digital-Me. Come on NOVL - show us some signs that this product is not just a great idea! NOVL MUST create an "Internet Solutions" division that can focus on these products and ISP-required products/services. I still fear that at least one VP at NOVL is too focused on the initial goals set by Eric. He cannot see that Internet and e-commerce solutions like Digital-Me and I-Chain MUST BE developed at Internet Speed - as they termed it themselves during the Global Partners Summit. PRACTICE WHAT YOU PREACH! Toy

To: Frederick Smart who wrote (26784)	4/28/1999 11:29:00 AM
From: PJ Strifas	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 42771

Hello Fredrick! I think this sums it up very well: << Find these little communities and ALL their related resources, etc. Connect and tie these zones of influence and resource info and apps together so that community participants can enjoy a value-added which THEY - not Yahoo, AOL - control and can more direcly benefit from.>> If this message would get out into the minds of the general public, I feel it would do more than any other type of advertising known to all of us. The message of CONTROLLING your own information would start great debate/discussion - even if digitalme can't at this time provide the type of control we would think is necessary. It would bring hope to people that it could evolve/develop into something that could. This alone would be worth alot in terms of mindshare and attention. Do you think this would directly relate to Novell's persception as an internet company thus fueling stock growth? If so, what plateau do you feel Novell would climb to with this type of market perception? ($80-$90 range?). Would we see Novell moving to higher trading multiples that companies like AOL, YAHOO and MSFT enjoy? From what I understand, Novell doesn't move in this type of atmosphere but is rather tied to it's revenue and thus more traditional valuations. I'm hoping this will change to reflect the more exciting and potentially huge gains of the "internet companies" with the coming products and alliances Novell has charted for this year. Growing leaves is a clever analogy but we still need to feed the snow to polar bears. I'm watching groups of people introduced to the networking world via MSFT's MCSE certification program who have NO experience with Novell (or any other OS) and don't care to. I hear them spout MSFT doctrine (really marketing hype) as truth and quite frankly it borders on silly but...it's happening. I'm rather alarmed by some of the ignorance and subsequent arrogance of these self-proclaimed networking gurus who don't even know that MSFT's NT doesn't handle TCP/IP natively! How can you be an "internet company" when your product doesn't even do "internet" for real!?! What happens when this "generation" hits the workforce and their decisions are more influenced by what they know (and hear) from MSFT alone? MSFT is churning out point-and-click Network Engineers who basically become drones for the company and these people will likely NOT see the light of NDS any day soon. Peter J Strifas PS- This weekend we're planning a test of NDS for NT 2.0. What we plan to see is if Novell's NDS-enabled products will work on this NT box (such as ZENworks). Theoretically they should but if the proof is there, this is a MAJOR coup for Novell. It proves that the sales of directory-related products is the future and not server sales. If anyone else has done the same, I'd love to hear from you. Please send private message :) Thanks!