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

To: fb who wrote (26893)	5/12/1999 9:28:00 AM
From: PJ Strifas	Read Replies (5) \| Respond to of 42771

Novell has something that MSFT doesn't - Eric Schmidt. Eric Schmidt is what Ballmer really wants to be and this article and many others like it are merely publicity pieces. I don't see MSFT moving away from their "dominant" OS position to web-based standards at all. Let's stand back for a moment and think... You run a company that CONTROLS the most vitally important component in end-user computing (for now), the OS. Do you: a) continue to develop full speed ahead leveraging your advantage OR b) slowly evolve your products to include all the buzz technology (like web-based apps etc)and in the process, corrupt the standards on which the internet is currently based on in your favor OR c) make people think you are really omnipotent and brave in dumping your hard fought "monopoly" for fair competition in a marketplace where you don't have the dominant standard or development tools? Once web-based computing begins to fly the way we techies know it will, there will be no more of this OS argument. Computing will transcend the OS and network to communciations - connecting with resources. This clearly points to the directory for what else does a directory do but logically present information about network resources. Ok, so my prejudice shines through here but let's face it, MSFT is already doing to XML (the future e-commerce language) what it did to JAVA, spoiling it by adding features that only work in the Windows environment. They don't care about standards in the sense that they are open. They take a standard then co-opt it into their system. Some people think MSFT is doing us a favor by "innovating" or extending someone ELSE's idea but are they? You know who really has the technology to make a big splash with web-based apps?? IBM. When you look at their services division (which MSFT could only dream of having) then add their products to the mix, the few places IBM falls short, Novell can bolster (NDS, Internet Caching, BorderManger). In other areas, their products overlap: ManageWise&ZENworks/Tivoli, GroupWise/Notes. Ok, enough of this tangent...back to Ballmer - he's good but he's not the savior he's being made out to be. I could be wrong but that's my honest opinion. He's the new poster boy for MSFT who will bear the burden of keeping people (DOJ) off Mr. Gates' back. Peter J Strifas