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

To: PJ Strifas who wrote (26895)	5/12/1999 10:42:00 AM
From: fb	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 42771

Thanks for your thoughts, Peter. I suppose I'm just a VERY frustrated, VERY long suffering long, and I get SOOOOO sick and tired of hearing all good things about ol "Softie", and almost NEVER....EVER....see any advertising from NOVL. I want NOVL to gain "mindshare" among the non- techie folks out here (like myself). I mention NOVL to any of MY friends, and they say: WHO?? Thanks again for the post. fb

To: PJ Strifas who wrote (26895)	5/12/1999 11:11:00 AM
From: ToySoldier	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 42771

IBM to roll out directory of directories By MARC SONGINI Network World Fusion, 05/11/99 LAS VEGAS - IBM this week is expected to unveil software for building massive directories that can store and serve up the data needed to support security and policy-management schemes across multivendor networks. The company's unnamed offering, which IBM plans to announce at NetWorld+Interop 99, will serve as a directory of directories, presenting a consolidated view of information stored in assorted directories across a network. The company's metadirectory product will use the Lightweight Directory Access Protocol to tap into information repositories, such as Novell Directory Services, and directories associated with specific applications, such as Lotus Domino. <more to article...> nwfusion.com Toy

To: PJ Strifas who wrote (26895)	5/12/1999 6:03:00 PM
From: PJ Strifas	Respond to of 42771

Here's a good opinion piece....nice to hear the industry is starting to really look at NOVELL as an industry leader again. This may help those non-techies with where Novell stands in regard to MSFT. Peter J Strifas _____________________________ Bill Gates' repositioning of Microsoft for the Internet is the stuff of business magazine legend. The restless software czar, stung by upstart Netscape, turns his empire on a dime to face the Web challenge. Stirring. But there's another Internet repositioning act going on that may prove even more impressive. Novell CEO Eric Schmidt has dragged NetWare from its defensive position as an NT-ravaged also-ran to a bright future as a hard-core 'Net applications platform. And given the evolution of Java and e-commerce, Schmidt and Novell are heading for the sweet spot of the market. It's hard to grasp the idea of NetWare as a robust applications server. I know - I covered the announcement of AppWare more years ago than I care to remember. NetWare was always hamstrung by its inability to support applications. But that's changing - dramatically. NetWare 5 is a fast engine for Web applications, and Novell is going beyond performance by making NetWare a heck of a development environment. It has bundled Oracle 8i, IBM's WebSphere and Netscape Enterprise Server. The company also plans native HTTP support and clustering and multiprocessingenhancements. With a strong directory, management tools and caching services, Novell has crafted a very capable platform for the network-centric applications that a growing number of developers and enterprises are building. And NetWare is only going to get better in the months (years?) before the bloated Windows 2000 arrives. A big challenge for Novell is that many customers don't buy an operating environment simply because it is the fastest or most open. They buy it because a particular application runs on it. That's where Microsoft's strong ties to enterprise applications providers and the top software makers are so important. Novell should cultivate stronger relations with developers, but time and technology will aid the cause, as well. More software companies are building for the open Web environment, and that will bring the weight of their development efforts over to Novell's side. Novell is somewhat reluctant to boast about NetWare's new application strengths because it doesn't want to go head-to-head against Microsoft during this rebuilding period. But that should change. It's too good a story for Novell to keep to itself. John Gallant, Editor in chief jgallant@nww.com

To: PJ Strifas who wrote (26895)	5/13/1999 10:08:00 AM
From: Peter Bernhardt	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 42771

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... Good series of posts, Peter. As both a NOVL shareholder and CNE I have more than a little sympathy for your point-of-view. However, I am also an applications developer and I am afraid to report that virtually all of my work is done using Microsoft development tools (Visual Basic, C++, Interdev) for applications running on a Microsoft platform (Windows NT, Transaction Server, Exchange Server, MS SQL Server, IIS, etc.). My firm hasn't gone totally over to the dark side, though, as we still use Netware 4.11 for file and print services. What I'd love as a developer (and shareholder and Novell tech) is to have the opportunity to work more with Novell and Novell-related products. Unfortunately, Novell has not made that easy. Their pre-release of Netware 5.0, for example, was a limited-time release and by the time I got around to installing it on my machine, the release period had expired. Whatever happened to single-user copies? I may be wrong, and I'd love to hear differently, but from my experience Novell has not been effective in getting its products into the hands of the people who will make a difference and in providing the resources needed to put those products to effective use. Marketing hype aside, Microsoft has been extremely successful in nurturing its community of developers. And Novell would do well here to take a page from Microsoft's book. - Peter B

To: PJ Strifas who wrote (26895)	5/23/1999 9:35:00 PM
From: rudedog	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 42771

PJ - Eric Schmidt is what Ballmer really wants to be and this article and many others like it are merely publicity pieces. I think you need to look deeper. Ballmer is not a bit like Schmidt - Ballmer is no technologist, and does not pretend to be. What he is and has been throughout Microsoft's history is a very effective decision-maker and leader. I believe that the impact of the recent organizational changes are far reaching and we will see a substantial shift in the way MSFT does business as a result. But there is no need IMHO for Schmidt to do Ballmer-style PR. NOVL has made a remarkable transition from dead-end NOS company to a company which has developed thought leadership and cutting edge products which have revitalized opinion about its prospects and future. All NOVL and Schmidt need to do is deliver and they will assure success for themselves and for all of NOVL's long-suffering shareholders.