Microsoft planning to buy Novell

An internal memo leaked by an anonymous (and unhappy) management level worker at Novell shows an already ongoing plan whereby Microsoft will acquire Novell, by a stock transfer operation to take place in the next few months. Both companies have their legal teams working on the technicalities.

The memo shows that the merge will keep the SUSE trademark for all products. Internally MS has already prepared a team to maintain the product, and work on the merge process, says the 20 page document, that seems to have reached most high level executives of Novell and MS.

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April Fools Hoax? Most definately! It was posted on April 1st Sunday. This post was partly responsible for a short rally on Monday, but by Tuesday, Novell was back down after a downgrade by Jefferies & Co.

http://suse-irc.org/news.php

GWAVA - You rock!

GWAVA just announced today that they are going to start taking Novell GroupWise Support calls. This is a great thing for Novell and GroupWise. GWAVA centers their business around GroupWise. Their business is GroupWise! I think Novell should just let GWAVA buy their GroupWise business. We should just call it GWAVA GroupWise!

Read the Press Release -

Develop Your IT Skills, Raise Your Standard of Living

The information technology field is highly competitive, and it’s only getting worse. As more fresh-faced college kids flood into the employment pool, getting a good paying job has become an upstream swim. Here is a comprehensive overview on how to make more money in IT and learn valuable skills in the process.



read more | digg story

New Feature on Bucky's Blog

Check out my latest links of interest which is a little further down on my blog. I'm constantly bookmarking different web sites and then searching through my bookmarks later on for reference. Well now you can see what links have been of interest to me. The links are posted here and I think could be very useful. They are IT / Novell / Linux related links, both good TID's that I find and also good articles.

- Bucky

MS and Novell Dance

Novell and Microsoft are learning to dance together. Or should I say Novell is dancing with the devil. Well however you take this, surprise, shock.... Pigs can now fly and it could be snowing in hell... One of the major stories today was the announcement that these two old foes are now collaborating together. They said that this has been in the works since around last April and Novell was the one to approach Microsoft.

Who loses and who wins?

Losers: Red Hat, Oracle
Another adversary of Microsoft - Oracle is offering a version of Linux based on the Red Hat Distribution that will be cheaper than Red Hat and will be supported in enterprises that is cheaper than Red Hat. Red Hat shares were tumbling this week because of this news and it looked that Novell was being squeezed out of the picture. This helps paint the picture of Microsoft's agenda and motives. Microsoft needs to fend off the blow from Oracle and at the same time jump into the Open Source Pool.

Winners: Microsoft, Novell, Open Source, and most importantly Enterprise Customers.
There are many more winners than losers with this announcement. I noticed that HP was on the podium during the press release. I couldn't help wondering what IBM and Dell were thinking about this announcement.

This is HUGE for Novell. Novell has a very strong friend and ally. Novell gets a stamp of approval in the enterprise data centers. Microsoft endorses Novell SUSE Linux!

This is HUGE for the customer. Anytime there is collaboration it's a big win.

Here is a summary of key items in today's announcement:
1. Interoperability
The lawyers have made sure that Microsoft and Novell will not step on each others patents. Microsoft and Novell will work together bridging propietary source code with Open Source code.

2. Collaboration

• a. Virtualization
• b. SUSE Linux on Windows. Windows on SUSE Linux. Paravirtualization
• c. Web Services - bringing Linux and Windows services together. .NET and MONO
• d. eDirectory and Active Directory Federation. Think AD on Linux.
• e. ODF Open Document Format. Microsoft Office and Open Office

This message and announcement solidifies Open Source in the Data Center. While Novell and Microsoft will still compete, they will also collaborate.

SysAdmin said it best - There is a disturbance in the Force!

Microsoft and Novell Major Announcement

SEATTLE (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ:MSFT - ) is entering into an agreement with Novell Inc. (NASDAQ:NOVL -) that will allow open-source Linux software to work with the company's Windows software, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday.

Microsoft plans to make a major announcement later on Thursday, but declined to comment on the article.

Shares of Novell rose 16.7 percent on the news, while open-source rival Red Hat Inc. (NASDAQ:RHAT - ) shares fell 4.5 percent in afternoon Nasdaq trade.

Link Here for CBS MarketWatch News

Uncle Ray Noorda dead at 82

Ray Noorda, the visionary of Novell in the Late 80's and early 90's passed away today at the age of 82 at his home in Orem, Utah.

Ray Noorda led Novell Inc. as CEO from 1983 to 1995 and was a leader in the world of computer networking.

Noorda was widely recognized as the "Father of Network Computing" for his vision of what technology would do to tie together business computing around the world, according to Canopy.

At Novell we knew Mr Noorda as "Uncle Ray". I had an opportunity to meet with Uncle Ray many times at Novell. When I was a new employee in 1990 I was staying late one evening and Ray Noorda came walking through my office looking for his son, Andy, but stopped to talk with me. I didn't know that was Ray at the time and I had a nice conversation with him. Later Andy Noorda was my supervisor. When I first received my CNE certification in 1991, Ray Noorda himself showed up to present me with a CNE Jacket and gave me a hug. (It helped to be working with his son, Andy.)

Ray Noorda was a millionare, but you wouldn't know it. He had a small office with no windows and still drove his old Ford Pickup. He was a man of integrity. I sure do miss those days - they were a lot of fun!

Ray Noorda tried to compete head to head with Microsoft in 1994 by merging Novell with WordPerfect Corporation and buying Borland Paradox. While Novell was focusing on the Application Suite and taking it's eye off Novell's Leading networking products, Microsoft was able to creep in and better it's Networking Products.

Drew Major, a co-founder of Novell, said in a statement that Noorda was "a great mentor to all of his employees and gave us all opportunities to grow. With his integrity, he built a trust and a bond in the early Novell years that empowered us together to go out and change the world. Not only was he respected and appreciated by those who partnered with him but also by those who competed against him. Ray Noorda left a legacy of connecting computers and people and companies together."

Ray Noorda later headed up the Canopy Group as a Utah Venture Capitalist company.

We'll miss you Uncle Ray

NetWare's Early Years

Dave Kearns writes about where to read about NetWare's early years.

Link - Network World - Dave Kearns

Yes ... it's true that I like to look back on Novell's glory days. Those years were very good to me. First as a customer installing NetWare 2.12, then when I joined Novell in the heyday of NetWare in 1990...



Wikipedia - History of Novell
Short History of Novell
Novell Museum - The History of Novell
Novell Museum
History of Computing 1982-1983
The History of IPX and XNS - Novell and Xerox
Novell's Pressroom Website - History of Novell

Does Open Source matter? It does to IBM and HP.

Do you know someone in IT that thinks Open Source doesn't matter? You may want to point them to this article from the Motley Fool and have them think again. The Open Source movement is BIG business. Just ask IBM or HP.

IBM, since 2001, has invested $1 Billion in Linux. It is the biggest open source corporate backer. However, it's also worth taking a note of activities at HP. HP is within striking distance of replacing IBM as the largest technology company. HP is taking an interesting "Switzerland" neautral approach supporting both Microsoft, and Open Source. I noticed that not only are they supporting Red Hat and Novell but there was also an announcement at LinuxWorld that HP is also offering Debian Linux support.

It appears to me that IBM and HP are competing and it's the Open Source movement that will give these large corporations the edge.

Read this Motley Fool article: IBM opens the Open-Source Floodgates

IBM opens the Open-Source Floodgates