Novell CEO Shakeup Puts Ron Hovsepian in Charge

jht writes "Arriving in my Inbox a few minutes ago (I'm a Novell Partner), was the announcement that effective immediately, CEO Jack Messman and CFO Joe Tibbetts are out of jobs at Novell. Existing president Ron Hovsepian was named CEO, and an interim CFO was named as well. Messman will stay on the board thru the end of October, though. A webcast of the conference call should be available shortly at www.novell.com/company/ir." ukhackster links to ZDNet's coverage of the shakeup, writing "It looks like [Messman's] been blamed for Novell's poor performance in the Linux space versus Red Hat. But can Linux ever be a real cash cow?"

Linux=CashCow

[infosec_spaz]

I agree with the guy up there...Linux is already a cash cow...Look at how many companies who make software that runs on Linux are very prosperous, and look at Novell...They have been around a long time, and they plan on being here much longer, hell, I love most of their software, it has a place, and as long as they keep up with the market, and know where to put the software, they will keep a strong customer base. That said, I know several companies who are already running their enterprise Linux, with Netware services and LOVE it!! Yes, Linux will continue to proliferate the enterprise, and as long as companies like Novell are pushing it, it will get there relatively fast.

Re:"can Linux ever be a cash cow?" & real reas

[Anonymous Coward]

Until the SuSE team learns what the term "regression" means in the software QA/QC arena and
learns to do Regression Testing, so that the YaST2/Patch RPM debacle is eliminated in SuSE 10.1,
no, Linux will NEVER be a cash cow for them.

I've been a loyal SuSE Professional customer for years, buying the retail box at retail in a
CompUSA, just to make sure that both CompUSA and SuSE get the revenue from it and are encouraged
by retail sales. Yeah, I could download and burn the bits for next to nothing, but I am willing
to support a worthwhile competitor to Red Hat, just to keep everybody on their toes.

But for them to break the YOU functionality in SuSE 10.1 AND NOT FIX IT FOR FCS is INEXCUSEABLE !!

I worked for many years for a major UNIX supplier, and that sort of issue was called a
SHOWSTOPPER bug and it meant STOP THE SHOW.

The fact that they refused to include updated versions of stuff like hplip and k3b is also fairly
short-sighted and stupid, but accurately reflects a lackadaisical attitude about product quality.

Re:Linux=CashCow

[Lumpy]

The funny part is the number of nay-sayers here that have zero clue as to the amount of penetration that linux has.

Linux is absolutely number one in integrated items. Most mp3 players at the home component level to many pocket units run linux. most DVD players sold run linux, most PVR's run linux, Commercial security pvr's run linux, almost all SIP phones are linux based.... the list goes on and on and on.

IP security cameras, etc...

In the high end home automation and integration bix I find linux to be more prevalent than microsoft or QNX or other os types simply because of cost (Crestron is a MS whore with their embedded XP but most of their items are repackaged devices available with linux already in them... Adagio Music server for one example.)

This is ignoring the server room and workstations.... Linux is everywhere.

Software no longer a cash cow.

[LWATCDR]

This is a problem that the software industry has to learn to deal with.
Software doesn't wear out.
Microsoft knows this, that is why they are trying so hard at linking Windows to a single machine. When the computer dies or is replaced you buy a new copy of Windows. How many people have bought WindowsXP over and over?
How many people are still using Office2000 because it really is good enough?
It is getting to the point where new features are not worth cost of buying an upgrade.
In the end software companies will have to become service companies. Red Hat knows this, I think Novell knows this. It is the support contracts stupid. Give them the software but charge them for support.

SUSE is a has been distro

[supersnail]

I recently crashed the disk on my laptop while I was on the road. I needed the machine back again quickly so I got a new hard drive, couldnt get hold of the recovery disks easily so I popped down to the local computer store and had a choice of Mandriva or Suse.
Suse was more expensive but I had previous experience of version 6.0.
On the whole the experience is rather disapointing. The basic Linux stuff works just fine
but the suse extras particularly YAST can be a real pain.
e.g. You double click on an .rpm file and it fires up yast software install which is nice, except that yast cant find the file as it deals in package lists and not rpms.
e.g. It keeps shifting the ethernet and wireless adapters between eth0 and eth1 depending on what was
active last. So you need to keep amending your wireless signon script (which you will need as yast gets you a wireless connection but no DNS server.)

The web site is now just abysmal it is 90% support for Novell legacy products with the suse support hidden in nooks and crannys which is a pity as suse's online support used to be excellent.

Re:Redhat and Novell

[DigitalPenguinDude]

I love SuSE and use both SuSE and Red Hat Enterprise at work. I work for a large defense contractor and we had to throw out SuSE because we could not make it DoD NISPOM chapter 8 compliant. This is required for computers which operate in classified environments. Its failure - PAM configuration and auditing. PAM configurations which support NISPOM 8 would crash on SuSE. The snare kernel (to support auding requirements http://www.intersectalliance.com/projects/Snare/ [intersectalliance.com]) for SuSE Pro (9.3) is not available. I could not get the patch to apply to thier kernel. RHEL4 could be made compliant, easily. Obviously Red Hat is working closely with customers and SuSE is not.

Re:Can linux ever be a real cash cow!?

[IAmTheDave]

Yeah, but it isn't Linux that's raking in the cash, it's supporting Linux. And if you're making millions and millions supporting and fixing people's Linux installations, what does that say about Linux?

Same thing it says about Windows?

Re:It's about damn time...

[yancey]

I'm glad to hear that sort of knowlegable and encouraging talk and am tired of companies who appoint a CEO only hoping to increase the stock price, with no idea of what the company is really about. Novell does have some very good products (eDirectory and Identity Manager are excellent) and moving the existing services from NetWare to Linux, especially taking advantage of 64-bit memory access) should be accelerated (in my opinion). It's obvious that there will never be a 64-bit NetWare and the NetWare platform is being asked to do too much, much more than was originally intended -- causing NetWare to be unstable (many memory leaks), in my opinion.

Moving to Linux and focusing the development resources on providing services is a good strategic direction. I'm also pleased that Novell has decided to make the Linux desktop a viable solution for those who are currently using Windows. Redhat, SuSE, and others have never made Linux as accessible as say Apple has done with Mac OS. I hope Novell will finally be able to take the lead and finally bring Linux desktops into the mainstream (not just in the workplace). When you look around, Windows is the only non-unix-based OS with any significant market share. Resistance is futile, Microsoft! Your days are numbered! Unix will prevail! :-)

Shark attack

[frenchguy73]

Hah hah, this is really funny. Hovsepian is such a shark, he's been manipulating people at all level for this purpose only. Not that Jack was any better (he was clueless about the product, direction and Linux) but the new CEO is only interested in his own carreer, not the company, nor its employees. Novell is even more borked now than it was after the Suse acquisition (an all time high). After the tumultuous Suse/Ximian in fighting (KDE vs Gnome, SLUX vs Groupwise vs Hula, Red Carpet vs whatever the Suse thingie is called, SUSE management vs Ximian management), it's a new year of failure for Novell. I hope Mono & Hula get out unscathed.

Re:Novell Continues to Circle the Drain

[yancey]

Novell still has a lot to offer. Just one example is Identity Manager, which synchronizes data between different kinds of systems in "real-time" (event driven). It can handle just about any type of directory service (eDir, AD, or LDAP) and any sort of database (Oracle, MSSQL, MySQL, Sybase, Postgres, etc.). It can synchronize accounts and passwords (bi-directionally with eDir, AD, and NT domains) to many systems, including various operating systems. Infoworld recently ranked [infoworld.com] it the best such solution available (and that was the older version). The product can also handle provisioning of resources automatically. The tools used to manage this very complex software make it about as simple and easy as it possibly could be. This sort of software is very beneficial to larger companies with many different types of systems that all need to be synchronized in some way.

Re:Redhat and Novell

[LnxAddct]

Completely understood and agreed. All I'm trying to get at is that the only advantage Ubuntu seems to have is that it fits on one CD. Fedora does everything else it does, and comes with a lot more software if you choose to install it. I just don't get how a distro fitting on one CD makes it better than a distro that comes with more functionality. You can't just say one is better than the other. They are both just as easy to use (for regular users and advanced users), one just comes with more software by default and arguably a little more thorough integration. So making the statement that Ubuntu is better seems ignorant at best. To me a "whatever fits your needs" approach is better. I've honestly given Ubuntu a good long try and many things about it just didn't click well with me. I guess I'm a "power user" so Fedora fits me better, but I guess I'm tired of hearing the Ubuntu camp call out other distros when they have nothing to stand on.
Regards,
Steve

Re:Offtopic, about immigration

[Anonymous Coward]

If you took "care" of all those cheapass americans that hired them instead of trying to build an expensive and hard-to-patrol 700+ mile fence, you'd get the problem solved way better. Though the problem is that many americans would never work for the small wages these employers pay. Though telling the employers that paying minimum wage to their workers would be un-capitalistic hence un-american hence un-patriotic. So, maybe we need to get your name and deport you ...

The problem is..

[Trendkill_84]

where is the PR machine? sure, WE know novell has linux, and WE know why linux is good, but where the heck is the PR for this product?

the reason why microsoft does so well has nothing to with their distrobution or the actual product, it has everything to do with getting the product out there, SHOWING people why they should buy linux.

i mean god, sure, ive seen advertisements for novell suse in computer magazines, slashdot etc, but what about at football stadiums (microsoft have a advertisement at the melbourne cricket ground, our biggest stadium, stating "microsoft windows xp: be whatever you want, be loyal" etc..) and places like shops where people would just wonder what the pc product is that promises stability, easy use, and why do they have a lizard as a icon?

in other words, the reason why novell isnt doing well with selling linux is that they are targeting the wrong audience and need to get their name and brand out there, simple as that. microsoft have that downpat.