Novell CEO Shakeup Puts Ron Hovsepian in Charge 129
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?"
Can linux ever be a real cash cow!? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Can linux ever be a real cash cow!? (Score:2, Offtopic)
Re:Can linux ever be a real cash cow!? (Score:3, Insightful)
Can it? Is that a rhetorical question? Linux already is a cash cow, I think Redhat proved that long ago...
I think IBM have proven that as well.
Keep in mind, if you have companies raking in billions supporting Windows, you're doing something wrong if you can't do it with Linux
Re:Can linux ever be a real cash cow!? (Score:3, Interesting)
Same thing it says about Windows?
Re:Can linux ever be a real cash cow!? (Score:1)
Don't be silly. (Score:2)
Your inuendo is frankly puerile.
Re:Can linux ever be a real cash cow!? (Score:3, Insightful)
- Is this "cash cow" producing cash?
- Or is this "cash cow" eating cash?
Re:Can linux ever be a real cash cow!? (Score:1)
A positive outlook for RedHat from Barron's (Score:3, Informative)
Like this? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Like this? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Like this? (Score:3, Funny)
Jun 22 11:38:53 ipx-svr-lol NovelCEO (): Re-parsing mission statement...
Jun 22 11:38:55 ipx-svr-lol NovelCEO (): [FATAL] Out Of Equity
"can Linux ever be a cash cow?" & real reason? (Score:1)
Also, is the real reason they were removed from their positions due to Novell not performing in the Linux market the push behind this decision? Or is this classic media hype/speculation?
Re:"can Linux ever be a cash cow?" & real reas (Score:2, Interesting)
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 willi
Re:"can Linux ever be a cash cow?" & real reas (Score:1)
Absolutely!. I wholeheartedly agree with that principal. It is not only important to act in such a way, but it is important for people to un
Re:"can Linux ever be a cash cow?" & real reas (Score:2)
If you think 10.1 was bad, have you actually tried Samba or Ximian Evolution with th
I don't know .... (Score:4, Insightful)
I just don't know how to feel !! Help me Slashdot...
Re:I don't know .... (Score:2, Informative)
Re:I don't know .... (Score:1, Insightful)
Re:I don't know .... (Score:4, Funny)
No wonder Messman left. He must be tired from all that hanky-panky.
For the want of a proofreader. (Score:3, Insightful)
Names?
Why don't the editors actually correct errors in these articles they post?
It just looks shoddy when articles are posted to inform and aren't even checked for basic grammar.
Re:For the want of a proofreader. (Score:2, Funny)
Re:For the want of a proofreader. (Score:1)
Re:For the want of a proofreader. (Score:1)
Re:For the want of a proofreader. (Score:3, Funny)
Does your compiler check your code for you and alert you to errors?
If you can't communicate properly and grammar check your communications, why do you even check your code for accuracy?
It's a simple point of being correct and accurate or looking like a chump because you don't proof your own work.
To illustrate my point, you typed:
"Seriously if your just too damn stupid to figure it out maybe you should not be reading it."
Your you are. Basically, yo
Re:For the want of a proofreader. (Score:3, Insightful)
"You're got professional and accurate and you've got shoddy."
Looks like I'm a prime example.
"You've got professional and accurate and you've got shoddy."
It figures, I'd catch that one after proofing it and sending.
Also I typed "your is not your" using the greater than and less than symbols. Slashdot seems to filter that out.
Linux=CashCow (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Linux=CashCow (Score:5, Interesting)
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.
Re:Linux=CashCow (Score:2)
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.
The funny part is the number of linux supporters here that have zero clue as to what profit means. The
Software no longer a cash cow. (Score:5, Interesting)
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.
Re:Software no longer a cash cow. (Score:3, Insightful)
The problem is that even if you pay your hard earned cash for "support", you get some bozo who knows less than I do, and usually the "solution" is for them to blame the hardware or anybody else they can blame.
I find that OSS mailing lists are better in that you are in contact with the actual developers who know the guts of the code in question. AND!! Its free!
Once you pay for "support", the best thing I've ever received is a person who is
Re:Software no longer a cash cow. (Score:2)
Re:Software no longer a cash cow. (Score:2)
Not just Corporate Users (Score:2)
The problem with main stream software developers is that they depended on increased growth. What happens when everyone that needs a copy of word has one?
Software companies need to move from the idea of sales as profit base to service as a profit base.
Re:Software no longer a cash cow. (Score:2)
Re:Linux=CashCow (Score:1)
Re:Linux=CashCow (Score:2)
Thats why you are seeing the drop off in support for the dead end, expensive, forced upgrade cycle products and the shift to open source where the software develops at a pace defined by the customer and not by the supplier
What a load... (Score:5, Insightful)
of crap. Linux distros are already making money and growing. The real issue is wether a distro can become a monopoly like MS. And the answer is no. That can never occur due to the GPL.
Re:What a load... (Score:2, Insightful)
BigDatabaseVendor: I vote we exclusively support DistroX
BigMiddlewareVendor: me top me too
BigIntegrationVendor: Yep
BigDatabaseVendor: We also have to strongarm or buy out our competition
DistroX: We need exclusive OEM rights from a DudeYourgettingahardwareVendor and OverPricedBlueBoxVendor.
All: $$$$$
You are always free to make whatever work on whatever platform you wish if you have the source, but $upport is required for the PHB's and yo
Re:What a load... (Score:1)
So it doesn't matter if you are running CentOS, Fedora, or HomeMadeOSBasedOffRedHat, if it's not REDHAT AS SPECIFICVERSIONNUMBER, they are gonna tell you to go pound sand. Thats not to say the the app/middleware/etc... wont run, you'll just be unsupported, and if you can fix it your self 100% of the time, more power t
Re:What a load... (Score:2)
Why spend their time and money keeping up their own OS when they can use Linux and devote their time to other development?
Return of Hubert Mantel? (Score:2, Insightful)
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?
Wonder if Hovsepian will be on the phone with Hubert Mantel [slashdot.org]?
Or is that whole KDE/Gnome thang just a bridge too far?
A little off-topic, but here are a few ideas I've always had for Novel:
Re:Return of Hubert Mantel? (Score:2, Insightful)
1. Why should they do that? There are plenty of good open source or otherwise free compilers out there. I fail to see what Novell can gain by creating a compiler for any language that already exists (or creating a new language for that matter)
2. The embedded market is a good place to look for growth, but I don't think those devices will, in general, make good use of a directory server. If they jumped into providing embedded OS's, and could outcompete companies like montavista, could help their cashflow
Re:Return of Hubert Mantel? (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Return of Hubert Mantel? (Score:5, Insightful)
1) Redhat, who I am pretty sure is the leading Linux distributor, does not have their own C/C++ compiler. The responsibility for a compiler does not really fall on the software makers so much as it should fall on the chip makers. Look at the vast majority of *nix systems with non-gcc compilers readily available. HP-UX, the main commercial compiler is available from HP, who either developed or help develop both the PA-RISC and Itanium chips their OS runs on. The same is true of Sun Solaris, though you can freely acquire Sun Studio 11 now to do the majority of this work for you, once again they are the ones with the chip, UltraSparc in this case. Repeat for AIX. There are also Intel based compilers available for their various chips on various platforms. None of the makers of the Operating Systems does not have some hand in the chips as well.
2) For all we know they are.
3) Sort of like 2, except let them work the bugs out in Linux first.
4) They do still have offices in Provo. They just learned that none of the good upper management and executive people wanted to live in a) One of the whitest and non-diverse areas in the country and b) The religious (and political, and social) conservative capital of the US. Your statement is insane. So every company based in Silicon Valley is just a moment away from death? Btw, I do not mean to sound like I am flaming on Utah, but it is a valid complaint that it is a tightly conservative area and not very diverse either (85% white, 9% hispanic).
Re:Return of Hubert Mantel? (Score:1)
Offtopic, about immigration (Score:1)
Its Vicente, not Vincente, btw... And he seems to be exporting our "Spaceship C" population, so dont think theres not a method to his madness...
(Moderators, this is a joke, and not my actual political opinion about my compatriots having to cross deadly extensions of desert, or risk trigger happy commando ranchers just to get a job as a gardener or flipping burgers)
Re:Offtopic, about immigration (Score:1, Interesting)
Re:Return of Hubert Mantel? (Score:1)
Re:Return of Hubert Mantel? (Score:2)
Re:Return of Hubert Mantel? (Score:2)
Re:Return of Hubert Mantel? (Score:3, Insightful)
I think you meant to say "NDS for Symbian", not Sybian. Although it is much funnier your way.
Re:Return of Hubert Mantel? (Score:3, Funny)
Hmmmm... Imagine a Beowulf cluster of those. That'd be one noisy server room.
Heads will roll (Score:5, Insightful)
More on the shakeup [theregister.co.uk].
We're seeing this more now (think Sun [com.com] and SGI [byteandswitch.com]) -- companies that are underperforming making changes at the top in the hopes of generating new intitiatives and pumping up the stock price. It remains to be seen if all the bloodletting will lead to any marked improvement in the short term -- new execs have to deal with things as they are and try to untangle the mess left on their desk before they can move forward.
Re:Heads will roll (Score:3, Insightful)
Well, but firing a few engineers and keeping the management that created the problem in the first place would be even worse. At least they really get rid of those that are responsible.
Re:Heads will roll (Score:3, Insightful)
These companies are trying to adapt, but the fact is that their market niche was absorbed by the commodity PC market (pentiums and opterons,) which is low-margin and highly competitive.
The dinos are gone, some crocs are left. (Score:2)
The depth and width of what Sun can offer is not even attempted by Dell, HP makes money from printers from goodnes sakes....
Re:The dinos are gone, some crocs are left. (Score:2)
Dell and HP are eating Sun for lunch right now at their own game (selling server hardware,) so I do consider it a valid comparison.
SGI *not* underperforming (Score:1, Insightful)
It is bankrupt.
They just sold off their corporate headquarters building to Google.
Re:SGI *not* underperforming (Score:2)
Re:Heads will roll (Score:2)
It's about damn time... (Score:5, Insightful)
If any of you had ever seen Messman speak at LinuxWorld, BrainShare, or other events, you should have recognized that he was just reading words off of a sheet of paper (or teleprompter). He didn't seem to exhibit even the most basic of understanding when it came to either major Novell product focus (Identity Management and Linux/Open Source). Additionally, he wasn't the best public speaker. Don't get me wrong, he was a great guy - just not the type of person to reinvent a company like Novell.
Novell has some great ideas, better products, and a cohesive strategy. Ron Hovsepian is the type of person to leverage these strengths and bring Novell back to the position of strength it once enjoyed.
Re:It's about damn time... (Score:2)
Re:It's about damn time... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:It's about damn time... (Score:3, Interesting)
Redhat and Novell (Score:5, Insightful)
hand is gonna find themselves in serious trouble quickly I am thinking. When RedHat decided to take focus off their desktop to capitalize on the enterprise market it was a smart thing to do short term to generate more revenue. Now enter ubuntu, hell I don't know many admins or various desktop users that don't use ubuntu for their desktops. The net effect of that is I now prefer it as a serving platform also. RedHat sold their soul for quick money but it is going to kill them in the end. Same goes for Novell, you have to have a good strategy front to back.
Re:Redhat and Novell (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Redhat and Novell (Score:1)
Re:Redhat and Novell (Score:2)
Ubuntu's base image is geared for desktop use and to fit on a single CD. User applications are more important than compilers for "Joe Average." Compilers are readily available from the repositories. "sudo apt-get install gcc . . . etc."
Re:Redhat and Novell (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Redhat and Novell (Score:2)
The actual systems used to manage packages mean nothing. Deb and RPM are equal. What does matter (and is why I like Ubuntu more and I think its the better of the two) is how many packages a distro has.
Thanks to its forking of Sid, Ubuntu has over 16000 packages in its repos. Fedora at its best has maybe 6000 before a new release (which is then knocked down because the thi
Re:Redhat and Novell (Score:3, Informative)
It's based on Fedora Core 3, just like the rest of the RHEL 4.
I hate to be the Red Hat shill, but damn, there's a lot of uninformed opinions about Red Hat going on around here.
Re:Redhat and Novell (Score:2, Insightful)
Lastly, there currently is very little money in the Linux desktop market. Red Hat is involved in the enterprise not because it's a short term solution, but because that's wh
Re:Redhat and Novell (Score:5, Insightful)
-Erwos
Re:Redhat and Novell (Score:2, Interesting)
SUSE is a has been distro (Score:4, Interesting)
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
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:SUSE is a has been distro (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:SUSE is a has been distro (Score:2)
The bigger issue is Novell's marketing. They don't know where they are going wi
Re:SUSE is a has been distro (Score:3, Insightful)
SUSE 10.1 is a very clean distribution and a worthy successor to the line. Thanks to Andreas, it now includes Novell's ZenWorks updater which takes the pain out of updating software from non-official repositorys (apt, yum, yast, whatever) and is a beautiful feature. I haven't put the system on my notebook (running 10.0) yet, so I don't know if the wireless/wired bug has been fixed.
Ye
Comment removed (Score:4, Insightful)
Wow 10% rise in shares (Score:2)
Novell Continues to Circle the Drain (Score:1)
Re:Novell Continues to Circle the Drain (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Novell Continues to Circle the Drain (Score:2)
Re:Novell Continues to Circle the Drain (Score:1)
I am not saying their software is useless, just that the company is becoming increasingly
Shark attack (Score:2, Interesting)
The OS will never really be profitable (Score:1)
Linux can be a real cash cow for Novell. (Score:2)
My point is they can very well fill a void in the linux ecosystem if they try to play along and dont try to tie people into SUSE in every as
Blame the ones responsible, please (Score:4, Informative)
Well, I'll bet they were hoping their GroupWise software being ported to Linux would have helped. And it would have, had they done it properly. I tried three times to get that damned thing running on SuSE Enterprise 9, and it's the biggest pain in the ass. I've set up Email servers before with no problem, this was absolutely horrid. At first I blamed the product in general, but after installing it on Windows 2003 I realized that it was actually incomplete! The NetWare client for it does not exist (at least on any of the CDs they gave us -- which were incomplete in & of themselves), and trying to actually manage the thing can be a huge pain in the ass.
They still sell it at full price and still charge $300 for a single support case... It's like MS taking Vista as it is now and selling it as a fully-working product. It is not, and I would have been highly pissed off had our software license not covered the GroupWise software for whichever of the three platforms (Lin, Win, NetWare) we ended up using.
So anyway, unless Messman forced the product out before it was done, it was not his fault. Of course, Novell does more than just Email servers, so this may be only a very small part of it.
Re:Blame the ones responsible, please (Score:2)
Re:Blame the ones responsible, please (Score:2)
Re:Blame the ones responsible, please (Score:2)
Horrible (Score:1)
Re:Horrible (Score:2)
I'm sorry, but that's crap. Do you know these people? Do you follow Novell closely? If anyone deserves credit for bringing "Linux to the Masses" within Novell, it's Chris Stone, Nat Friedman, Eric Anderson, Ron Hovespian, and many others - but certainly not Jack Messman.
What I find amazing (Score:1)
They still have not figured out how to sell a product. Or that a four-page list of SKUs with meaningless buzzword acronyms for names DOES NOT constitute a Product.
I know Novell stuff fairly well. I'm a fan of both Linux and Novell, and I represent a fairly typical prospective customer as a mid-sized manufacturing company. And even I am having a hard time dete
really? (Score:1)
Sigh..... Messman Mark II (Score:2)
This is not what Novell's business is, not where their money is coming from and not what they need to focus on if they want to survive at all. Messman's successor pulls
The problem is.. (Score:2, Interesting)
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 melbour
Novell gets new CEO - goto 10 (Score:2)
It's amazing that no-one has used the obvious metaphor involving "deckchairs" and "The Titanic"
The root of the problem is the Novell board, and the obsession with Management By Objectives. This guarantees that only ideas and innovation come from the top, and clear opportunities for revenue growth are deliberately ignored because they do not form part of a manager's objectives.
A former manager remarked to me that every first week in a quarter was taken up by the "QBR" (
Re:Checklist (Score:2)
Messman: Check...
Gates: Nope...He's still Chairman of the BoD. You don't get to count that one- at least not yet.
Jobs...well...Now that he's solidly enmeshed with Disney on their BoD, etc. I don't see him going that way yet or for a while to come.