Novell going through ch-ch-changes [Updated]
They may be good changes, but word on the street is that Novell is laying people off and reorganizing its operations, apparently quite extensively (the reorg, that is, not the layoffs). A source close to the company has suggested that Novell is trying to change its model again (perhaps indicated by the news that it is overhauling its channel program), and that some very good people have been let go.
I respect Ron Hovsepian and assume any changes are net positive for the company. In the meantime, there's a lot of churn and angst within the ranks. More details to follow as they become available.
UPDATE: I heard from a separate source more on the nature of the changes:
The sales force is aligned to business units (SRM, ISM, OPS), which are aimed at growing the channel/reseller.
The interesting piece is that Novell moved renewals to an inside team that would call to manage renewals and the person hired to manage to team is Windows-centric and picked software that only ran on Windows....So the outbound call team was being moved from Linux to Windows.
Strange move for a Linux company, but not yet confirmed by the company, so take it with some Mortons salt.
Matt Asay brings a decade of in-the-trenches open-source business and legal experience to The Open Road, with an emphasis on emerging open-source business strategies and opportunities. Matt is vice president of business development at Alfresco, a company that develops open-source software for content management. He is a member of the CNET Blog Network and is not an employee of CNET. Disclosure. You can follow Matt on Twitter @mjasay. 
