• On ZDNet: Why I Will never buy a Mac
February 6, 2008 12:44 PM PST

Novell ready for acquisitions?

by Dave Rosenberg

Novell got a nice influx of cash when they made their deal with the devil (er, Microsoft) and BusinessWeek says that the company is now ready to start spending some of that cash on acquisitions.

The problem is that there aren't a whole lot of companies that are complementary in a meaningful way.

Raven Zachary at 451 Group suggests that Novell might be interested in one of the open source system management vendors like Hyperic and Zenoss. This makes sense but won't bring meaningful revenue--and both of those companies will be worth a lot more down the road (especially considering Hyperic's recent customer wins.)

So, then who or what does Novell buy? They missed on virtualization with Xensource and they have no apparent SOA or app server strategy.

My suggestion? Buy up all the .NET open source companies and become the center of the open source Microsoft universe. There isn't a whole lot else that will be meaningful and since Novell already went to the dark side they should be happy as the Darth Vader of open source.

Dave Rosenberg dishes up "Software, Interrupted" with nearly 15 years of technology and marketing experience that spans from Bell Labs to multiple start-up IPOs to open-source enterprise software companies. He is co-founder of MuleSource and currently serves as the general manager of Hardy Way. He is a member of the CNET Blog Network and is not an employee of CNET. Disclosure. You can contact Dave via e-mail at softwareinterrupted@gmail.com.
Recent posts from Software, Interrupted
Get your own super-thin spokesperson
'Freemium' beats advertising for online games
When gaming communities go wrong
Twitter as music marketing tool
Ramen robots invade Japanese restaurant
Firefox 3.5 and the potential of Web typography
Blizzard chooses cloud over LAN for new game
Japan continues to build robot army
advertisement

With Chrome, Google reignites the OS wars

roundup Google Chrome OS, due in 2010, underscores the Web giant's cloud-computing ambitions and opens new competition with Microsoft.
• What Chrome OS has on Windows that Linux doesn't

Laying a guilt trip on military robots

q&a Georgia Tech's Ronald Arkin aims to configure armed robots with a built-in "guilt system" to help them avoid civilian casualties.

About Software, Interrupted

In "Software, Interrupted," Dave Rosenberg discusses disruption in the software market, as well as the products and services that keep business technology norms in perpetual flux.

With nearly 15 years of technology and marketing experience spanning from Bell Labs to multiple start-up IPOs, Dave co-founded open-source software company MuleSource and now serves as general manager of Hardy Way. He also happens to be a U.S. patent holder and a workaholic. Technology is his best friend and mortal enemy.

Add this feed to your online news reader

Software, Interrupted topics

advertisement
advertisement

Inside CNET News

Scroll Left Scroll Right