Comments on: Novell's Linux strategy worries some customers

Ambitious plan leads some customers to worry that the networking company may withdraw support for some of its legacy applications.

Open Exchange?! No way!

Novell doesn't even OWN Open Exchange! It's OEM'd from NetLine and I seriously doubt they'd drop a fantastic product for one they don't even own. Sheesh!

[System Tyrant]

What I think.

I think Novell will eventually try to merge Evolution and Groupwise into a single package. Kind of like what they are doing with netware and linux. I figure at some point they will take the best of Groupwise and the best of Evolution and create a Groupolution.

I think the direction Novell is taking is good. I love Netware for all its wonderful features, but nobody wants to support it anymore. I can't find software for it and hardware choices are always troublesome. If Novell can move some of its best technologies (like NDS/eDirectory, iPrint, etc.) to Linux I really think Linux will surpass Windows in leaps and bounds as far as servers go. Only time will tell.

Do these guys work for Microsoft?

Does Novell really think that an organization that has used GroupWise as their messaging platform for years, will even consider staying on Novell products after being let down by Novell's apparent 'Attention Deficit' when it comes to GroupWise?
Open Exchange is a joke - if I want to pay MS for Outlook - I'll buy the real thing - not a cheap knock-off, and there's no way I'll keep my users on NDS - in case Novell loses attention there too in the future.
FOr a company that has made a career of shooting themselves in the foot - they're clearly aiming higher this time - for their head...
Maybe it's time to rename 'Suse' -to 'Loser'
Although we may not be the largest company in the world, Novell has made hundreds of thousands of dollars off us. Not any more - we're abandoning this sinking ship, and will do our best to convince others to do the same.
Customer loyalty is a function of vendor loyalty - and Novell is the Benedict Arnold of software

my 2 cents.

Novell has had a worthwhile and stable product in Netware for years. Yes, they've made money off us. But I've saved more money running Netware 3.11 through 6.5 than I would have spent buying Microsoft and suffering through Exchange. They still aren't quite clear about where the next version of that is going, or when it's expected.
I'm pretty sure NDS will be around for a good long time, with Novell's support. It IS the backbone of the majority of their product line...

I've used GW, and I like it, but IMHO it doesn't always fit in smaller installations (< 500 users). I think Novell is making a smart move by branching out. Novell can't make the mistake of tying itself to a single mail-collaboration client strategy when there's market demand for Outlook or clones.

And when you've already released a very viable, stable Linux server (SLES9) available to run alongside Netware, why not an Exchange replacement on Linux/Netware? I wouldn't be suprised if Novell blended them together over the next few years, but I just don't see Novell just abandoning GW without a good migration path for users.