Novell: Microsoft 'sucked $60 billion' out of IT

BARCELONA, Spain--Microsoft has sucked billions of dollars out of the IT industry that could have been spent in more fruitful ways, according to Novell.

Speaking on Monday at BrainShare Europe, Novell's annual conference here, CEO Jack Messman told customers and partners that Microsoft's extensive license fees for Windows have prevented end-user organizations and independent software developers from directing cash into more "innovative" software.

"I am of the opinion that innovation has been slowed because of Microsoft. It has sucked $60 billion out of our industry that could have been used for innovation," he said.

A Microsoft representative was not immediately available for comment.

The solution, according to the Novell boss, will come through the open-source software movement, which will force the further commoditization of client and server operating systems. That, in turn, will enable companies to spend more on development further up the application stack, Messman said.

"My vision is that companies won't have to spend so much on operating systems, which have been commoditized, and (can) spend more on innovation," he said.

Novell is keen to position itself as a software maker able to offer a complete alternative to Microsoft's products from the client to the server--something that other Linux vendors, such as Red Hat, are shying away from.

The company, based in Waltham, Mass., claims to have increased its independent software vendor and partner base by about 92 percent since its previous quarter.

Messman noted that Novell is the only company offering support for third-party open-source products such as the JBoss application server.

But despite Novell's vociferous support for everything open source--which included Messman running the graphics for his keynote speech off a Linux machine--the company has said it will continue to support Windows for the foreseeable future.

"With a 94 percent market share, we are not going to abandon Windows--that would be foolhardy. But we do think the market will abandon Windows at some point. We will maintain a commitment to the Windows environment for as long as customers want us to," said Alan Nugent, Novell's chief technology officer.

Novell made several partner and product announcements on the first day of the BrainShare conference, including a partnership with German software maker Software AG to accelerate the adoption of Linux in the market for XML database software. Under the deal, Software AG and Novell will jointly develop a database product based on SuSE Linux Enterprise Server 9 and the German company's Tamino XML Server and EntireX XML Mediator.

Novell also announced an agreement with Bull to offer SuSE Linux Enterprise 9 on the server and the software company's whole range of servers, including EXPRESS5800 and NovaScale Blade machines.

Another partnership will see Novell working alongside German e-commerce specialist Intershop to encourage online retailers to port their operations onto Linux. Under the agreement, Intershop will port its Enfinity e-commerce software suite to Novell's SuSE Linux Enterprise Server 9.

Andrew Donoghue of London-based ZDNet UK reported from Barcelona.

microsoft sucked 60 billionout of it

SP2 IS THE FIRST STEP IN TOTAL CONTROL. IT BLOCKS THIRD PARTY SOFT WARE IE ADOBE AND OTHER FREEWARE "IN THE INTEREST OF SAFETY.I AM SURE ONE OF THE WORK AROUNDS WILL BE A "MICROSOFT KEY"TO PREVENT PROBLEMS.SP2 WAS HELL UNISTALED IT. BEST SAFETY CHANGE AND DROP INTERNET EXPLORER. TO A ,SAFER ,BETTER BROWSER' DONT LET MS CONTROL YOUR SOFTWARE.

[ricksterto]

Messman ranting again

Would Messman have the same view on Microsoft's position if Novell was there instead?

I think not.

Quit the ranting. If Novell had listened to customers and had offered something more than absolutely rotten service in the 90's, they might have remained a major industry player. Instead, we have to read ad-nauseum, press releases trumpeting how Novell is serving the fringe rather than mainstream.

Give me a break.

[Fray9]

So...

"they might have remained a major industry player. Instead, we have to read ad-nauseum, press releases trumpeting how Novell is serving the fringe rather than mainstream."

So you think Novell would be better off "serving the mainstream" (a.k.a. working for Microsoft)?

I believe they are getting so much attention because they are one of the few companies that dont seem to be afraid of Microsoft. Its an oddity that up until recently would have been driven into bankruptcy by MS without a second thought.

I find it rather refreshing to have a company come out and want to try to elbow into MS's domain instead of cringing in the corners.

[ricksterto]

Missing the point...

Oh yes, Novell is a wonderous company with no ambitions of gross amounts of profit...

If Novell could be at the proverbial trough themselves, they would be. Let's not lose sight that their grand business plan is a result of poor management and foresight, and not because they have always had more laudable goals (like fighting the little guy war against MS).

The squealing from a once fat piggy on how they aren't getting their share just isn't interesting anymore.

[alek_nedic]

major industry player

http://www.analogstereo.com/vacuum/miele_champagne.htm

MS sucked $60bn out of US businesses

Why is this controversial? Bill Gates' obscene amount of wealth had to come from somewhere. A monopoly always sucks wealth out of its customers. Some of the money goes into the pockets of the insiders, some is spent illegally crushing competition (Stac Electronics, Netscape, ...), some goes on expensive lawyers as a consequence of its lawbreaking.
$60 billion is a conservative estimate. A lot of the money Microsoft spends on development has nothing to do with customers' needs. The main reason behind every new version of Word and Excel is to make their file formats slightly incompatible with previous versions, so that (in the absence of competition) users can be forced to expensively "upgrade".

[alek_nedic]

new version of Word

http://www.analogstereo.com/vacuum/miele_capella_s4_galaxy.htm