“Stewart Nelson takes over day-to-day management of Novell Inc.
at a particularly challenging time – only days before Microsoft
Corp. rolls out Windows 2000 and Active Directory, and in the midst
of a surge in interest in the upstart Linux operating system.”
“[ComputerWorld:] Do you feel you are being sandwiched between
NT and Linux?
[“Nelson:] No, I don’t. No. 1, we’re not flat. Look at our
financial statements for the last three quarters. I think (Linux)
is to our advantage and not Microsoft’s, and I’ll tell you why. The
fact that the world is going more and more heterogeneous is good
for Novell. Because (our Net Services strategy) is a strategy that
puts our products and services on all platforms, or at least the
four major platforms.
Microsoft’s strategy is quite different. They’re
dependent on NT being pretty much everywhere. It just ain’t
gonna happen. People are going to run Linux, Solaris, NetWare
4, NetWare 5, they’re going to run NT and Windows 2000.
Our strategy is to come in and tie all that chaos
together.”