“…Another way to spur eDirectory deployment is to turn the
software over to the open-source community. A subject of
internal debate for more than a year, Novell has yet to hash out an
open-source strategy that doesn’t cannibalize revenue opportunities
or eliminate the technological advantage Novell believes it has
with eDirectory.“
“We are continuing to have discussions on open source for
eDirectory,” said Ledbetter. “We’re very intrigued by the
possibility of making the client side open source. We’re willing to
do that, which is not quite the same as saying we’re going to do
it. Certainly some pieces of it will become parts of the open
source as we move along.”
“We’re not ready to do that on the server side,” he added.
“Nor does Novell plan to turn NetWare over to the open source
community, where it may have a better chance of fending off Linux.
Instead, it’s evolving NetWare as a platform that Novell or its
licensees can embed in network services applications.”