[Am-info] Novell blasts Microsoft licensing (!)

[Gene Gaines]

,
See:
http://netscape.com.com/2100-1104-958052.html?type=pt

part of text below.

Also, here is Novell's white paper linked from the
Wall Street Journal ad:
http://www.novell.com/products/netware/comp_pricing.html


Gene Gaines
gene.gaines@gainesgroup.com
Sterling, Virginia  USA



Novell blasts Microsoft licensing

By Sandeep Junnarkar
Special to ZDNet News
September 16, 2002, 8:23 AM PT

Novell on Monday blasted Microsoft's controversial software
licensing plan and business practices, hoping to lure frustrated
customers to its own products and services.

In a full-page advertisement in The Wall Street Journal, Novell
said that Microsoft's licensing initiative "only benefits their
bottom line--and not yours." In a white paper linked to the
advertisement, the company warned that Microsoft's licensing plan
locked customers into expensive upgrades.

The Provo, Utah-based software maker is embarking on an offensive
against Microsoft after announcing a new pricing structure of its
own earlier this month. Novell said the revamped prices would make
it cheaper for large Web sites to use Novell's software, such as
applications for Web-based e-mail and authentication and login
services.

Novell is trying to re-establish itself as a leader in the
networking sector by focusing on Web services, in which data are
accessed and manipulated over the Internet through a variety of
devices rather than at a local PC. The company, once a leader in
making software for building LANs (local area networks), enters a
field crowded with competitors such as Sun Microsystems, Microsoft
and IBM.

The strategy so far appears to be the enticement of corporate
customers that are unhappy with Microsoft's controversial
licensing structure.

Microsoft's plan, known as Licensing 6, has faced stiff resistance
because it could as much as double volume-licensing fees,
according to research firm Gartner. A number of the company's
competitors have been tapping into this dissatisfaction as well as
frustrations about the cost of Microsoft software, to lure
customers to Linux-based systems and rival business software.

... [and there's more]...

Separately on Monday, in a quarterly filing with the Securities
and Exchange Commission, Novell took aim at Microsoft on the
antitrust front. This comes as a federal judge prepares to make a
decision about Microsoft's proposed settlement with the Justice
Department and a related case in which several states are seeking
harsher sanctions.

In the filing, Novell accused Microsoft of "exploiting its desktop
operating monopoly in a way that is designed to extend its market
power into the market for server operating systems, and to claim
control of network and Web services such as authentication, using
many of the same anti-competitive practices found by the United
States District Court to be in violation of the nation's antitrust
laws."