NETWORK WORLD NEWSLETTER: DAVE KEARNS ON NOVELL NETWARE TIPS 11/23/04 Today's focus: Why Novell's assertion that Microsoft killed WordPerfect has no legs
Dear [EMAIL PROTECTED], In this issue: * The story behind WordPerfect's downfall * Links related to Novell NetWare Tips * Featured reader resource _______________________________________________________________ This newsletter is sponsored by Intel IT Productivity; Increasing ROI Learn how to effectively measure employee productivity, manage IT investments and reduce the Total Cost of Ownership in enterprise data management. Visit Intel's IT Productivity center. Click here to download white papers, books and IDC Research. http://www.fattail.com/redir/redirect.asp?CID=88592 _______________________________________________________________ NW'S RESEARCH CENTER ON SPAM Go to NW's Research Center on spam and find our in-depth review of 16 anti-spam products, our spam calculator to determine how much spam is costing your enterprise each year, the latest spam news, advice on how to fight spam and more. For the latest on spam click here: http://www.fattail.com/redir/redirect.asp?CID=88671 _______________________________________________________________ Today's focus: Why Novell's assertion that Microsoft killed WordPerfect has no legs By Dave Kearns As I noted in the last issue, Novell and Microsoft recently settled their lawsuit in which Novell claimed that Redmond had used underhanded means to render Novell's NDS for NT inoperative. Rather than face a trial it would probably lose, Microsoft paid Novell $536 million to go away. Jack Messman and Co., did go away, but came back four days later, suing Bill Gates et al for causing the downfall of WordPerfect through the manipulation of the Windows GUI and operating system. Why didn't Microsoft settle this while it was trying to remove most of its legal headaches? My theory is that someone in Redmond is bright enough to know that Novell has little chance to prevail. Microsoft didn't cause the demise of WordPerfect, the WordPerfect Corporation (later aided by Novell) did. Here's the story. In the late 1980s, Microsoft DOS was the ruling operating system for desktops, and WordPerfect was the dominant word processor for DOS. But the advent of Windows 3.0, a GUI "environment" on top of DOS, as well as the success of Apple's Macintosh, showed that a graphical operating system was the future of PC computing. Microsoft decided to pursue a two-pronged approach: It would develop Windows 3.x to sit on the DOS platform, while simultaneously developing a "new technology" operating system that didn't rely on DOS. Microsoft found a willing partner in the latter undertaking in IBM, the same partner that made Microsoft's success with DOS possible. What they worked on eventually became OS/2. The WordPerfect Corporation wasn't as big as Microsoft and it realized that it would need to develop for different operating systems and environments if it wished to continue to dominate the word processing market. Microsoft, which marketed Word, and Lotus, which had Ami Pro, were both developing GUI versions of their word processors. WordPerfect didn't have the resources to simultaneously develop an OS/2 and a Windows 3 version, so it had to choose - and the choice was OS/2. WordPerfect created an excellent OS/2 port of its word processor and many years later, it was still the best available for that operating system. Unfortunately, after IBM and Microsoft split the development of the new platform (with IBM retaining OS/2 while Microsoft created Windows NT), OS/2 quickly became a cult, or niche, product. WordPerfect then scrambled to get a Windows version of its software on the market. But the port to Windows 3.1 was so bad (scrolling a page, for example, you could see each individual letter snake it's way from the bottom to the top of the page, and it was excruciatingly slow) that people moving to the GUI platform had no choice but to move to Word or Ami Pro. The WordPerfect Corporation was in bad shape. At this point, Novell CEO Ray Noorda jumped in to rescue his neighbors up the road in Orem, Utah. Buying the WordPerfect Corporation, followed by the acquisition of Borland's Quattro Pro spreadsheet, Noorda tried to compete with Microsoft for the office productivity market on the Windows platform. This crusade was so outrageous that it led to the ousting of Noorda from Novell. Novell then compounded the error by stating that it would divest itself of the productivity software by a particular date. Now, when you announce that something "must be sold by" a particular date, people will wait and watch as the price drops. Eventually, someone at Canada's Corel Corporation (known at the time solely for graphics software) thought the price was right and gave Novell $170 million for the products Novell had squandered over a billion dollars on just two years earlier. WordPerfect and Noorda (supported by Novell's board of directors which included a younger Jack Messman) killed the word processor and its progeny with very little help from Microsoft. There are some in Waltham who say that the debate over suing Microsoft for WordPerfect's demise is what got Chris Stone his pink slip, but we may never know for sure. There'll be no second newsletter this week, as we all take a break to celebrate the American Thanksgiving. If you really need to read something about Novell, may I suggest the new Weblog that Ted ("The Reverend Ted") Haeger, chief cheerleader for Novell's new Desktop for Linux product, has begun called "Open Source Marketing with Reverend Ted" ( <http://reverendted.blogspot.com/> ). RELATED EDITORIAL LINKS Novell sues Microsoft over WordPerfect IDG News Service, 11/12/04 http://www.nwfusion.com/news/2004/1112msanti.html _______________________________________________________________ To contact: Dave Kearns Dave Kearns is a writer and consultant in Silicon Valley. He's written a number of books including the (sadly) now out of print "Peter Norton's Complete Guide to Networks." His musings can be found at Virtual Quill <http://www.vquill.com/>. Kearns is the author of three Network World Newsletters: Windows Networking Tips, Novell NetWare Tips, and Identity Management. Comments about these newsletters should be sent to him at these respective addresses: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>. Kearns provides content services to network vendors: books, manuals, white papers, lectures and seminars, marketing, technical marketing and support documents. Virtual Quill provides "words to sell by..." Find out more by e-mail at <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> _______________________________________________________________ This newsletter is sponsored by Intel IT Productivity; Increasing ROI Learn how to effectively measure employee productivity, manage IT investments and reduce the Total Cost of Ownership in enterprise data management. Visit Intel's IT Productivity center. Click here to download white papers, books and IDC Research. http://www.fattail.com/redir/redirect.asp?CID=88591 _______________________________________________________________ ARCHIVE LINKS Archive of the Novell NetWare Tips newsletter: http://www.nwfusion.com/newsletters/netware/index.html Novell news page The Novell news and analysis from Network World Fusion. http://www.nwfusion.com/news/financial/novell.html _______________________________________________________________ FEATURED READER RESOURCE NW FUSION PARTNERS' SITES NOW AVAILABLE Network World Fusion Partners is a collaborative effort between Network World and sponsoring Partner companies. Each microsite contains best-of-breed information as well as custom content not found anywhere else, including a custom email newsletter and special offers. It is current, top-of-mind information that is readily accessible and bundled into one comprehensive package. 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