11.03.07
Quick Mention: Heads Are Rolling at Novell
Yesterday we mentioned a rumour which talked about 1,100 jobs to be axed at Novell. This aligns with Matt Asay’s inside knowledge about 20-25% of the workforce possibly being cut.
As reported and confirmed by the press, 250 jobs were recently moved to India. It is not the only story, however, because the EFYTimes has just revealed some equally discouraging stories from India itself.
The buzz is that, as part of this reorganisation, top shots at Novell India have moved out including Revathi Kasturi, managing dierctor, Novell India. And now Sandeep menon, the ex-IBMer who was heading Linux sales, will head the entire Indian sales team/operations.
[…]
Sources indicate that the new team is now going to totally focus on Linux-related products and services, while all other products like GroupWise, etc. will be sold only when the customer demands. It is still to be seen what role Novell’s ‘colonial cousin’ Microsoft played in this earthquake.
Left with Novell:
Sandeep Menon, head, Novell’s sales operations in India
Nishant Verma, head, government and telecom
Rahul Krishna Gupta, linux business
Dr PK Mishra.Left novell
Revathi Kasturi, managing director
Jayant Rastogi, director channels
Amit Nagar, director channels
Amit Bhatnagar, BSFI and manufacturing
Shashi Kapoor, director, government and telecom.
Why has Novell been so quiet in the past week? This comes shortly after a rumour that many more may lose their jobs.
Novell made a real moronic move with that ‘deal’ — a deal with its predatory rival. Not only has it hurt everyone else that sells Linux, but it hasn’t helped Novell, either.
It’s the employees that are now being punished as a whole, due to the poor management, which apparently received hidden personal benefits. We want the old Novell back — the Novell that used to sell and promote Linux (without the FUD) back in 2005.
Highlight: Novell was the first to acknowledge that Microsoft FUD tactics had substance. Novell then used anti-Linux FUD to market itself. 
Highlight: Xandros let Microsoft make patent claims and brag about (paid-for) OOXML support. 
Highlight: Linspire's CEO not only fell into Microsoft arms, but he also assisted the company's attack on GNU/Linux. 
Highlight: Microsoft craves pseudo (proprietary) standards and gets its way using proxies and influence which it buys. 
Highlight: The invasion into the open source world is intended to leave Linux companies neglected, due to financial incentives from Microsoft. 
Analysis: Xen, an open source hypervisor, possibly fell victim to Microsoft's aggressive (and stealthy) acquisition-by-proxy strategy.
maarten kooiker said,
November 4, 2007 at 8:07 am
The contract with the fox has been signed, so untill that contract doesn’t expire, there will be little hope to get good old Novell back….