02.28.08
Novell Operates at Loss, Layoffs Expected, Company Sold Out But Ron Hovsepian Receives Reward
Reward for competence or for helping a rival?
A couple of months ago, around the time SCO was dissolving and some time after Chapter 11 had been filed, many SCO employees were fires while managers at the company (including Darl McBride) received generous bonuses. This was covered quite extensively in Groklaw which still has all the details. Moving on to Novell, consider this:
- Massive layoffs are expected this year
- Novell is massaging its financial figures
- Novell’s old leadership is gradually departing (more recently it was LaSala)
- The company now depends (in the financial and [cef 2568 technical sense]) on Microsoft, its competitor
Here comes the news about Ron Hovsepian receiving quite a compensation.
Ronald Hovsepian, the president and chief executive of networking software maker Novell Inc., received a compensation package valued at $7.3 million in 2007, according to a proxy statement filed Wednesday.
Watch and weigh this within a broader context, which includes interesting (even mysterious) moves that occurred shortly after the deal with Microsoft had been signed. We wrote about this later as well. Why is Hovsepian paid more money? █
Highlight: Novell was the first to acknowledge that Microsoft FUD tactics had substance. Novell then used anti-Linux FUD to market itself. 
Highlight: Xandros let Microsoft make patent claims and brag about (paid-for) OOXML support. 
Highlight: Linspire's CEO not only fell into Microsoft arms, but he also assisted the company's attack on GNU/Linux. 
Highlight: Microsoft craves pseudo (proprietary) standards and gets its way using proxies and influence which it buys. 
Highlight: The invasion into the open source world is intended to leave Linux companies neglected, due to financial incentives from Microsoft. 
Analysis: Xen, an open source hypervisor, possibly fell victim to Microsoft's aggressive (and stealthy) acquisition-by-proxy strategy.
CoolGuy said,
February 28, 2008 at 1:36 am
Really sad news…engineers who do the hardwork pay for the mistakes of the top clueless management.
I guess people from redmond will take over this company from inside and the good people will leave.
Novell will be just another M$ sponsered company.
Roy Schestowitz said,
February 28, 2008 at 1:44 am
I don’t believe they’ll take over (some seniors whom I spoke to actually believe they sooner or later will), but I expect Novell to just become the next Corel.
If only Noorda was around to see this…
“Pearly Gates and Em-Ballmer
One promises you heaven and the other prepares you for the grave.”
–Ray Noorda