Ask John

In the November 1997 issue of NetWare Connection, John Slitz, senior vice president of Marketing, talked about Novell's marketing program ("John Slitz Under the Microscope," pp. 22­26). John also agreed to answer questions from users about this program. Several users recently submitted questions for John, and you can read his answers below. You can also read additional questions and answers in the "Ask John" column in future issues of NetWare Connection.

If you have a question for John about Novell's marketing program, submit your question now. Each month, NetWare Connection will select several questions for John to answer, and we will print his answers in NetWare Connection or post them on our World-Wide Web site. If we choose your question, you will receive a free copy of CNE Product Link, which is a set of CD-ROMs that contain limited-user versions of Novell's shipping products, such as IntranetWare, GroupWise, ManageWise, and BorderManager. These CD-ROMs also contain Novell's latest beta products and early-access release products.


Dear John,

It is no secret that Novell's stealth marketing techniques have not been useful in the past. Novell also seems to avoid public battles with other vendors. For instance, on Novell's web site I have read several interesting articles correcting Microsoft's marketing propaganda, but I have found nothing similar in any mainstream computer publications. Many large companies that switched to Windows NT are now returning to NetWare, but nobody seems interested in talking about that either.

Now some computer publications are comparing Novell Directory Services (NDS) with Microsoft's Active Directory, which has yet to reach version 1.0. How does Novell plan to keep (or increase) its market share when mature, shipping products such as NDS are evaluated against press releases and alpha or beta software such as Active Directory?

Darryl Ludba

John Slitz says: It is Novell's policy to respond vigorously to all press and analyst statements that incorrectly describe Novell or its products. We do this in a timely manner and are often, but not always, successful in having the misstatements corrected.

The comparisons between our shipping products and Microsoft's planned products is particularly annoying. Microsoft is able to make claims and garner press that other companies are not--it's not fair, but it's true. Sooner or later, however, Microsoft will ship a product, and comparisons will be made through benchmarks and functional analysis by independent parties. When that happens, NDS will be shown to be vastly superior.


Dear John,

With NetWare 5 (code-named Moab) scheduled for release sometime in 1998 and NetWare 4 still gaining strength, when will NetWare 3 be killed off? At a recent Novell seminar, one of the presenters from Novell Canada stated that NetWare 3 keeps on ticking even though Novell wants it stopped.

My suggestion is to release the year 2000 fixes, and that's it! Stop with the updates. Stop with the drivers. If drivers aren't available for NetWare 3, companies will be enticed to upgrade, which is what Novell needs. Of course, these companies could end up switching to a competing product, but that's where discounts to NetWare 4 and good migration tools come in.

(I'm not a marketing expert. However, I have taken a course in marketing.)

Edward Braiter

John Slitz says: There are as many opinions about the proper course for NetWare 3 as there are Novell employees. In some sense, this is not strictly a marketing problem, and whether you have taken a marketing course or not, you have raised a commonly held position. Novell recently announced the NetWare 3.2 Enhancement Pack, which contains the year 2000 fixes plus about 80 other patches and enhancements for NetWare 3. I believe it's important to have an offering for companies that are happy with NetWare 3, rather than forcing these companies to either upgrade to NetWare 4 or switch to Windows NT.