3 ms·

Even today when I hear "Network Operating System" I cannot grok what on earth it is supposed to mean. Back in the day when I was trying to understand how to se

Even today when I hear "Network Operating System" I cannot grok what on earth it is supposed to mean. Back in the day when I was trying to understand how to setup these horrors, I remember thinking I was missing something that would magically "work on the network" (at some lower OSI level) not "a server that sent things over the network" If we are talking confusions that killed netware, my money is on marketing "network operating system" as opposed to "buy microsoft NT on your server to run your network"

jacquesm 4y ago
Well, Sun did it under 'the network is the computer' so they weren't exactly alone in that. And that story didn't quite have a happy ending either. It think the single biggest factors was the Microsoft was so dominant on the desktop that they had a really strong advantage to beat Novell at their own game with NT as a server operating system. That made it 'single source supplier' which is worth gold to any IT director that doesn't want to get caught in the middle between two parties pointing at each other when things don't work.
- lifeisstillgood 4y ago
  There is another comment here basically saying "Microsoft was on a serious roll and nothing stood up to them". It's probably the best explanation when so many factors might explain different facets, if you aggregate everything then in the end the favourite to win is the one to bet on.
starik36 4y ago
That's exactly it. It was confusing to me as well, still is. Netware basically provided networking and login services - something that Windows NT basically threw in as a "feature" on top of it being a general purpose OS. Netware's demise was a matter of time. I am reading other comments here stating that it was the lack of preemptive multitasking that doomed it. Not even close. Netware was a feature mascarading as an OS.

jacquesm 4y ago

Well, Sun did it under 'the network is the computer' so they weren't exactly alone in that. And that story didn't quite have a happy ending either. It think the single biggest factors was the Microsoft was so dominant on the desktop that they had a really strong advantage to beat Novell at their own game with NT as a server operating system. That made it 'single source supplier' which is worth gold to any IT director that doesn't want to get caught in the middle between two parties pointing at each other when things don't work.

lifeisstillgood 4y ago
There is another comment here basically saying "Microsoft was on a serious roll and nothing stood up to them". It's probably the best explanation when so many factors might explain different facets, if you aggregate everything then in the end the favourite to win is the one to bet on.

starik36 4y ago

That's exactly it. It was confusing to me as well, still is. Netware basically provided networking and login services - something that Windows NT basically threw in as a "feature" on top of it being a general purpose OS. Netware's demise was a matter of time. I am reading other comments here stating that it was the lack of preemptive multitasking that doomed it. Not even close. Netware was a feature mascarading as an OS.