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I'd go further and bet that those "impact" metrics likely came from a spreadsheet pusher like Schmidt. Schmidt still takes the gold medal in my estimate for de

I'd go further and bet that those "impact" metrics likely came from a spreadsheet pusher like Schmidt. Schmidt still takes the gold medal in my estimate for destroying a company he ran by not understanding how the business actually works (as CEO of Novell he decided to screw their channel partners not understanding that the channel relationships were the company's entire moat against Microsoft).

nradov 2y ago
Channel relationships were a boat anchor around Novell's neck. The channel helped Novell grow rapidly in the early days then building a file server and installing an office network took some real technical skill. But then Microsoft released Windows NT and a new generation of hardware came out which allowed any idiot to set up a LAN. Microsoft beat Novell in part by distributing their server software more widely instead of forcing customers to go through channel partners. Of course, it also didn't help that Novell failed to innovate on their products and tried to coast on past success.
- jordanb 2y ago
  Network installers are still used to this day on big network buildouts, simply because office IT departments aren't staffed for that kind of work regardless of how easy the software is. But it's not like Schmidt had any strategy to bypass the network installers. He just decided to screw them hard so he could make a quarter look good, which lead inevitably to them deciding not to be Novell's low-paid salesforce anymore, which lead rapidly to the vastly premature collapse of the business.
- specialist 2y ago
  Microsoft stood-up a channel in order to compete with Novell. Initially, at least, Microsoft was much a preferable OEM. Better docs (MSDN), better tech support, more profitable, etc. (Microsoft also made embraced application servers. Spearheading switch from workgroup to client/server. But that's another chapter.)

nradov 2y ago

Channel relationships were a boat anchor around Novell's neck. The channel helped Novell grow rapidly in the early days then building a file server and installing an office network took some real technical skill. But then Microsoft released Windows NT and a new generation of hardware came out which allowed any idiot to set up a LAN. Microsoft beat Novell in part by distributing their server software more widely instead of forcing customers to go through channel partners. Of course, it also didn't help that Novell failed to innovate on their products and tried to coast on past success.

jordanb 2y ago
Network installers are still used to this day on big network buildouts, simply because office IT departments aren't staffed for that kind of work regardless of how easy the software is. But it's not like Schmidt had any strategy to bypass the network installers. He just decided to screw them hard so he could make a quarter look good, which lead inevitably to them deciding not to be Novell's low-paid salesforce anymore, which lead rapidly to the vastly premature collapse of the business.
specialist 2y ago
Microsoft stood-up a channel in order to compete with Novell. Initially, at least, Microsoft was much a preferable OEM. Better docs (MSDN), better tech support, more profitable, etc. (Microsoft also made embraced application servers. Spearheading switch from workgroup to client/server. But that's another chapter.)