NETWORK WORLD NEWSLETTER: DAVE KEARNS ON NOVELL NETWARE TIPS
09/06/05
Today's focus: User speaks out on why he switched from NetWare
to Windows
Dear networking.world@gmail.com,
In this issue:
* Why the University of Coventry ditched NetWare for Windows
* Links related to Novell NetWare Tips
* Featured reader resource
_______________________________________________________________
This newsletter is sponsored by Ciena
Network World Executive Guide: Compliance can be an opportunity
for Network Improvements
Federal regulations such as the Health Insurance Portability and
Accountability Act and the Sarbanes-Oxley Act are driving
increased corporate spending on key IT areas such as security,
authentication, access control and document management. Get
advice from experts. Read about real-world tactics. Learn about
the dark side of compliance: what happens when thing wrong. And,
how mandates are affecting IT budgets.
http://www.fattail.com/redir/redirect.asp?CID=112831
_______________________________________________________________
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_______________________________________________________________
Today's focus: User speaks out on why he switched from NetWare
to Windows
By Dave Kearns
A month ago, I told what I considered to be the sad story of the
U.K.'s University of Coventry switching from NetWare to Windows
( <http://www.networkworld.com/nlnovell6385> ). My thoughts were
based on a news story I'd read in a U.K. publication coupled
with some speculation on my part. Some of it I got right, but
not all of it.
The story I read at silicon.com (
<http://www.networkworld.com/nlnovell4430> ) quoted Colin Bruce,
"IT manager at Coventry University." Last week, I heard from
Bruce. Here's what he had to say. Words in square parenthesis ([
and ]) are additions from me.
"I read your article about our switch from NetWare to Windows,
and I thought you might like some comments.
"First thing is, Silicon got a few things wrong, which I tried
to correct before they went to press but for some reason they
didn't make the changes. There were no serious errors, though,
but I should say that I am not the IT manager just a dog's body
[Britspeak for a lowly tech] that does as he is told. There were
also press announcements that a company called Lynx was doing
the work. I don't know if you saw them but they provided very
minimal help which was of little value.
"The main reason we moved from NetWare to Windows was because
the Vice Chancellor said so. The Vice Chancellor is the boss of
the University so it is kind of difficult to resist. [That
should sound familiar to most of you.]
"You said you thought we were seeing lots of Microsoft sales
people. In fact, we have never seen any. Despite our move they
have shown no interest at all. I don't know if you know much
about the British University system but in case you don't I
should explain that there is a lot of snobbery in it. We are at
the lower end of the league tables [British sports term - think
NCAA rankings] so we don't get much attention from the press and
big companies such as Microsoft no matter what we do. If we
spend 500K no one takes much interest. If the University of
Warwick or Cambridge spends 5K it is mentioned on the front
pages of all the press. To be honest, I prefer keeping out of
the spotlight so that suites me fine.
"On the other hand we had several visits from Novell people both
sales and technical, and they did something that I cannot
forgive an organisation for, which is to push a technical
solution which happens to be wrong because it generates more
income for them. I won't bore you with the details, but that
finished Novell for me. [Anybody else have this experience?]
"I was never a fan of NetWare. We had so many problems and so
little support over so many years that it got me down. However,
I was responsible for getting the University to have an IT
policy that said open source (in the most general terms) should
be the first choice and until we moved to Windows it was me who
pushed that to the limits. We used Linux for almost all of the
machine room services (mail, DNS, Web, etc.) and had over 1,000
PCs with both Windows and Linux installed on them.
"As part of this I wrote a system to do printer accounting using
my own code as well as MySQL, and LPRng, an authentication
system for various systems such as the printer accounting
system, our intranet and the desktop Linux systems. I also wrote
a cloning system for PCs and servers. I developed our own Linux
system based around Slackware [a Linux distribution:
<http://www.slackware.com/> ] but with lots of additions, and
designed and built a highly scalable, resilient e-mail system
using Linux and DRBD [clustering technology:
<http://www.drbd.org/> ]. However, what do you do when everyone
is demanding shared calendars from within Outlook, and no one
wants to use the Linux desktop? Most of our students and staff
would rather do without PCs entirely than have to use something
new.
"The Windows installation was much easier than the NetWare one.
I can assure you of that. We migrated 20,000 people and 5,000
PCs in a long weekend. That included building a clustered e-mail
service with 8 servers for all these people. It just worked! We
have never done anything like that on NetWare, but much simpler
operations on NetWare have almost always resulted in major
downtime and needed help from Novell engineers to fix the
directory, etc. I keep hearing people saying how wonderful
NetWare is and how bad Windows is but our experience of NetWare
(which goes back to Version 2) has not been that good. We'll see
what Windows brings.
"I still use Linux on my desktop and will continue to do so as
long as I can. However, I don't have the starry-eyed view of
Linux that others have. It too suffers from feature bloat, and
that is not a good thing. I use KDE, but when it takes hours to
compile it and I find the same coding errors carried from
version to version (which I have reported) I don't take the view
that it is wonderful, either.
"I hope you see that I am not some 19-year-old Windows fanatic.
In fact, I've been using open source and its predecessors since
around 1982 when I installed Kermit on a DECSYSTEM 20. The
DECSYSTEM 20 and its operating system (TOPS 20) remains my
favourite system of all time and neither Linux, Windows or
Novell come anywhere near it. Still they have all gone to the
great machine room in the sky now.
"Your comments were not as bad as some which I ignored. However,
I thought you might like to know some of the reality rather than
guesswork."
That may be even more worrying than the original story. Thank
you, Colin.
The top 5: Today's most-read stories
1. VoIP rollouts generate heat, power concerns
<http://www.networkworld.com/nlnovell6288>
2. Cell carriers tackle Katrina damage
<http://www.networkworld.com/nlnovell6386>
3. 2005 salary survey <http://www.networkworld.com/nlnovell4023>
4. Google dives deeper into networking
<http://www.networkworld.com/nlnovell6061>
5. Katrina news <http://www.networkworld.com/nlnovell6387>
Today's most-forwarded story:
Cell carriers tackle Katrina damage
<http://www.networkworld.com/nlnovell6388>
_______________________________________________________________
To contact: Dave Kearns
Dave Kearns is a writer and consultant in Silicon Valley. He's
written a number of books including the (sadly) now out of print
"Peter Norton's Complete Guide to Networks." His musings can be
found at Virtual Quill <http://www.vquill.com/>.
Kearns is the author of three Network World Newsletters: Windows
Networking Tips, Novell NetWare Tips, and Identity Management.
Comments about these newsletters should be sent to him at these
respective addresses: <mailto:windows@vquill.com>,
<mailto:netware@vquill.com>, <mailto:identity@vquill.com>.
Kearns provides content services to network vendors: books,
manuals, white papers, lectures and seminars, marketing,
technical marketing and support documents. Virtual Quill
provides "words to sell by..." Find out more by e-mail at
<mailto:info@vquill.com>
_______________________________________________________________
This newsletter is sponsored by Ciena
Network World Executive Guide: Compliance can be an opportunity
for Network Improvements
Federal regulations such as the Health Insurance Portability and
Accountability Act and the Sarbanes-Oxley Act are driving
increased corporate spending on key IT areas such as security,
authentication, access control and document management. Get
advice from experts. Read about real-world tactics. Learn about
the dark side of compliance: what happens when thing wrong. And,
how mandates are affecting IT budgets.
http://www.fattail.com/redir/redirect.asp?CID=112830
_______________________________________________________________
ARCHIVE LINKS
Archive of the Novell NetWare Tips newsletter:
http://www.networkworld.com/newsletters/netware/index.html
Novell news page:
http://www.networkworld.com/news/financial/novell.html
_______________________________________________________________
FEATURED READER RESOURCE
VoIP
For the latest in VoIP, check out NW's Research Center on this
very topic. Here you will find a collection of the latest news,
reviews, product testing results and more all related to keeping
VoIP networks performing at their best. Click here for more:
<http://www.networkworld.com/topics/voip.html>
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