Novell is pleased to announce the availability of Novell File Management Suite Assessment to all customers worldwide.  Now customers can get the benefits of a 60-day, full-functionality trial of all products in the Novell File Management Suite. This offering replaces Novell File Reporter Assessment, which allowed customers to deploy only one product for 60 days.  Novell is giving greater value to partners and customers with this enhanced offering.

GWAVA is running a survey about using Apple products in GroupWise environments. Answer their short survey for a chance to win one of the world's largest gummy bears. (You know you want one.) Five pounds of gummy bear goodness could be yours for answering this short survey, so fill out the survey at http://vovici.com/wsb.dll/s/10c1eg4844d

A lot of people are wondering what will happen to BrainShare USA with the pending Attachmate acquisition, here is some news from the official BrainShare website:

"Many of you have asked what the November 22, 2010 acquisition announcement means for BrainShare in 2011. Based on recent events and customer feedback, we have decided to delay planning for BrainShare 2011. We will announce plans for BrainShare at a later date. Check back here for future BrainShare communications."

Re: Attachmate commitment to Novell and SUSE products

Since the announcement of our intent to acquire Novell, we have received a number of questions regarding our plans for supporting Novell products. I know that during this period between the announcement and closing, there are more questions than answers, and I am sensitive to the challenges that this uncertainty may create for Novell customers and partners. I want to take this opportunity to be clear about the commitments we make to all of our customers.

Novell Vibe, the next-generation social collaboration platform that's available on-premise and in the cloud, was announced at Enterprise 2.0 last month - creating a lot of press coverage, customer interest and beneficial buzz.  Novell Vibe brings together the products formerly known as Novell Teaming (now Novell Vibe OnPrem) and Novell Pulse (now Novell Vibe Cloud) to help organizations drive better and faster business results.

VIENNA, Nov. 29, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- GroupLink Corporation, makers of the first ZENworks 10 integrated service desk, the "everything HelpDesk" (eHD), announced the upcoming release of its free service desk solution at the 2010 Open Horizons EMEA Summit. This free solution, slated to release by 31 January 2011, is an exclusive offer for all Open Horizons Members. This announcement comes as GroupLink shows its commitment to the EMEA market and the members of Open Horizons, the largest Novell user community in the world.

 

!!! FREE Service Desk Solution for Open Horizons Members !!!

Novell, Inc. (NASDAQ: NOVL), the leader in intelligent workload management, today announced that it has entered into a definitive merger agreement under which Attachmate Corporation would acquire Novell for $6.10 per share in cash in a transaction valued at approximately $2.2 billion. Attachmate Corporation is owned by an investment group led by Francisco Partners, Golden Gate Capital and Thoma Bravo. Novell also announced it has entered into a definitive agreement for the concurrent sale of certain intellectual property assets to CPTN Holdings LLC, a consortium of technology companies organized by Microsoft Corporation, for $450 million in cash, which cash payment is reflected in the merger consideration to be paid by Attachmate Corporation.

Monday November 22 - the news is out - Novell will be taken over by Attachmate for USD 2.2 billion - meanwhile part of the deal was a sale of intellectual property rights for USD 450 million to CPTN Holding, a consortium of technologies companies lead by Microsoft Corporation. Will this be good or bad news for Novell customers and partners? This remains to be seen - Novell might be in a safe-heaven now or being eaten by vultures - it will at least mean that there will be a lot of news around Novell in the next few weeks.