298 lines
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Plaintext
298 lines
14 KiB
Plaintext
Date: Thu, 7 Jan 93 11:50:06 PST
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Reply-To: <cocot@osc.versant.com>
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Message-ID: <surfpunk-0023@SURFPUNK.Technical.Journal>
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Mime-Version: 1.0
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Content-Type: text/plain
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From: cocot@osc.versant.com (HAVK vf n ertvfgrerq genqrznex bs ...)
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To: surfpunk@osc.versant.com (SURFPUNK Technical Journal)
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Subject: [surfpunk-0023] UNIX: Novell buying Unix System Labs
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Keywords: surfpunk, USL, Novell, Dennis Ritchie, timeline, Esau
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For phair use only. --strick
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________________________________________________________________________
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________________________________________________________________________
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Source: From Open Systems Today, 4jan93, p4
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What they're saying about the proposed sale of
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Unix System Laboratories to Novell.
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Dennis Ritchie (co-creator of UNIX):
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And Jacob said, Sell me this day thy birthright. And Esau
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said, Behold, I am at the point to die: and what profit shall
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this birthright do to me? And Jacob said, Sewar to me this
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day; and he sware unto him: and he sold his birthright unto
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Jacob. Then Jacob gave Esau bread and pottage of lentils; and
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he did eat and drink, and rose up, and went his way: thus Esau
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despised his birthright.
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Genesis 25: 31-34
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... lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau,
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who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright. For ye know
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how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing,
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he was rejected: for he found no place of repenetance, though
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he sought it carefully with tears.
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Hebrews 12:16-17
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Richard Stallman (Free Software Foundation):
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It's not very important who owns USL; what matters is what USL
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is doing, and how it affects the community. AT&T got a free
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ride from UCB for a decade. UNIX first became popular in its
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Berkeley version, because of the features UCB added. The
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successor of AT&T, accustomed to an unearned advantage, is
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infuriated that UCB now aims to help everyone alike.
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John Gilmore (Cygnus Support):
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Novell would give Microsoft the biggest kick in the pants it
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had ever seen if they would fire all the USL lawyers and make
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the UNIX system free to everyone in source code. Suddenly, the
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best high-end OS would have free distribution and a huge
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network of support people (the Internet). Novell retains
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control by providing a strong central organization that defines
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the future of UNIX. They should be able to make $100 million a
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year just charging for support. Fewer lawyers and licenses and
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more solid work is what'll beat Microsoft. Factionalism and
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more legal leeching will play right into the hands.
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Ed Krol (author of The Whole Internet User's Guide And Catalog):
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What I see now is UNIX being another weapon of the NT wars of
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'93. If there is market pressuer to change UNIX in some way,
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there will be a lot of pressure for Novell to just do it,
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because it will mean a lot to them to lose the initial
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battles. So I am afraid that UNIX will change less for the
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good of the future of UNIX and more for the good of the future
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of Novell.
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________________________________________________________________________
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Timeline: (Excerpts from Open Systems Today, 4jan93, pp4-5)
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1969: Ken Thompson boots the first single-tasking, single-user UNIX
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on a PDP-7
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1971: AT&T's Patent Office becomes first UNIX user
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1974: ACM publishes Thompson & Ritchie's paper on UNIX
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1975: Bell Labs licesnses UNIX to universities as a recruitment lure
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Thompson takes a sabbatical to teach undergrad courses at
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UC-Berkeley; holds informal evening classes in UNIX internals
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1978: First production VAX delivered to Bell Labs for UNIX port
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in March.
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Bill Joy gets a tape of the finished port at Berkeley in November.
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1979: Berkeley bids for ARPAnet research contract -- leads to the Internet
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1981: SUN founded by Andy Bechtolsheim to manufacture processor boards
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he designed for a Stanford thesis
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1982: SUN becomes Sun Microsystem; Bill Joy joins, bringing Berkeley
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BSD along.
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AT&T announces it will "support" UNIX.
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1984: AT&T officially enters the computer business with its 3B family
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1985: Sun intros NFS
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AT&T and Sun announce plans to merge SVR3 and BSD 4.2 by spring '86
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1987: X Window System catapulted into standardhood by consortium of
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17 vendors out to prevent Sun's NEWS from becoming a standard
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1988: AT&T buys 20 percent of Sun
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Ken Olsen [Digital] makes famous, oft-misquoted, "snake-oil" remark
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Internet worm, Nov 2 [Gene Spafford on TV...]
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1991: AT&T buys NCR
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Apple and IBM announce joint venture
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Sun renames SunOS "Solaris 1.0"
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Novell NetWare is available for most UNIX versions
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1992: Novell/USL joint venture Univel officially formed
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NetWare gets TCP/IP support
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Novell announces intent to purchase USL
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________________________________________________________________________
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Date: around Chrismastime. Old news.
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Novell, Inc. and AT&T jointly announced today they have
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signed a letter of intent for Novell to acquire UNIX Systems Laboratories.
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USL is a subsidiary of AT&T that provides computer vendors with the UNIX
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operating systems and related software and services based on open,
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international standards for computing and communications.
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Under the terms of the letter of intent, existing shares of USL common
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stock would be exchanged for up to 12.3 million newly issued shares of
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Novell common stock in a tax-free merger accounted for as a purchase.
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Novell would issue approximately 11.1 million shares of common stock to
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the current non-Novell USL shareholders. In addition the outstanding USL
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stock options and other equity incentives would be exchanged for Novell
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stock all in accordance with the terms of USL employee plans and the
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definitive agreement.
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AT&T owns approximately 77 percent of the outstanding shares of USL.
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Novell currently holds approximately 5 percent of USL's outstanding stock,
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and 11 other investors hold approximately 18 percent.
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The signing of the letter of intent has been approved by the boards of
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directors of Novell and AT&T, but the merger remains subject to the approval
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of USL stockholders, regulatory approvals, the signing of a definitive
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merger agreement and other normal conditions to closing. The acquisition
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is expected to be completed during the first calendar quarter of 1993.
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"Our support of UNIX systems, as evidenced by our earlier investment in
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USL and the joint creation of Univel, has been driven by the widespread
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use of UNIX at our customer sites and by our desire to work closely with
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our industry partners," said Raymond J. Noorda, preseident and chief
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executive officer of Novell. "This acquisition is being done at the
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urging of customers who have asked us to support the UNIX system directly
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and integrate it more fully within the NetWare environment. This reflects
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the growing importance of UNIX systems which are increasingly being used
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for rightsizing business applications on computer networks."
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Novell recognizes and values the importance of UNIX as an open accessible
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technology to OEM partners and customers around the world. As part of
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Novell, USL's commitment to fair and neutral access to UNIX technology
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will not change.
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Robert M. Kavner, AT&T group executive for communications products,
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reiterated what the compnay has said since 1991 that AT&T intended to reduce
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its ownership in USL, but that AT&T rmeains firmly committed to the UNIX
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system. "Associating USL with Novel, another strong company, will allow
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USL to be an even more effective and flourishing force in the software
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industry," Kavner said.
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Roel Pieper, president and chief executive officer of USL, said: "The
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two best technologies for open systems and interoperability are coming
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together within one company. The UNIX system provides reliable, secure
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sophisticated capabilities for network computing applications. The NetWare
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environment provides integrated cross-platform system services. The
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combination of the two enables distributed computing solutions to be deployed
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simply and cost effectively - from desktops to mainframes."
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________________________________________________________________________
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After months of speculation and half-hearted denials Novell Inc last
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week finally made the move to acquire all of Unix System Laboratories
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Inc from AT&T Co and its eleven other stockholders. On Sunday December
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20th at 10pm it signed a letter of intent to make the acquisition in a
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stock swap valued at roughly $320m for the 95% of USL it does not yet
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control. The sum is about four times USL's current revenues. The whole
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of USL was valued at $325m eighteen months ago when AT&T sold off the
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first 21.7%. Novell expects to close the deal in the first quarter of
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1993. It has the blessings of USL's board, which includes
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representatives from Ing C Olivetti & Co SpA, Fujitsu Ltd, and MIT,
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but the merger must still be approved by USL's other stockholders like
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Sun Microsystems Inc as well as the appropriate regulatory agencies.
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The three companies have been hammering out their understanding over
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the last few weeks: AT&T and USL have sought and reportedly received
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personal assurances from Novell chief Ray Noorda of the continued
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independence of Unix and the observation of the proprieties of open
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systems, neutrality and level playing fields. These terms must now be
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translated into a definitive agreement and a modus operandi that will
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be worked out on a daily basis between the two companies. USL will be
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run as a free- standing wholly-owned Novell subsidiary. Its current
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relationships with its OEMs and organisations such as the Open Software
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Foundation, Unix International and X/Open will be left intact as will
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its early access programmes. Its product line, including the Tuxedo
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transaction processing monitor, will be separate from Novell's.
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However, Novell, which claimed it was acting on the urgings of its
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customers, is expected to press the integration and interoperability of
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NetWare and Unix, the development of common management framework and
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common application framework ABIs to put at the service of third-party
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software developers and mission-critical accounts intent on rightsizing
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and employing distributed solutions. NetWare will be played as the
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network services provider and Unix as the application server. The
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desktop will be anybody's game. Novell is promising tighter integration
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with MS-DOS, Windows, OS/2, Apple Mac and Unix clients.
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On the day the merger was announced, USL president Roel Pieper, who
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will report to Noorda, claimed a positive reaction to the move from
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AT&T's old enemies Hewlett-Packard Co and IBM who always fretted over
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AT&T's control, its hardware biases and its association with the bad
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blood that drove the industry apart. He told Unigram.X that the Novell
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takeover gives these companies "a more logical and fundamental
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opportunity to line up more," hinting that it may foster "things the
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market hasn't seen yet." It is believed the alignment of Novell behind
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Unix will make it more difficult for Microsoft Corp to run roughshod
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over the industry. Novell anticipates lending USL marketing,
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educational, services and infrastructure help that will accelerate the
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adoption of Unix. Sun Microsystems and its own software facility,
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SunSoft Inc, remain the merger's wild cards. Pieper tried and failed to
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get hold of the outfits to brief them and to gauge their reaction.
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Sun's warm and cuddly alliance with AT&T, the original cause of the
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bloody Unix wars, has now turned almost 180 degrees with Sun looking
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increasing out in the cold. AT&T said it should realise a gain in
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excess of $100m in net income and will hold 3% of Novell's stock. It
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expects it to increase in value. Novell is handling the transaction as
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a purchase rather than a pooling of interests and will take a one-time
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write-off of up to $250m the quarter the deal closes. It will amortize
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the rest of the next five to fifteen years. The only affect on the
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merger plan disgruntled stockholders, if there are any, could have is
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apparently to demand cash.
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The Federal Trade Commission has completed its 30-month investigation
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into the business practices at Microsoft Corp and has decided that the
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company has engaged in anticompetitive behaviour, according to the
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December 28 issue of BusinessWeek . It says the investigators are
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preparing a wide range of recommendations on how to proceed against
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Microsoft - everything from splitting the company into pieces, to
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erecting a Chinese Wall between divisions, to altering the way its
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software is sold to computer manufacturers. If the commissioners vote
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to proceed against Microsoft, they may move quickly, the magazine
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says. Agency staffers want the Commission to seek a Federal court
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injunction barring Microsoft from what they consider abusive
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practices. Some Wall Street analysts responded in rage to the report,
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Reuter reports: "Even to have a recommendation of splitting up the
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company is ridiculous," says Piper Jaffray analyst David Rothschild.
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________________________________________________________________________
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________________________________________________________________________
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The SURFPUNK Technical Journal is a dangerous multinational hacker zine
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originating near BARRNET in the fashionable western arm of the northern
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California matrix. Quantum Californians appear in one of two states,
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spin surf or spin punk. Undetected, we are both, or might be neither.
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________________________________________________________________________
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Send postings to <surfpunk@osc.versant.com>, subscription requests
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to <surfpunk-request@osc.versant.com>. MIME encouraged.
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Xanalogical archive access soon. UNIX is still a registered trademark.
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________________________________________________________________________
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________________________________________________________________________
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