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Novell’s moment of truth came in the form of an aggressive direct marketing campaign Microsoft launched against the company in 2001. By then, Novell was a wounded lizard in the marketplace, losing market share to Microsoft almost on a daily basis while the press and the industry questioned the company’s relevance in a server world dominated by Windows NT, Linux, and the Internet.
Desperate and clearly in over his head, a shotgun marriage was arranged by Novell’s then CEO Eric Schmidt. The company merged with Boston-based Cambridge Technology Partners, a large but money-losing consulting and system integration firm. The company’s corporate headquarters was officially shifted from Provo, Utah, to Cambridge, Massachusetts. Jack Messman, CEO of Cambridge Technology Partners and former president of Novell from 1982 to 1983, became the head of the newly merged entity. It all felt very unnatural, as if Godzilla had married Mothra. Normally, Godzilla eats Mothra.
Microsoft, never reluctant to kick an opponent when it’s down, wound up and tossed a “Microsoft Server Crunch” Novell’s way. “Crunch” consisted of a clever bit of marketing collateral designed to look like a cereal box. The piece’s copy made several statements about Novell and NetWare designed to tempt even the most devout of the company’s many Mormons (a faith that discourages the use of coffee) to reach for a cup of java and some strong aspirin. The choicest nuggets in Crunch were
“What’s the expiration date on that NetWare platform?”
“You’re left with a server platform without the full support of its manufacturer. Which means increasing costs as it rapidly becomes obsolete, forcing you to implement time-consuming retrofits.”
“As a result of the recent Cambridge Technology Partners merger, Novell is shifting its focus from software development to consultancy services.”
When I read about the Microsoft campaign I flashed back to the mid-1990s. Shortly after the merger of Novell and WordPerfect, I was invited out to Provo, Utah, to train a combined group of Novell and former WordPerfect product managers on software marketing. During the training, the attendees ran up with an ad I now think of as “The Ship Slowly Sinking While the Band Plays On” piece.
The ad showed a picture of a person in a rowboat heading toward a sleek yacht in the distance. The rowboat was meant to symbolize WordPerfect; the yacht, Microsoft. The raison d’être for all this rowing was better service, as represented by the yacht. At its core, Microsoft was claiming it offered better customer service than Novell, a company that at the time was continuing WordPerfect’s famous policy of offering 800 (that’s toll-free) support to anyone who bought its products.
“This is outrageous,” the trainees wailed. “What should we do?”
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