Enterprise software vendor Novell (NASDAQ: NOVL) fell short of its guidance for the third fiscal quarter of 2010, missing its financial projections with both revenues and income declining.

Tightening of the belt has seemingly paid off for Novell. The enterprise earned 38 million USD in the last quarter with Linux products. Novell’s turnover for the third quarter this year is lower than that of the third quarter last year, but the figures are still in the black. Novell closed out 2009’s third quarter with a profit of 17 million USD.

Linux distributor Novell has published the financial results of its second fiscal quarter of 2010. Compared to the second quarter of 2009, net revenue fell slightly from $216 million to $204 million

I'm set to interview Novell CEO Ron Hovsepian and Chief Marketing Officer/Channel Chief John Dragoon at the Novell BrainShare conference in Salt Lake City, Utah on March 22. Here are five key questions for Hovsepian and Dragoon, with the emphasis on the future of Novell and SUSE Linux.

"Novell CEO Ron Hovsepian says it is in his interest to give customers GPLv3 code when they are seeking updates, even if the customer was paying for Novell support through Microsoft certificates."

A day ago we mentioned the tactless remarks from Ron Hovsepian, whose damage can affect not only Novell, but Novell’s (and Microsoft’s) rivals as well. What on earth was he thinking? Others ask themselves the same question.

So far, so good for Novell. For its first-quarter 2008 results, Novell reported growing income and revenues with a strong year-over-year showing from its Linux platform business. With Microsoft's Windows Server 2008 set to enter the market, Novell's CEO is optimistic that the company can continue to grow its business even further.

There is a popular notion among open source advocates that open source software will do well in a recession as enterprises seek low cost alternatives. Open source vendor Novell's CEO Ron Hovsepian (NASDAQ: NOVL) might beg to differ.

Novell BrainShare has the company's CEO, Ron Hovsepian, avoiding the subject of Elliott Associates, which still wants Novell acquired