Two more members of the board of directors have prior relationships with Microsoft

Novell’s board of directors is facing a pair of symbolic deadlines: The VAR Guy thinks Novell will need to somehow address the pending private equity takeover bid by Elliott Associates before the BrainShare conference starts March 21 in Salt Lake City, Utah and before Red Hat announces quarterly results on March 24.

Novell senior cannot deny Microsoft takeover, but she thinks it is unlikely. What about Dell?

Lots of Novell news ranging from SCO and Netware to hardware and people. WHAT a week of pranks it must have been for Novell. Between rumours of an IBM takeover to similar ones involving Microsoft, Novell sure needed a sense of humour. Here is another joke about Novell bidding for Linus Torvalds.

As BrainShare kicks off it becomes apparent that Novell does not reject a takeover and Microsoft could be among the bidders

The key question becomes, does Microsoft really need Novell anymore, or is it ready to try its luck with Linux directly?

We recently showed how Microsoft is ’stealing’ from Novell’s GroupWise. Is this the company that Novell is serving in so many ways? Why? Has Novell forgotten the past so quickly? Examples from the news of Novell problems and loss of business to Microsoft.

When Novell announced a reorganization this week, The VAR Guy took some time to digest the news. He sipped his latte and mulled Novell’s stated direction. Now, our resident blogger is ready to weigh in with an opinion. Specifically, keep an eye on Novell Senior VP Joe Wagner.

Selling fear. That’s just what Novell does along with Microsoft, but it’s not alone. Novell tries to cause damage to friendly (Free software) rivals for the benefit of Microsoft and increased profit at Novell.