Novell markets Microsoft software along with its own and Novell's CMO talks about experimentation with viral marketing

Criticisms of Novell's marketing strategy arrive early this week, even from the press

David Berlind catches a bashful Novell after it use of FUD tactics against Google, leaving Novell's PR people with no choice but to retract statements

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.

Novell announced quarterly results on December 3. So how are the company’s individual solutions groups performing — particularly the SUSE Linux solutions group? And what’s the latest with Novell’s partner efforts? The VAR Guy got some perspectives from Novell Chief Marketing Officer John Dragoon. Here’s a recap.

Novell Chief Marketing Officer John Dragoon popped up in a surprising location this week. Dragoon, who also serves as Novell’s channel chief, wrote a column on Forbes.com. In it, Dragoon declares consumers will be the big winners in the operating system battles between Apple, Google, Microsoft and Linux. Is Dragoon dropping hints about an expanded Novell desktop Linux push? Here's the scoop.

Give Novell credit. Rather than slamming The VAR Guy for a particularly harsh blog post about the software company, Novell reached out to him and engaged in a healthy dialog. During a lengthy telephone chat, Novell Senior VP and Chief Marketing Officer John Dragoon (pictured) discussed the company’s business performance and strategy. Here’s a recap of the conversation, and some updated reactions from The VAR Guy.

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 has moved to quell growing concerns that it has sold Linux out to Microsoft as part of its Attachmate deal. On Wednesday, Novell chief marketing officer John Dragoon issued a short statement saying that Novell – not Microsoft – owns the copyrights on Unix.