Novell feels the pinch of Linux success

NEWS The growth of the Linux market is being blamed by Novell for lower than expected second quarter earnings. Dennis Raney, CFO at Novell, claimed IBM pushing Linux in the OS market and the launch of Windows 2000 had both taken their toll. He said these factors had commandeered channel attention, created uncertainty and delayed sales. Raney also blamed problems with sales management and bad sales forecasting for the drop in revenue. Eric Schmidt, chairman and CEO at Novell, said he was very disappointed with the results and had instigated management changes to try and turn the company's fortunes around. The company is expected to report revenue of $300m during the second quarter compared with $316m for the previous quarter.