Chapter 73 Section 2 Novell
Many young people today may not have heard of Novell, but like Sun, it once hoped to compete with Microsoft in the operating system, but it was finally defeated by Microsoft due to bad luck.
To talk about Novell, it is inevitable to introduce 3COM first.
In the first few years of the microcomputer, users were mostly adversaries -- each other's computers couldn't communicate with each other.Personal microcomputers are just to meet the needs of personal entertainment (such as games), learning, word processing, daily management and simple industrial control.Networked computer systems used in commercial enterprises (such as banks) are almost without exception composed of a central host (Main Frame) plus peripheral terminals - all calculations are done by the central host, and the peripheral terminals are nothing more than input and display devices .The central host adopts a time-sharing operating system and serves many end users at the same time.Before the early 1980s, no one intended to replace mainframe computer systems with microcomputers.
However, just in 1979, something happened that did not attract people's attention at the time, but had a profound impact on the future development of computers.That year, several scientists at Xerox PARC, who invented Ethernet, founded 3Com and developed an Ethernet adapter, commonly known as a network card.Although 3COM originally designed network adapters for large and small central mainframes of companies such as IBM and DEC, with the popularity of microcomputers, 3COM quickly expanded its business to the field of mainframes.
By the mid-1980s, IBM-PC/AT and its compatible personal microcomputers had been able to replace the original minicomputers such as DECPDP and VAX in many tasks, and the cost performance of microcomputers was more than an order of magnitude higher than that of minicomputers.If microcomputers can be networked to share data and hardware resources, they can replace minicomputer systems.Unfortunately, when the microcomputer was originally designed, resource sharing was not considered at all, and the network function was zero. 3COM's Ethernet server and adapter make up for this deficiency of the microcomputer, and solve the problem of networking of the microcomputer.The previous VAX or HP minicomputer system is basically the architecture shown in the figure below:
Resources and data are managed centrally, and all calculations, storage and printing are completed by minicomputers.Its advantage is that information is shared, but the cost is very high. For a small enterprise with dozens of people, it is basically unaffordable to use the computer system of VAX minicomputer plus terminal.I remember that in the mid-1980s, a VAX system with 20 to 40 users cost nearly 2 million RMB.In addition to hardware investment, the minicomputer system also requires a dedicated computer room and management personnel, and these management personnel must be trained by the hardware company.Although the speed of the minicomputer is not slow, its computing speed is not fast when distributed to each user.The minicomputer is the center of the whole system, if there is any problem with it, the system will not work.After the microcomputer is networked, it can replace the minicomputer in many cases. Its architecture is as follows:
In such a system called a microcomputer local area network (PC LAN), there is a network server, which is usually a high-performance microcomputer, of course, it can also be a minicomputer and a workstation, and it is mainly used to manage the network and share storage. The data and serve as a bridge for exchanging data between microcomputers.The calculation is basically completed on the microcomputer, and some files that are unwilling to share can also be saved on the local microcomputer.Because each microcomputer has its own independence, even if there is a problem with the network server, the microcomputer can work alone.Although each microcomputer is not as fast as a minicomputer, the total computing power of dozens of microcomputers exceeds that of a minicomputer.Moreover, a microcomputer LAN is much cheaper than a system that can perform the same function. In the mid-1980s, the hardware investment for such a system of 40 microcomputers was only 600,000 to 700,000 yuan.Moreover, the microcomputer system does not require a dedicated administrator, and the operating cost is low.Generally speaking, compared with minicomputers, this kind of computer system based on microcomputer LAN has more advantages than disadvantages in most applications.Therefore, since the mid-1980s, it has become an irreversible trend for microcomputer LANs to replace minicomputer systems. (This is why DEC later closed its doors.)
Although 3COM has created a microcomputer LAN, the company's goal is not clear. It does everything from network adapters, network servers to network operating systems.This may be because it was founded in the early 1980s. At that time, the most profitable IT industry was still hardware, so 3COM actually focused on hardware and supplemented by software.Even after it failed on the Internet, it continued to focus on hardware habitually, buying US Robotics, the parent company that makes the Palm Pilot, a handheld personal assistant system.Since the standard of Ethernet is public, there is nothing difficult to make its adapter, anyone can do it.The Ethernet network server is actually a high-end PC, and any PC manufacturer can make it. Therefore, after the appearance of 3COM, various compatible network cards and network servers appeared. At this time, the microcomputer LAN market is as chaotic as the microcomputer market. And the competition is fierce.In fact, the most critical technology in microcomputer LAN is the network operating system.In this regard, a company similar to Microsoft is needed to unify it, and Novell came into being.
Novell was also born in 1979.But it became a network company and changed its name to Novell in 1983. At this time, 3COM was already a big brother in LAN. Novell's goal after entering the network field has always been clear-specializing in operating systems.If 3COM's position in the field of microcomputer LAN is a bit like Apple's position in the field of microcomputers, then Novell can be compared to Microsoft.
Novell has developed an operating system called NOS (Network Operating System), which corresponds to Microsoft's DOS.It adopts DRDOS, which has the same origin as Microsoft MSDOS, so its network operating system can actually run completely independently of Microsoft's software, and at the same time it is compatible with Microsoft's DOS.Although Novell later bought a network card company and also made some hardware, its energy has always been on the network operating system.As Novell's network operating system becomes more and more popular on microcomputer LANs, it is in the same advantageous position as Microsoft: no matter which brand of PC and network hardware users use, Novell's operating system can be used. The Novell network operating system is not only very easy to install by yourself, but also the project of building a local area network is so simple that non-professionals can do it after reading the manual.A person who has never studied computers will be able to watch others do it twice.If readers have been around Zhongguancun in the early 1990s, they will remember that any small company with two or three employees would write "network installation" and other words on its business.Soon, Novell's operating system was as popular on LANs as DOS was on microcomputers.From the 1980s to the early 1990s, Novell grew smoothly, and not only quickly surpassed 3COM, but by 1990, it almost monopolized the entire microcomputer LAN operating system market, with a turnover close to that of Microsoft (900 million). US$ to Microsoft's US$1.1 billion).Because the networking of microcomputers has become a trend, and the local area network of microcomputers is more promising in small and medium-sized enterprises than networks based on Unix servers, workstations and TCP/IP protocols, Novell is likely to become another Microsoft-it may be a monopoly level operating system.In the next five years, Novell still relied on the inertia of the wave to grow at an annual rate of 20% until 1995.That year Novell's turnover exceeded two billion US dollars, equivalent to 40% of Microsoft's level in the same year.Looking back now, although Novell's business has continued to grow in the past five years, its progress still lags far behind Microsoft.
Obviously, Microsoft couldn't watch Novell grow big, but until 1994, their competition was unnoticed.Since Microsoft's core business at that time was still dominated by personal computer operating systems and office software, its business and Novell's business did not overlap too much, and their common interests even outweighed their contradictions.At that time, an enterprise had two main choices when installing a network, a local area network based on various versions of UNIX and TCP/IP protocols, or a local area network based on Novell's NOS.The former appears to users as UNIX, and the latter as DOS.Although Novell uses DRDOS, users use it exactly the same as Microsoft's MSDOS, and it is the same for program developers. Novell is undoubtedly helping Microsoft and UNIX compete for the enterprise market.At that time, Microsoft had nothing to say about network operating systems, and it even temporarily chose IBM's OS/2 LAN Server to offset Novell's advantages in the network, but OS/2 LAN Server never became a A mainstream network operating system.
In 1993 and 1994, Novell, just as it was in full swing, made two mergers and acquisitions that had a considerable impact on the company's business.The first time was to purchase the copyright of UNIX from AT&T, showing Novell's determination to enter the UNIX enterprise market. Since then until today, Novell's network operating system has a version serving UNIX workstations.However, Novell did not directly promote UNIX, indicating that Novell's technical route is clear, and it has not swayed like some failed companies; Software, which shows Novell's determination to enter the office software market.The latter acquisition has been controversial since then. Many people believe that Novell is doing nothing (network operating system) and expanding indiscriminately, causing it to lose its advantage over Microsoft in the network operating system.I personally think that Novell's approach is not a big mistake.At that time, Novell had already accounted for more than 70% of the market share in the microcomputer LAN operating system. According to Novell's fate, it could no longer double its market share and must develop new growth points.It is a natural thing to enter enterprise-level office software from an enterprise-level operating system.The fact that Microsoft's Office software has consistently earned more money from businesses than from individuals justifies Novell's approach.Today's Google also enters the online office software market from online services.However, when Microsoft has the word processing software Words and the tabulation software Excel, it is difficult to accommodate a second office software in the market.Not only Novell, Sun and IBM are trying to enter the enterprise office software market, but they are blocked by Microsoft.
Since 1995, the dispute between Microsoft and Novell has undergone qualitative changes.The impact on Novell of Microsoft's introduction of Windows NT a year ago is beginning to be felt.Users had migrated from DOS to Windows, and Novell's operating system had little advantage over Microsoft's Windows NT.It is difficult to imagine a local area network installing Novell's operating system on its network server and using Windows on the networked microcomputers at the same time.Obviously, it is a better way to adopt Microsoft Windows from servers to microcomputers. At this time, the balance of victory began to tilt towards Microsoft, and it became an irreversible trend.
After 1995, Novell is still improving its products and doing a good job technically.Its network operating system supports all major computers (PCs running Windows, UNIX workstations, Apple PCs, and IBM mainframes), providing a high-performance unified platform for complex network systems using computers from multiple manufacturers. Novell's operating system can use either a dedicated server or any PC as a server, and it supports diskless workstations (and microcomputers), suitable for teaching laboratories and small businesses in schools with limited funds.But none of these features can offset Microsoft's advantages in microcomputer operating systems.In fact, not many companies need to connect all kinds of computers, because most companies will have a plan when building their own network.Diskless workstations are becoming less and less desirable as hardware prices decrease.Microsoft just honestly connected the microcomputers, which solved 80 to 90% of the problems, and Microsoft could dominate the enterprise-level network operating system if it captured 80 to 90% of the market.
Compared with other losers competing with Microsoft, Novell made few mistakes in competing with Microsoft.If it has any shortcomings, it may be lacking in execution than Microsoft led by Gates.However, there can only be one winner. As long as Microsoft monopolizes the microcomputer operating system, Novell is doomed to lose to Microsoft in the operating system. Novell undoubtedly knew that Microsoft's monopoly was the root cause of its development, so it was the most important witness in the US Department of Justice's antitrust lawsuit against Microsoft in 2000. In early 2000, the judgment decided to split Microsoft into two, and Novell could have breathed a sigh of relief. However, after Bush came to power in 2001, he overturned the case for Microsoft, and Novell fell into the abyss of never seeing the sun.Although Novell later introduced Linux to its NetWare users and combined NetWare with Linux, it finally survived, but it has been reduced to a second-rate status in the network market. It was only a matter of time before NetWare disappeared from the corporate vision.
Resources and data are managed centrally, and all calculations, storage and printing are completed by minicomputers.Its advantage is that information is shared, but the cost is very high. For a small enterprise with dozens of people, it is basically unaffordable to use the computer system of VAX minicomputer plus terminal.I remember that in the mid-1980s, a VAX system with 20 to 40 users cost nearly 2 million RMB.In addition to hardware investment, the minicomputer system also requires a dedicated computer room and management personnel, and these management personnel must be trained by the hardware company.Although the speed of the minicomputer is not slow, its computing speed is not fast when distributed to each user.The minicomputer is the center of the whole system, if there is any problem with it, the system will not work.After the microcomputer is networked, it can replace the minicomputer in many cases. Its architecture is as follows:
In such a system called a microcomputer local area network (PC LAN), there is a network server, which is usually a high-performance microcomputer, of course, it can also be a minicomputer and a workstation, and it is mainly used to manage the network and share storage. The data and serve as a bridge for exchanging data between microcomputers.The calculation is basically completed on the microcomputer, and some files that are unwilling to share can also be saved on the local microcomputer.Because each microcomputer has its own independence, even if there is a problem with the network server, the microcomputer can work alone.Although each microcomputer is not as fast as a minicomputer, the total computing power of dozens of microcomputers exceeds that of a minicomputer.Moreover, a microcomputer LAN is much cheaper than a system that can perform the same function. In the mid-1980s, the hardware investment for such a system of 40 microcomputers was only 600,000 to 700,000 yuan.Moreover, the microcomputer system does not require a dedicated administrator, and the operating cost is low.Generally speaking, compared with minicomputers, this kind of computer system based on microcomputer LAN has more advantages than disadvantages in most applications.Therefore, since the mid-1980s, it has become an irreversible trend for microcomputer LANs to replace minicomputer systems. (This is why DEC later closed its doors.)
Although 3COM has created a microcomputer LAN, the company's goal is not clear. It does everything from network adapters, network servers to network operating systems.This may be because it was founded in the early 1980s. At that time, the most profitable IT industry was still hardware, so 3COM actually focused on hardware and supplemented by software.Even after it failed on the Internet, it continued to focus on hardware habitually, buying US Robotics, the parent company that makes the Palm Pilot, a handheld personal assistant system.Since the standard of Ethernet is public, there is nothing difficult to make its adapter, anyone can do it.The Ethernet network server is actually a high-end PC, and any PC manufacturer can make it. Therefore, after the appearance of 3COM, various compatible network cards and network servers appeared. At this time, the microcomputer LAN market is as chaotic as the microcomputer market. And the competition is fierce.In fact, the most critical technology in microcomputer LAN is the network operating system.In this regard, a company similar to Microsoft is needed to unify it, and Novell came into being.
Novell was also born in 1979.But it became a network company and changed its name to Novell in 1983. At this time, 3COM was already a big brother in LAN. Novell's goal after entering the network field has always been clear-specializing in operating systems.If 3COM's position in the field of microcomputer LAN is a bit like Apple's position in the field of microcomputers, then Novell can be compared to Microsoft.
Novell has developed an operating system called NOS (Network Operating System), which corresponds to Microsoft's DOS.It adopts DRDOS, which has the same origin as Microsoft MSDOS, so its network operating system can actually run completely independently of Microsoft's software, and at the same time it is compatible with Microsoft's DOS.Although Novell later bought a network card company and also made some hardware, its energy has always been on the network operating system.As Novell's network operating system becomes more and more popular on microcomputer LANs, it is in the same advantageous position as Microsoft: no matter which brand of PC and network hardware users use, Novell's operating system can be used. The Novell network operating system is not only very easy to install by yourself, but also the project of building a local area network is so simple that non-professionals can do it after reading the manual.A person who has never studied computers will be able to watch others do it twice.If readers have been around Zhongguancun in the early 1990s, they will remember that any small company with two or three employees would write "network installation" and other words on its business.Soon, Novell's operating system was as popular on LANs as DOS was on microcomputers.From the 1980s to the early 1990s, Novell grew smoothly, and not only quickly surpassed 3COM, but by 1990, it almost monopolized the entire microcomputer LAN operating system market, with a turnover close to that of Microsoft (900 million). US$ to Microsoft's US$1.1 billion).Because the networking of microcomputers has become a trend, and the local area network of microcomputers is more promising in small and medium-sized enterprises than networks based on Unix servers, workstations and TCP/IP protocols, Novell is likely to become another Microsoft-it may be a monopoly level operating system.In the next five years, Novell still relied on the inertia of the wave to grow at an annual rate of 20% until 1995.That year Novell's turnover exceeded two billion US dollars, equivalent to 40% of Microsoft's level in the same year.Looking back now, although Novell's business has continued to grow in the past five years, its progress still lags far behind Microsoft.
Obviously, Microsoft couldn't watch Novell grow big, but until 1994, their competition was unnoticed.Since Microsoft's core business at that time was still dominated by personal computer operating systems and office software, its business and Novell's business did not overlap too much, and their common interests even outweighed their contradictions.At that time, an enterprise had two main choices when installing a network, a local area network based on various versions of UNIX and TCP/IP protocols, or a local area network based on Novell's NOS.The former appears to users as UNIX, and the latter as DOS.Although Novell uses DRDOS, users use it exactly the same as Microsoft's MSDOS, and it is the same for program developers. Novell is undoubtedly helping Microsoft and UNIX compete for the enterprise market.At that time, Microsoft had nothing to say about network operating systems, and it even temporarily chose IBM's OS/2 LAN Server to offset Novell's advantages in the network, but OS/2 LAN Server never became a A mainstream network operating system.
In 1993 and 1994, Novell, just as it was in full swing, made two mergers and acquisitions that had a considerable impact on the company's business.The first time was to purchase the copyright of UNIX from AT&T, showing Novell's determination to enter the UNIX enterprise market. Since then until today, Novell's network operating system has a version serving UNIX workstations.However, Novell did not directly promote UNIX, indicating that Novell's technical route is clear, and it has not swayed like some failed companies; Software, which shows Novell's determination to enter the office software market.The latter acquisition has been controversial since then. Many people believe that Novell is doing nothing (network operating system) and expanding indiscriminately, causing it to lose its advantage over Microsoft in the network operating system.I personally think that Novell's approach is not a big mistake.At that time, Novell had already accounted for more than 70% of the market share in the microcomputer LAN operating system. According to Novell's fate, it could no longer double its market share and must develop new growth points.It is a natural thing to enter enterprise-level office software from an enterprise-level operating system.The fact that Microsoft's Office software has consistently earned more money from businesses than from individuals justifies Novell's approach.Today's Google also enters the online office software market from online services.However, when Microsoft has the word processing software Words and the tabulation software Excel, it is difficult to accommodate a second office software in the market.Not only Novell, Sun and IBM are trying to enter the enterprise office software market, but they are blocked by Microsoft.
Since 1995, the dispute between Microsoft and Novell has undergone qualitative changes.The impact on Novell of Microsoft's introduction of Windows NT a year ago is beginning to be felt.Users had migrated from DOS to Windows, and Novell's operating system had little advantage over Microsoft's Windows NT.It is difficult to imagine a local area network installing Novell's operating system on its network server and using Windows on the networked microcomputers at the same time.Obviously, it is a better way to adopt Microsoft Windows from servers to microcomputers. At this time, the balance of victory began to tilt towards Microsoft, and it became an irreversible trend.
After 1995, Novell is still improving its products and doing a good job technically.Its network operating system supports all major computers (PCs running Windows, UNIX workstations, Apple PCs, and IBM mainframes), providing a high-performance unified platform for complex network systems using computers from multiple manufacturers. Novell's operating system can use either a dedicated server or any PC as a server, and it supports diskless workstations (and microcomputers), suitable for teaching laboratories and small businesses in schools with limited funds.But none of these features can offset Microsoft's advantages in microcomputer operating systems.In fact, not many companies need to connect all kinds of computers, because most companies will have a plan when building their own network.Diskless workstations are becoming less and less desirable as hardware prices decrease.Microsoft just honestly connected the microcomputers, which solved 80 to 90% of the problems, and Microsoft could dominate the enterprise-level network operating system if it captured 80 to 90% of the market.
Compared with other losers competing with Microsoft, Novell made few mistakes in competing with Microsoft.If it has any shortcomings, it may be lacking in execution than Microsoft led by Gates.However, there can only be one winner. As long as Microsoft monopolizes the microcomputer operating system, Novell is doomed to lose to Microsoft in the operating system. Novell undoubtedly knew that Microsoft's monopoly was the root cause of its development, so it was the most important witness in the US Department of Justice's antitrust lawsuit against Microsoft in 2000. In early 2000, the judgment decided to split Microsoft into two, and Novell could have breathed a sigh of relief. However, after Bush came to power in 2001, he overturned the case for Microsoft, and Novell fell into the abyss of never seeing the sun.Although Novell later introduced Linux to its NetWare users and combined NetWare with Linux, it finally survived, but it has been reduced to a second-rate status in the network market. It was only a matter of time before NetWare disappeared from the corporate vision.