NOSes: Microsoft, Novell

Microsoft and Novell finished in a dead tie for first place as Channel Champions in the NOS category for 2005, but for very different reasons.

Microsoft scored higher in more areas overall than its NetWare and Linux rival and edged past Novell slightly—by one-tenth of a point—in technical satisfaction, buoyed by its strengths in product scalability and manageability.

Novell won decided victories over Microsoft in two of the most heavily weighted technical criteria: product reliability and product security. Losses in those areas cost Microsoft significant points, solution providers said.

One solution provider in Oregon who supports both platforms said he was surprised Novell tied Microsoft for first place this year given its shift to Linux and the resulting uncertainty in its channel, but he observed that Novell showed strength in certain areas where Microsoft was weak.

“They get to the same score in different ways, but it’s logical,” said Charlie Tragesser, CEO of Polar Systems, a longtime Novell Partner and a Microsoft Certified Partner in Portland, Ore.

On channel-program criteria, software licensing was a hot button and big differentiator. While Novell’s revised licensing policies for major accounts have adversely impacted some partners in recent years, its satisfaction rating in licensing as an open-source Linux distributor enabled it to beat Microsoft hands down by 8.4 points. Novell also rose 5.9 points above Microsoft on the criterion of sales margins.

Microsoft scored notably higher points than Novell in technical education, communication with partners, consistency of programs and responsiveness, compensating for weaknesses in licensing and sales margins, to tie Novell at 69.2 in overall channel-program satisfaction. Microsoft’s complex licensing scheme and falling product margins hurt it in the survey, partners said.

“Microsoft is doing a bang-up job,” said Ken Winell, a managing executive of Vis.align, West Chester, Pa., who suggested that Novell’s smaller channel may have worked in its favor in the survey. “I don’t know many Novell partners anymore, but those that are left are fiercely loyal,” he said. “Microsoft doesn’t have that. They’re a big guy.”

Runner-up Red Hat actually edged past Microsoft and Novell by three-tenths of a point in channel-program satisfaction, despite its overall third-place showing, thanks to its strengths in the criteria of licensing policies, sales margins and upselling opportunities.