Editing Novell (section)

===Taking on Microsoft===
====Motivations====
Unusually for the CEO of a high-tech, emerging computer company, Noorda was nearing 70 years of age by the early 1990s.<ref name="NYT_Noorda_1992"/><ref name="Fortune_battle_1993"/> Furthermore, he was known for alienating high-level executives who might someday be in position to run the company.<ref name="BW_Noorda_1991"/> Stock market analysts were expressing concern that Noorda, whose personality was the basis for much of the company's culture, had no succession plan in place.<ref name="NYT_Noorda_1993"/> At the same time, Novell faced a looming challenge from Microsoft's upcoming [[Windows NT]] operating system, which, after a huge investment of resources from Microsoft, featured bundled networking and more advanced OS capabilities and looked to be that company's first offering that could seriously challenge Novell's local area networking franchise.<ref name="NYT_Noorda_1992"/><ref name="Fortune_battle_1993"/>

Under Noorda, Novell made a series of acquisitions interpreted by many to be a direct challenge to Microsoft.<ref name="Barney_1994_Novell"/><ref name="Allchin_1992"/><ref name="Age_forsale_2000"/> Noorda was motivated in part by a realization that NetWare's technology was not suitable as the basis for a full-fledged operating system and application platform.<ref name="Fortune_battle_1993"/><ref name="CNET_Firmage_2003"/> There was also enmity between the two companies and the two CEOs, stemming in part from merger talks between Noorda and Microsoft head [[Bill Gates]] that had begun in 1989 and been on-and-off for the next couple of years before breaking down for good.<ref name="Guardian_Frankenberg_1994"/> Subsequently, Novell had played a role in keeping the [[United States v. Microsoft Corp.#History|Federal Trade Commission investigation into Microsoft]] going.<ref name="BW_Microsoft_1993"/>

Between 1991 and 1994, the Noorda-led Novell made this series of major acquisitions: [[Digital Research Inc.]], producer of [[DR-DOS]], to  compete with Microsoft's [[MS-DOS]]; [[Unix System Laboratories]], holder of [[Unix]] operating system technology, to improve Novell's technology base versus Windows NT; [[Serius Corp.]], maker of an advanced application development tool; and [[WordPerfect Corporation]] and [[Quattro Pro]] from [[Borland]] to provide personal productivity and group collaboration products.<ref name="Guardian_Frankenberg_1994"/> In all, Noorda acquired ten companies within a four-year span.<ref name="Guardian_Frankenberg_1994"/> By September 1993, ''[[BusinessWeek]]'' was writing, "Of the many rivalries in the personal-computer industry, for sheer nastiness it's hard to beat the one between Microsoft Corp. and Novell Inc."<ref name="BW_Microsoft_1993"/> In November 1993, Noorda confirmed published reports that he had been suffering from some memory lapses and announced that he would be stepping down from the CEO position once a successor was found.<ref name="NYT_Noorda_1993"/>

In April 1994, former HP executive [[Robert Frankenberg]] was announced as the new CEO of Novell, with Noorda remaining as chairman of the board of directors.<ref name="Fisher_1994_Novell"/> By then the USL acquisition was already showing difficulties, while the WordPerfect acquisition was questioned even more.<ref name="Fisher_1994_Novell"/> Nonetheless, Frankenberg said he was enthusiastic about it: "For me, it was a pivotal item in my decision to join Novell because it makes possible an entirely new category of networked applications which no one else can provide."<ref name="Fisher_1994_Novell"/> When the WordPerfect and Quattro Pro acquisitions closed in June 1994, it was the largest such deal in the software industry to that time; it made Novell the third-largest software company in the world, trailing only Microsoft and [[Computer Associates]].<ref name="DH_WordPerfect_1994"/>

Noorda retired from the chairman position and left Novell completely in  November 1994, although he was still the largest shareholder of the company.<ref name="CW_Noorda_ex_chair_1994"/> At that point in time, Frankenberg became chairman as well.<ref name="NYT_Frankenberg_1996"/>

===={{anchor|DRI|EDC|DSG}}Desktop OS and embedded systems: DOS, NEST, and Corsair====
Novell acquired [[Digital Research]] for {{US$|80&nbsp;million}} in June 1991.<ref name="Scott_1991"/><ref name="BW_1991"/><ref name="Allchin_1992"/><ref name="Schulman_1994_Undocumented-DOS"/> The move was seen as a way for Novell to supply software for server-focused PCs in alternative to Microsoft.<ref name="BW_Noorda_1991"/> NetWare used [[DR&nbsp;DOS]] as a boot loader and maintenance platform, and Novell intended to extend its desktop presence by integrating networking into DR&nbsp;DOS and providing an alternative to Microsoft's Windows. At first, the idea was to provide a graphical environment based on Digital Research's [[GEM (desktop environment)|GEM]], but Novell's legal department rejected this due to apprehension of a possible legal response from Apple, so the company went directly to Apple starting [[Star Trek project|Star Trek]] in February 1992, a project to run an x86-port of their [[Classic Mac OS|Mac OS]] on top of a multitasking DR&nbsp;DOS.

Novell had already abandoned Digital Research's [[Multiuser DOS]] in 1992<!-- exact date TBD -->. The three former Master [[Value Added Reseller]]s (VARs) [[DataPac Australasia]], [[Concurrent Controls]]<ref name="Barney_1994_CCI"/> and [[Intelligent Micro Software]]<ref name="Pontin_1995_IMS"/> could license the source code to take over and continue independent development of their derivations in 1994.<!-- Both sources state that they took over in 1992, mentioning some licensing in 1994. What about the time between? -->

By 1994, [[Novell Corsair|Corsair]] was a project run by Novell's advanced technology group that sought to put together a [[desktop metaphor]] with [[Internet connectivity]] and toward that end conducted research on how to better and more easily integrate and manage network access for users. At the time, the Internet was dominated by Unix-based operating systems, but the Novell group saw the Unixes of the day as being too hardware intensive, too large, and charging too much in license fees. They became convinced that [[Linux]] offered the best possible answer for the operating system component, and started building code towards that purpose, including contributing work on [[IPX]] networking for NetWare and [[Wine (software)|Wine]] compatibility layer for Windows.<ref name="LJ_1995"/>

Digital Research's [[FlexOS]] had been licensed to [[IBM]] for their [[4690 OS]] in 1993 and was also utilized for the in-house development of [[Novell Embedded Systems Technology|Novell's Embedded Systems Technology]] (NEST), but was sold off to [[Integrated Systems, Inc.]] (ISI) for {{US$|3&nbsp;million}} in July 1994. The deal comprised a direct payment of half this sum as well as shares representing 2% of the company.

NEST however held importance for Frankenberg's vision of "pervasive computing",<ref name="Byte_cover_1995"/> wherein Novell software would be connecting a billion nodes by 2000.<ref name="Age_SuperNOS_1994"/> Many of those nodes would be common, everyday devices running NEST,<ref name="Age_SuperNOS_1994"/> linked by [[SuperNOS]], Novell Directory Services, and other management services components.<ref name="Byte_cover_1995"/>

Novell also abandoned their [[Novell Corsair|Corsair]] desktop project and in late 1994 or early 1995 <!-- exact date TBD --> transferred some components to [[Caldera, Inc.<!-- be specific, as there were multiple Caldera companies -->|Caldera]], a startup funded by Noorda's [[Canopy Group]]. The Canopy Group was a technology investment firm and real estate company that Noorda focused on after his departure from Novell.<ref name="ST_Noorda_obit"/>

[[Novell DOS]] (and all former [[DR&nbsp;DOS]] versions including [[Star Trek (Novell)|StarTrek]], [[PalmDOS]] and [[DOS Plus]]) as well as other remaining Digital Research assets (like [[GEM (desktop environment)|GEM]] and the [[CP/M]]- and [[MP/M]]-based operating systems, programming languages, tools and technologies) were sold to [[Caldera, Inc.<!-- be specific, as there were multiple Caldera companies -->|Caldera]] on 23 July 1996. [[Personal NetWare]] had been abandoned at Novell in 1995<!--  Exact date TBD. There was another VLM update in 1996 but that was for the DOS client in general, not PNW specifically --> but was licensed to Caldera in binary form only. The deal consisted of a direct payment of US$400,000 as well as percentual royalties for any revenues derived from those assets to Novell.

In January 1997, Novell's NEST initiative was abandoned as well.<ref name="Adams_1997_NEST"/><ref name="Magee_1997_NEST"/><ref name="Woollacott_1997_NEST"/>

===={{anchor|USG|SuperNOS}}Server OS: UnixWare and SuperNOS====
[[Image:Novell building in Summit, New Jersey that housed Unix Systems Group, which had been Unix System Laboratories-March 1994.jpg|thumb|left|Novell's Summit, New Jersey, office, 1994 (formerly Unix System Laboratories)]]
On the server side, after their initial October 1991 [[Univel]] initiative,<ref name="CBR_1991_Unix"/> Novell announced in December 1992 that it was buying [[Unix System Laboratories]] (USL) from [[AT&T Corporation]].<ref name="LAT_USL_1992"/> The measure was intended to help Novell compete against Microsoft, which was on the verge of including networking as a built-in feature of [[Microsoft Windows|Windows]] in conjunction with  [[Windows NT]] server.<ref name="LAT_USL_1992"/><ref name="CW_Longshot_1993"/> Unix did present some attractive characteristics to the market, such as its abilities as an application server<ref name="OH_Rekhi_2017"/> and the lack of vendor lock-in,<ref name="NYT_Noorda_1993"/> but there were still considerable obstacles to be overcome in using it in this context.<ref name="CW_Longshot_1993"/>

The deal closed in June 1993,<ref name="Novell_1993_USL"/><ref name="CBR_1993_USG"/> with Novell acquiring rights to the [[Unix SVR4]] source base and the [[UnixWare]] operating system product.  Novell then turned the Unix brand name and specification over to the industry consortium [[X/Open]].<ref name="NYT_Noorda_1993"/>  
Novell created the Unix Systems Group to contain the new business, which also absorbed the Univel venture.<ref name="CBR_1993_USG"/> Most of the core USL employees remained in USL's [[Summit, New Jersey]] facility, which was later relocated to [[Florham Park, New Jersey]] in the summer of 1995.<ref name="CBR_NJ_1995"/> The USL Europe office in London was moved into Novell's facility in [[Bracknell, Berkshire]].<ref name="Tele_Europe_1993"/>

Novell's time with Unix technology saw the release of [[UnixWare 1.1]] in January 1994, in both personal and advanced server editions and with the bundled inclusion of TCP/IP, a NetWare Unix Client, and [[Merge (software)|Merge]] functionality for running DOS and Windows 3.1 applications.<ref name="CBR_UnixWare_1994"/> This was followed in early 1995 by the release of [[UnixWare 2.0]], which included full support for multiple processors as well as improved installation and ease-of-use and additional NetWare integration features.<ref name="PCM_UnixWare_1995"/>

In September 1994 Novell began publicly describing its plans to develop a "SuperNOS", a [[microkernel]]-based network operating system based on [[NetWare 4.1]] and [[UnixWare 2.0]].<ref name="CBR_SuperNOS_1994"/><ref name="Guardian_Frankenberg_1994"/> The aim was to include UnixWare technology inside NetWare, provide the strengths of both NetWare's network services and UnixWare's application services, be able to run existing [[NetWare Loadable Module]]s (NLMs) and [[Executable and Linkable Format|Unix executables]], and accordingly create a network operating system that could successfully compete with Microsoft's [[Windows NT]].<ref name="CBR_SuperNOS_1995"/><ref name="NW_SuperNOS_1995"/> SuperNOS would also operate across distributed servers with unified presentation.<ref name="Age_SuperNOS_1994"/> Finally, SuperNOS would take advantage of [[object-oriented programming]] paradigms as a way of fostering easier application development.<ref name="Age_SuperNOS_1994"/>

In terms of operating system architecture, SuperNOS would run NLMs in [[kernel space]], for maximum throughput, while it would run [[Spec 1170]]-based Unix applications in [[user space]].<ref name="Byte_cover_1995"/> For clustering, SuperNOS would embrace elements of a NetWare distributed parallel processing proposal and a UnixWare [[single system image]] initiative.<ref name="Byte_cover_1995"/> SuperNOS was based on work that had already started at USL and at the French company [[Chorus Systèmes SA]] for cooperative work on the [[ChorusOS|Chorus]] microkernel technology in the context of supporting SVR4 on a microkernel.<ref name="CBR_Objects_1995"/> This microkernel was arguably superior for this purpose than the more well-known [[Mach (kernel)|Mach]] one,<ref name="Age_Unix_1994"/> because it gave more flexibility at the kernel mode–user mode boundary.<ref name="Byte_cover_1995"/> By mid-1995 the SuperNOS project was reportedly about one-third completed, with 1997 being seen as a customer release date for it.<ref name="NW_SuperNOS_1995"/> There were over 60 engineers assigned to it, mostly from the UnixWare and Chorus side.<ref name="CBR_SuperNOS_1995"/> The project endured prolonged internal architectural debates and resistance from the NetWare side due to a reluctance to believe that Unix was really superior to NetWare in key aspects.<ref name="CBR_SuperNOS_1995"/><ref name="OH_Rekhi_2017"/> In one instance, Novell's Drew Major and Chorus Systèmes' Michel Gien disagreed in the trade press about whether the existent Chorus technology was up to the task.<ref name="Byte_cover_1995"/> The long-running disputes reflected cultural and political divisions between the San Jose (with Rekhi being a Unix supporter before leaving altogether) and Utah camps within Novell.<ref name="OH_Rekhi_2017"/> In any case the 1997 date was seen by industry observers as being too late to forestall the market-share gains that Windows NT was already making.<ref name="NW_SuperNOS_1995"/>

[[Image:Novell building in Bracknell 2006.jpg|thumb|right|Novell had a development office in Bracknell, Berkshire, UK for many years (here seen in 2006)]]

The acquisition of USL never really worked out for Novell.<ref name="CRN_Unix_2003"/> During the company's fiscal years of 1993, 1994, and 1995, Novell's Unix Systems Group represented only about 5 percent of the company's revenue on an ongoing basis.<!-- see discussion top right p. 22 of source, 5% is about right taking away partial years and one-time licensing fee --><ref name="AR_1995"/> Very few Certified NetWare Engineers ever reached a similar level of involvement with UnixWare.<ref name="Age_Unix_1994"/> Another aim, that Novell might be able to coalesce Unix vendor versions and thus resolve the [[Unix wars]], was not achieved either.<ref name="RCJ_Win95_1995"/> By late summer 1995 the company was looking for a way out of the Unix business.<ref name="IW_Confusing_2003"/>

In September 1995, Novell announced the sale of UnixWare to the [[Santa Cruz Operation]] (SCO), coincident with a licensing arrangement with [[Hewlett-Packard]].<ref name="NW_Deal_1995"/> As part of the deal, SCO said that it would merge the SVR4.2-based UnixWare with its existing SVR3.2-based OpenServer operating system and add NetWare services to the new merged product, code-named "Gemini".<ref name="NW_Deal_1995"/><ref name="IW_Gemini_Whitebox_1995"/> Gemini would then be sold through SCO's well-known channel and reseller operation.<ref name="NW_Deal_1995"/> As for HP, they said they would add NetWare code and [[NetWare Directory Services]] to their own version of Unix, [[HP-UX]], in combination with [[Distributed Computing Environment]] elements, which would then be sold by HP's strong direct-sales force.<ref name="NW_Deal_1995"/> Finally, SCO and HP said that they would co-develop a next-generation, 64-bit version of Unix.<ref name="IW_Devil_1995"/> Some 400 Novell software engineers had been working on UnixWare; most of them were offered jobs with either SCO or HP, while a few remained with Novell.<ref name="NW_Deal_1995"/><ref name="IW_Devil_1995"/>

While some lip service was paid to the notion that SuperNOS would go on after the three-way deal,<ref name="CW_Novell_Roads_1995"/> in fact, it was abandoned and never achieved fruition in that form.<ref name="PCM_Enc"/><ref name="Age_NetWare_1995"/><ref name="RCJ_Win95_1995"/><ref name="DN_Regain_2004"/> (A decade later, Novell's [[Open Enterprise Server]] product would realize some aspects of a hybrid NetWare/Unix-like system, this time based around [[SUSE Linux Enterprise Server]] rather than UnixWare.<ref name="DN_Regain_2004"/>)

By December, there were already some indications that the three-way arrangement was not working out as had been initially advertised.<ref name="IW_Gemini_Whitebox_1995"/> The computer industry was not sure that SCO could handle being the primary Unix shepherd.<ref name="IW_Confusing_2003"/> The HP project, code-named "White Box", focused on making a hybrid environment out of the SVR4.2-based Gemini and the SVR3.2-based HP-UX, but that effort faced major technical hurdles.<ref name="IW_Gemini_Whitebox_1995"/> The terms of the deal between Novell and SCO, which closed in December 1995,<ref name="Novell_1995_SCO"/> were uncertain enough that an amendment had to be signed in October 1996, and even that was not clear enough to preclude an extended battle between the two companies during the [[SCO-Linux disputes]] of the 2000s.<ref name="IW_Confusing_2003"/>

====Tools: AppWare====
In June 1993, Novell purchased Serius Corp., a firm that made a [[graphical programming language]] that could construct applications by connecting together icons representing objects in the program and their commands.<ref name="Cox_2000"/> Novell also purchased Software Transformations Inc., who made a cross-platform object code library that could be used to port conventional programs to a number of platforms.<ref name="Gillooly_1993"/> The disparate technologies of the two products were combined and renamed to [[AppWare]], with the Serius product being called AppWare Visual AppBuilder, the objects it used AppWare Loadable Modules, and the Software Transformations library  AppWare Foundation. The organization working on this was called the AppWare Systems Group.<ref name="DH_WordPerfect_1994"/> The founder of Serius, Joe Firmage, became vice president of strategy for Novell's Network Systems Group.<ref name="CNET_Firmage_2003"/>

AppWare was one of the three main strategic focuses of Novell during this period, along with NetWare and UnixWare.<ref name="NW_Prongs_1993"/> These three prongs were intended to satisfy the growing need for scalable, distributed computing at the enterprise level of applications such as general ledger systems or reservation systems; as Novell executive Jim Tolonen outlined: "[NetWare] being the underlying infrastructure over which those mission critical transactions will be moved, Unix [being] a place on which the applications can run, and AppWare as tools that will help programmers write that class of application in a distributed environment."<ref name="NW_Prongs_1993"/>

It was not long before the AppWare plans started to fall apart. In September 1994 Novell announced they would be selling the Appware Foundation product to a third party. Novell did state that development of Visual AppBuilder would continue, and a Unix port would be following (that did not materialize). Novell also continued to release a number of new Appware Loadable Modules.<ref name="Mace_1994"/> But overall, as ''[[Byte (magazine)|Byte]]'' magazine wrote in early 1995 about the three-pronged strategy, these "unrelated ... families of products formed an unsteady tripod".<ref name="Byte_cover_1995"/>

Joe Firmage became disillusioned with Novell in mid-1995, following its decision to sell UnixWare and abandon the SuperNOS project, and left Novell later that year.<ref name="CNET_Firmage_2003"/> Novell then publicly stated in November 1995 that it was looking for a buyer for AppWare.<ref name="IW_AppWare_1995"/> In March 1996, it was announced (based on an agreement that had been signed the month before) that Novell had sold all rights to the AppWare technology to a new company called Network Multimedia Inc., which was headed by Ed Firmage, who had been director of AppWare marketing at Novell.<ref name="PR_AppWare_1996"/>

====Applications: WordPerfect, Quattro Pro, and GroupWise====
[[Image:Novell WordPerfect building in Orem 1994.jpg|thumb|right|The WordPerfect building in Orem, Utah, with Novell signage, in 1994]]

[[Image:Novell PerfectOffice Professional 3.0 for Windows.jpg|thumb|right|Novell's PerfectOffice suite, reflecting the purchases of WordPerfect and Quattro Pro]]

In March 1994, Novell announced that it was acquiring [[WordPerfect Corporation]], whose primary product was the [[WordPerfect]] word processor, as well as acquiring the [[Quattro Pro]] spreadsheet from [[Borland]].<ref name="NYT_WordPerfect_1994"/> The initial price for WordPerfect was $1.4 billion in a Novell stock swap while Quattro Pro would cost $145 million in cash.<ref name="NYT_Sale_2"/> Novell executives said the goal of the acquisitions was to build a suite of products that could be connected across the network via NetWare and UnixWare.<ref name="NYT_WordPerfect_1994"/> The key  to this was the idea of "[[groupware]]" for collaboration.<ref name="NYT_WordPerfect_1994"/> Noorda said, "The era of stand-alone personal computing is evolving into group collaboration that connects individuals, groups and companies. Novell's objective is to accelerate this market transition."<ref name="NYT_WordPerfect_1994"/> The geographical proximity, as well as the cultural similarity, between the two companies also made the acquisition seem like a good idea.<ref name="Age_forsale_2000"/> The stock market was not enthused about the deal and Novell's stock price slid steadily in value.<ref name="NYT_Sale_2"/><ref name="DN_Sale_1"/> The merger, and acquisition from Borland, both closed on June 24, 1994 (with the public announcement being made on June 27).<ref name="DH_WordPerfect_1994"/> Because the price for WordPerfect was measured in Novell stock, when the deal closed the cost of WordPerfect had become $855 million.<ref name="DN_Sale_2"/> Work on the acquired products was organized into the company's Application Group.<ref name="DH_WordPerfect_1994"/> Both before and after the acquisition, there were substantial layoffs of WordPerfect staff;<ref name="AR_1996"/> at the peak right after the acquisition closed, Novell's employee count was around 10,150<!-- 400 sales let go right after close, 1,750 layoffs in various areas announced in August, leaving around 8,000 -->.<ref name="DH_layoffs_1994"/>  Novell's corporate address was shifted to WordPerfect's Orem location for a while.<ref name="AR_1995"/>

The market for standalone word processors and spreadsheets was expanding to that of [[office suites]], where [[Microsoft Office]] had an early lead in marketshare.<ref name="IW_PerfectOffice_1994_2"/>  To compete, Novell PerfectOffice 3.0 was released in December 1994.<ref name="IW_PerfectOffice_1994_2"/>  It was based upon an earlier effort, Borland Office 2.0 for Windows, but had superior look-and-feel and integration.<ref name="IW_PerfectOffice_1994_1"/>    It contained not just WordPerfect and Quattro Pro but also other products, most of which had originated at WordPerfect Corporation, including [[Corel Presentations|Presentations]] for [[Presentation program|slides preparation]], a [[personal information manager]] called InfoCentral, and the [[GroupWise]] collaboration product.<ref name="IW_PerfectOffice_1994_1"/>   There was also a professional edition that included AppWare as well as Borland's [[Paradox (database)|Paradox]] database.<ref name="IW_PerfectOffice_1994_1"/>  PerfectOffice surpassed in sales one early player in the space, [[Lotus SmartSuite]], and GroupWise found three times the number of users as [[Lotus Notes]].<ref name="NYT_Readies_1995"/>  The application products also had the advantage of what Novell's senior vice president for corporate marketing, Christine Hughes, called "[an] 'in your face' presence for the user. Otherwise no one is aware it's Novell providing that connection."<ref name="NYT_Readies_1995"/>  But industry analyst reaction was that while PerfectOffice 3.0 was a good product, it was arriving too late to head off Microsoft Office's momentum.<ref name="IW_PerfectOffice_1994_2"/>

WordPerfect also played in a role in larger architectural ambitions within Novell, as WordPerfect incorporated [[OpenDoc]] and [[IBM System Object Model]] technology.<ref name="IW_Objects_1993"/>  These became part of the basis for Novell's larger [[distributed object]] strategy.<ref name="NW_Objects_1994"/><ref name="CBR_Objects_1995"/>  That strategy was tied to having supporting multiple [[object request broker]]s that could tie in NetWare Loadable Modules, the AppWare Bus, UnixWare, and eventually SuperNOS itself.<ref name="NW_Objects_1994"/><ref name="CBR_Objects_1995"/> WordPerfect itself was also supposedly using the AppWare foundation layer in its work.<ref name="NW_Prongs_1993"/> Other parts of WordPerfect were deemed less strategic, and the Main Street line of multimedia products for children was dropped.<ref name="NYT_Readies_1995"/>

During its time in Novell, WordPerfect still sold reasonably well as standalone software, garnering almost half of all such word processor sales; but the market was increasingly dominated by the idea of office suites, and there Microsoft Office was supreme, with 86 percent of the market compared to only 5 percent for Novell's PerfectOffice.<ref name="WaPo_WordPerfect_1996"/>  As such, the WordPerfect and Quattro Pro part of the company dragged down Novell's earnings and stock price.<ref name="WaPo_WordPerfect_1996"/>

Novell stated in November 1995 that it was putting its personal productivity product line up for sale.<ref name="AR_1995"/>  Then in January 1996 it announced that the sale of these products, primarily WordPerfect and Quattro Pro, would be made to [[Corel]] for $186 million, a large loss from the $855 million that it had originally paid to acquire WordPerfect.<ref name="WaPo_WordPerfect_1996"/>  Novell did hold onto a few pieces that it had acquired from WordPerfect, most importantly the [[GroupWise]] collaboration product.<ref name="WaPo_WordPerfect_1996"/> By some estimates Novell had lost $750 million on the WordPerfect experience.<!-- none of these figures agree - what to do? --><ref name="BW_Knell_1996"/> The sale to Corel was completed in March 1996.<ref name="AR_1996"/>

====Results====
Overall, none of these moves had worked out well – for instance, Novell suffered a net loss of $35 million for its 1993 fiscal year, largely due to write-offs for the acquisitions,<ref name="Fisher_1994_Novell"/> and under criticism from Wall Street, Novell's stock price underwent a prolonged downturn<ref name="SFC_Frankenberg_1996"/> – and many of the companies and products that had been purchased were subsequently sold off.  Novell did have its two largest revenue years in 1994 and 1995, generating $1.998 billion and $2.041 billion in sales respectively.<ref name="AP_revenues_1995"/>  But the Noorda-era acquisitions were short-lived.<ref name="NYT_Frankenberg_1996"/>

The business press was negative on the whole attempt: ''[[The New York Times]]'' referred to "acquisitions Mr. Noorda had made in his latter years in a disastrous attempt to compete head-on with Microsoft",<ref name="NYT_Frankenberg_1996"/> while the ''[[San Francisco Chronicle]]'' talked of "a disastrous acquisition spree undertaken by previous CEO Ray Noorda in an effort to compete with Microsoft."<ref name="SFC_Frankenberg_1996"/> By the year 2000, ''[[The Age]]'' would say that "The WordPerfect acquisition was the biggest disaster in software history".<ref name="Age_forsale_2000"/>

Novell continued to have mediocre-at-best financial results during 1995 and 1996.<ref name="BW_Knell_1996"/><ref name="SFC_Frankenberg_1996"/>
In August 1996, Frankenberg himself departed Novell in what was variously portrayed as a mutual decision,<ref name="NYT_Frankenberg_1996"/> or as a resignation under pressure from the company's board of directors.<ref name="SFC_Frankenberg_1996"/><ref name="WSJ_Frankenberg_1996"/>  His {{frac|2|1|2}} years there had been marked by having to disassemble Noorda's acquisitions but also by failing to fully recognize the growing importance of the [[Internet]] for networking applications.<ref name="NYT_Frankenberg_1996"/><ref name="WSJ_Frankenberg_1996"/><ref name="BW_Schmidt_1997"/>