Some users complain Novell not responding to their needs

Computerworld - Novell Inc.'s problems may run deeper than the weak financial results that pushed the software vendor to announce a 16% cut in its workforce this morning. Several Novell users today said the company hasn't been responsive to their needs -- and they added that they may abandon NetWare if Novell doesn't shape up.
Intermountain Gas Co. has 600 NetWare users and wanted to use Novell's GroupWise software as a core piece of a new customer relationship management system, said Fred Leakeas, information systems operations manager at the utility in Boise, Idaho.
In the end, though, Novell "gave us some lip service but it went nowhere," Leakeas said. "They never called back." He added that he he hasn't seen a Novell sales representative in 12 months.
Other users at small and midsize companies tell similar stories. "The last time we heard from Novell was when we had a problem," said Chris Miller, manager of information technology and telecommunications at National Beef Packing Co. in Liberal, Kansas. "Nobody calls, nobody comes by -- they sell their product and they're gone. And even getting support is like pulling teeth."
Miller, who supports about 400 users in three locations, said he used to pay for "gold" level support from Novell but dropped the contract because he felt he wasn't getting good enough service. Miller said National Beef is considering moving off NetWare. "We did a preliminary study that says that Windows 2000 or NT would be considerably cheaper," he said.
"We haven't gotten any calls [from Novell] in a long time," echoed Cathi Goncalves, manager of information systems at Pennfield Corp. in Lancaster, Penn. Like many other Novell users, Goncalves is running older versions of the company's software, including NetWare 3 and NetWare 4.1.
She said the company's financial woes may make her decide to abandon the platform altogether. "We were thinking of upgrading to the latest version of NetWare and budgeting some money for that," Goncalves said. But now Pennfield plans "to wait and see what happens [to Novell] before investing any more money," she added.
A Novell spokeswoman said she couldn't comment on the experiences of the individual users. But she added that Novell is very committed to its customers. "If there's anything we are focused on today, it's on supporting our customers,'' she said.
The user complaints come in the wake of the layoff announcement, under which Novell plans to cut 900 of its 5,500 workers in an effort to reduce expenses. The move came three weeks after Novell reported fiscal