Chris Stone, vice chairman of the office of the chief executive, has left Novell to pursue other interests a company spokesperson said yesterday.
Stone was instrumental in Novell’s acquisition of SuSE Linux, completed earlier this year, and held responsibility for engineering, product management and alliances. A replacement has not been named, with chairman and CEO Jack Messman assuming Stone’s responsibilities on an interim basis.
The news came as Messman mounted a spirited rebuttal of criticisms made by Microsoft chairman and chief executive Steve Ballmer in a recent, widely reported open letter.
The letter is part of a Linux truth campaign designed to counter Microsoft’s get-the-facts program that uses selected, sponsored analyst research in an attempt to dissuade customers from adopting Linux instead of Windows.
Novell’s campaign uses some of the same research from analysts Microsoft has used to wage its own get-the-facts battle, including material that was quoted by Ballmer in his recent letter.
The points made by Mr Ballmer in that letter include only those statements in its paid studies that reflect most positively on Microsoft when comparing their products to Linux, Messman said.
Messman also tackled indemnification, pointing to the existence of Novell’s Linux Indemnification Program, and security by highlighting an Evans Data survey earlier this year that said 92% of users of Linux systems have never been infected with a virus and fewer than 7% had been hacked.
We invite you to read the full reports for yourself and see why Linux is gaining more and more fans every day, Messman said.
Novell’s spokesperson said the company doesn’t want to become embroiled in a battle with Microsoft on this subject, but that it was simply defending its interests. Microsoft is saying Linux is bad don’t use it, it’s expensive, risky and dangerous. It’s in our interests do defend ourselves when Microsoft makes these blanket statements based on a selective read of the data, the spokesperson said.
