Microsoft Corp has backed down from a head on confrontation with Novell Inc, after claiming earlier in the week that it was going to withdraw all NT technical support for users of Novell Directory Services (CI No 3,329), effectively shutting Novell out of new business on NT servers. It has now softened its message and just withdrawn support for security on NT running NDS, forcing Novell to handle it instead. Microsoft admits that its initial claims were incorrect, NDS only removes one security DLL file instead of two, and has softened its tone stating that it is committed to support all its NT customers. But the war of words is continuing at a lower level. Novell UK Director of Technology Dominic Storey, asserts that Microsoft has been playing to inject fear, uncertainty and doubt into Novell’s customers, and is sending a clear signal to other NT independent software developers that Microsoft will try and shut down developers that challenge it. He also asserts that Microsoft’s claims that NDS violates the C2 security certification of NT is ridiculous, as soon as you plug a network card the C2 certificate is blown. Microsoft is still claiming that patches to NT, and the update to NT 5.0, will not work properly with NDS installed, and claims that Novell should have used its Active Directory Services Interface. Microsoft now claims it will sort out its Active Directory in the delayed NT 5.0 to fully interoperate with NDS. For once, the arrogant Microsoft seems to have backed down, maybe because it has one major anti-trust case already, but the vulnerable Novell may not be so lucky next time.
