And then we tried making the white paper pretty and taking it to the CEO and he looked at it like it was Greek. Now, Tanner said, his product management team talks to CEOs and other managers about how NetWare fits into and enhances their business plan. And for the first time, Novell has been running a TV ad aimed at raising its profile among the general public. The advertisement features tropical fish jumping from one desolate-looking fish tank to another tank filled with other fish in a lush tropical setting. The ad is intended to exemplify Novell's 'OneNet' philosophy, as in the company fields networking wares to put everything a company needs on the Internet.
Critics still insist numbers speak louder than any marketing campaign.
According to IDC's annual market survey based on shipments of server operating systems, NetWare captured 35 percent of the market in 1995, well in front of Microsoft's Windows NT which stood at 18 percent. A turning point came in 1997, when NT captured 35 percent of the market and NetWare fell behind at 27 percent. Then, in 1999, Windows NT pulled out with 38 percent of the market and NetWare lagged at 19 percent. Kusnetzky said NetWare's market share will slip again when 2000 figures are released soon. At the time, Novell said it expects revenue in fiscal 2001 to be flat.