For its part, Novell takes the predictable stance that everyone should upgrade. At the same time, company officials concede that there are some valid reasons for not moving to NetWare 5.0 immediately. NetWare 3.x and 4.x users who have planned out two years in advance and don't have the budget to move at once comprise one such group. But more importantly, because NetWare 5.0 will not support SFT III when it ships, users who have invested heavily in that backup technology may be better off waiting to make the upgrade. Novell says that support will be available shortly after NetWare 5.0 ships.
Managers have their own issues about upgrading.
According to Novell, as many as 280 apps will support NetWare 5.0. The company may also hit some speed bumps. Perhaps the largest challenges for Novell will not be technical at all. Calif. But Hurst has seen this trend of intractability evolve. We were certain that we were going to sell a large number of copies of NetWare 3.2 when it was announced last year.