You're ignoring several things about the world that make your criticisms of Novell fall far short.
Products have a life cycle.
Virtually ALL of Novell's products are in the cash-cow stage. Novell needs to run them as profitably as can be done. Wall Street does not reward internal product innovation. In contrast, the economic rewards of acquiring technology are significant, especially if you have a vault of cash and don't have to use stock to buy. Buying its way into new technology makes perfect sense in this market.