Documentation was always a problem, back in the NetWare 2.x (and for that matter, 3.x, 4.x, and 5.x... However, their new version is pretty thouroughly documented... Each release did get better, much like the installation programs). As far as support went, back in those days, if you needed help, you really needed either a CNE, who could get help directly from Novell, or help through a distributer. It was difficult for someone who wasn't certified to get help from Novell.
So we used Netware for a few years, all of us attending their courses but none getting certified, simply because it wasn't a product we particularly liked. We attended those training classes because of outright need, and frustration, and the thought of spending additional time to get certification simply maddening.
I know what you mean, but it did help in getting help from Novell. Being a CNE really meant something back then (in the late 80's, when the Novell tests were still "open book," but if you had to look up more than 2 or 3 answers, you'd run out of time and fail the test). Being certified as a CNE meant that you had a special telephone number for tech support which got you into 3rd level tech support, getting past the "script readers" who answered the phone, and the 2nd level tech support who usually knew less than you did. If the 3rd level couldn't get the problem solved, it would be immediately escallated to engineering... Damn, I miss those days!
Once Windows for Workgroups and ultimately NT came out, we dumped Netware like a bad dream, now running Microsoft and a few flavors of Unix for customized apps. But we feared for Unix's life when Novell got control of it, and IMO the technology was just way over their head. Do you remember how long we were waiting for Netware SMP? We didn't get the earliest version but rumor was the first processor had to be near 100% saturated before the second even would even began to utilize itself much.
Novell has a bad habit, worse maybe even than Microsoft (and much more damaging to their business) of releasing software LONG before it's ready! It seems like they would often set a target date to release software and would send it out no matter what... Good examples include the old NetWare SQL which ran as a NLM on top of NetWare 3.0. The main problem was that the NW3.0 system was great for file and print services, but didn't really take advantage of "real" memory protection that the 386 processor provided (for additional speed), and consequently, it was unstable as hell. In fact, they carried that architecture over until NetWare 5, although some remnants to still exist in NW6.x... But it's MUCH BETTER now! lol You mentioned SMP, and that's just one example of disasters that Novell's had... Another is clustering! Both were announced and shipped LONG before they were ready. Now, they actually work pretty darned well. But there are a lot of companies that got burned early on, and never came back.
What Novell did with UNIX is a crime! I got all excited when I found out that Novell had bought USL from AT&T. Novell had been pushing the concept of using NetWare as an application server for years, even though nobody trusted it, for good reasons! What better platform for an application server than "real" UNIX (I had been working primarily in the *IX world for years... Starting on Version 6 and later BSD on PDPs, and later working with Altos XENIX on Altos 586 and 2086 systems, eventually going to SCO XENIX and SCO UNIX on PCs, as well as a little bit of Microport UNIX. In a marketing move that would have made AT&T or XEROX proud, they decided to position UnixWare, not as an application server to add services to your existing Novell network, but as an alternative server to their #1 product, and as a desktop solution, no matter that memory was still several hundred dollars a MB, and no desktop office applications really existed for X! To this day, I'm convinced that somebody at Novell subcontracted out their UnixWare marketing to Redmond, WA!
I didn't realize they were already packaging mysql, are they still even fully Oracle compatible? Without a true enterprise DB they could be hurting.
I'm not sure that anybody really trusts Novell as an app server any more. That's what Win2K and UNIX (as well as "big iron" IBMs and DECs) are for. A version of NetWare DID ship with some enhanced commercial web commerce support... It shiped with Oracle 8i and IBM's WebSphere. However, it only lasted one release. Novell really didn't advertise the fact that they had an "eCommerce solution," and worse, 99.9% of their channel didn't know how to demonstrate all these nifty new features! After all, how many Novell certified techs are Oracle DBAs or WebSphere programmers! So, when a salesman would say, look at this wonderful bundled software that will allow you to expand your business to "the net," the client would say, "Show me what it can do..." The dealer would usually say, "well, we don't really know how to set up applications... Sorry." I actually sent some very angry emails to Eric Schmit while he was CEO, since I didn't feel that anybody at Novell was taking me seriously when I said that I was a Master CNE and a Master CNI, working with Novell since 1989, but I was going to have to stop working with Novell to come up to speed on Microsoft and Cisco products, because Novell isn't selling any more. Eric had a marketing droid contact me, as did the director of NetWare and NetWare related products. But I didn't get anywhere (at the time). Well, I fired off a really nasty email, and it seems to have gotten out (probably through some pissed off product development people who felt the same way) to Compaq and HP (before the merge). It seems that Compaq called Novell, asking why they should continue to develop software and drivers for Novell if their Platinum Dealers were looking at dropping selling Novell... I got 3 calls from Provo in one day, and they offered to fly me out to talk. They eventually sent two guys from Provo to talk to me... Not too much has changed, with one exception. They finally took my suggestion in making available a completely "pre-configured" system, for demo use. You can install it on a computer, and they have a demo web site .
NetWare 6.5 ships with Apache 2.0 (since it runs on NW, it has fewer exploitable "issues" than Apache on Unix/Linux), Pearl/PHP, MySQL, and Tomcat4. It also ships with development software for developing eCommerce sites. In fact, NW6.5 ships on 4 or 5 CDs! There's a lot of stuff there... And it is pretty well thought out... Still, I think that it's hard to beat Novell for file and print services, and eDirectory is a terrific directory. NW6.5 has something called Virtual Office, which is web based collaberation software that while is a first release, shows some real promise. I think that the best part of the "new" Novell is the fact that you don't have to have a NetWare server on your network to use Novell's services, and you can even eliminate the NetWare client from your workstations and still use most of the novell services. Novell's getting back to "making their stuff work with everyone elses." I just hope it isn't too little, too late.
Mark