Novell Vs. Microsoft: What's Behind The Hate

Of the many rivalries in the personal-computer industry, for sheer nastiness it's hard to beat the one between Microsoft Corp. and Novell Inc. Microsoft Chairman William H. Gates III now blames Novell Chief Executive Raymond J. Noorda for keeping alive a three-year-old Federal Trade Commission antitrust investigation of Microsoft that has recently been transferred to the Justice Dept. He has publicly accused the 69-year-old Noorda of "increasingly paranoid political attacks" against Microsoft. Says Gates: "Ray has a tremendous vendetta against us."

For its part, Novell freely admits that it has played a key role in trying to snare Microsoft in a Federal antitrust trap. And the company has been open about its role in providing ammunition for a new European Community monopoly investigation of Microsoft. Caught in the middle are computer users who, because Microsoft and Novell refuse to cooperate, have troubles of their own. The biggest problem is that Novell and Microsoft can't agree on the code to make Windows NT communicate with Novell's popular NetWare networking software. "It's a nuisance," says Adam Ruef, a technical consultant for Mobil Corp., in Fairfax, Va. "Now, users have to be responsible for somehow assembling all the necessary pieces."