Microsoft May Sound `The Death Knell For Novell'

Novell Inc. was certainly in the right place at the right time. Just as corporations began tying personal computers into networks in the 1980s, Novell came out with NetWare, software that let PCs share files, programs, and printers. NetWare became a standard that neither IBM nor Microsoft could dislodge. And the company was poised to ride the growth wave of the 1990s: the move to bigger, more complex networks, including the Internet.

Instead, Novell is behind the eight ball. Sales of its WordPerfect programs--recently sold to Canada's Corel Corp.--have cratered. Growth in the core business has slowed, too. In the quarter ended Jan. 27, sales slumped 11%, to $438 million, and Novell has warned that, with the WordPerfect sale and a shift to direct sales of NetWare, revenues could drop by $225 million this quarter, producing a modest loss. Novell shares have skidded from a high of 35 in 1993 to an all-time low of 11 7/8.