Users and analysts at the Waltham, Mass.-based vendor's annual BrainShare conference in Salt Lake City this week were cautiously optimistic that the latest strategy will bear more fruit than past Novell turnaround efforts.

At the conference, Novell touted its software as an integrated suite of products that run on its SUSE Linux operating system. For instance, Novell unveiled a low-priced bundle of office and back-end applications aimed at enterprise workgroups.

Novell officials contend that the integrated SUSE Linux-based offerings -- ranging from security and identity software such as AppArmor and eDirectory to management offerings like ZenWorks, desktop applications like GroupWise, Hula and a new custom version of OpenOffice 2.0 -- are cheaper and easier to manage than the Windows equivalents.

Longtime Novell customer Robert McInerney, North American information systems infrastructure manager at TRW Automotive Holdings Corp., said he is 'intrigued' by Novell's new customized version of OpenOffice, which offers more compatibility with Microsoft Office's file formats, fonts and Visual Basic scripts than the open-source version.

McInerney said the Livonia, Mich.-based auto parts supplier will look into running the software on its 9,000 PCs.