Novell has tangled with Microsoft several times over the years, coming out worse for the wear each time. This time, the outcome will be different, argued Ronald Hovsepian, Novell's president and chief operating officer. 'What the next generation of users will want is value,' he said.

Novell's new Open Workgroup Suite includes the Linux version of Open Enterprise Server, its GroupWise messaging software, ZenWorks, SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop and OpenOffice. The bundle is priced at US$110 per user, plus $75 per user a year in maintenance.

'Novell can clearly offer a broader scope of products than [Linux rival] Red Hat directly can,' said Gordon Haff, an analyst at Illuminata Inc. in Nashua, N.H. 'The strategy does seem to be moving ahead.'

During the conference, Novell also showed off the latest beta of SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10, which is slated to ship in May. The company also demonstrated the desktop version of SUSE Linux 10, which offers 3-D graphics and an integrated search engine.

Hoping to begin a transition to SUSE Linux, Novell continues to encourage NetWare users to move to its Open Enterprise Server, which offers both NetWare and SUSE Linux. At the same time, Novell promised to support NetWare 6.5 until 2015.