More details on Novell's DS4W

There's a sneak peak article on Novell's Open Enterprise Server 2 that can be found in Novell's Connection Magazine. It includes discussion of many of the new capabilities and features of OES2 including additional information on Novell's Domain Services for Windows.

To my previous point about "simplification" here's an excerpt:

Note that this is not desktop emulation, nor is it synchronization between eDirectory and Active Directory. Rather, it employs server-side authorization and authentication that allows Windows users to access a Novell server using native Windows protocols, as well as providing seamless cross-authentication between Active Directory and eDirectory. In other words, it lets your users work in a pure Windows desktop environment while still letting them take advantage of all the Novell back-end services and technology.

The beauty of Novell's efforts is the fact that a company does not need complicated metadirectory, directory synchronization or identity management software to enable these benefits. They have simplified the environment and there are tremendous advantages to this.

Earl Perkins from Gartner was kind enough to leave a comment on my previous post where I responded to Craig Burton's comments. Earl raises a good point and I must say that at the end of the day it does not matter one bit what Jackson, Craig or Earl think about Novell's efforts. What matters is the market. Will the market see the benefits of this and shell out money for this product?

If the answer is yes, then Novell has a winner.

Technorati tags: identity management, Microsoft, Active Directory, Novell, Samba