# Zenworks confusion

**URL:** <https://forums.suse.com/t/zenworks-confusion/25151>\
**Category:** Chatting over the Back Fence\
**Created:** [February 17, 2014, 5:22pm UTC](https://forums.suse.com/t/zenworks-confusion/25151 "2014-02-17T17:22:51Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 11\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![System1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/51bf81/32.png) [@System1](https://forums.suse.com/u/System1)\
**Post date:** [February 17, 2014, 5:22pm UTC](https://forums.suse.com/t/zenworks-confusion/25151/1 "2014-02-17T17:22:51Z")

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OK, I don’t keep up with the news, and I don’t recognize most of the names here  
now, but …

I’m darned confused about the state of Zenworks & Attachmate.

On the one hand, we have  
[http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/novell-increases-investment-in-zenworks-portfolio-242738821.html](http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/novell-increases-investment-in-zenworks-portfolio-242738821.html)  
which says that the investment in the Zenworks portfolio is being enhanced  
etc. etc.

On the other hand, one of the guys who has been on the Zenworks forums for some  
years has stated that he was laid off as of last Friday.

Anyone know how these two go together? Has Attachmate done a round of layoffs  
that includes Zenworks folks-in-the-know? Or is it just some very limited  
subset, certain types of positions? Who, what, where, why, when, how? (That’s  
the famous “six w’s” for you kids.)

I’ve done a limited search and don’t find any mention of layoffs related to  
Zenworks, just the above article which seems to say the opposite.

Thanks if anyone knows anything about this, even a clue, please!

– DE

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex022/uploads/suse/original/2X/5/5012ba89e3ffb5220dac47d5ea0ba032e2fe1cb6.png) [@system](https://forums.suse.com/u/system)\
**Post date:** [February 17, 2014, 5:49pm UTC](https://forums.suse.com/t/zenworks-confusion/25151/2 "2014-02-17T17:49:04Z")

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I can say on a personal level, I will miss Shaun greatly as a colleague  
at Novell. He was responsible for helping me to change from just a  
Sysop to an Employee and now our roles are reversed.

Due to the fact that Novell is now part of Attachmate, which is a  
private company, I cannot disclose any details of the changes that took  
place.

However, I can honestly say that the recent changes did not raise any  
concerns in my mind over the future success of ZCM or any particular  
Novell products. I still believe things are going quite well.

I have also been a Sysop for a long-time and also try to be as honest as  
possible. If I did not believe what I wrote, I would have simply said  
nothing. I do my best to be as honest and forthright.

I know that everyone in Novell is beyond excited about ZCM 11.3, which  
has so many new long sought features that it will be like Christmas  
morning to many.

On 2/17/2014 10:22 AM, DE wrote:[color=blue]

> OK, I don’t keep up with the news, and I don’t recognize most of the  
> names here now, but …
> 
> I’m darned confused about the state of Zenworks & Attachmate.
> 
> On the one hand, we have  
> [http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/novell-increases-investment-in-zenworks-portfolio-242738821.html](http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/novell-increases-investment-in-zenworks-portfolio-242738821.html)  
> which says that the investment in the Zenworks portfolio is being  
> enhanced etc. etc.
> 
> On the other hand, one of the guys who has been on the Zenworks forums  
> for some years has stated that he was laid off as of last Friday.
> 
> Anyone know how these two go together? Has Attachmate done a round of  
> layoffs that includes Zenworks folks-in-the-know? Or is it just some  
> very limited subset, certain types of positions? Who, what, where, why,  
> when, how? (That’s the famous “six w’s” for you kids.)
> 
> I’ve done a limited search and don’t find any mention of layoffs related  
> to Zenworks, just the above article which seems to say the opposite.
> 
> Thanks if anyone knows anything about this, even a clue, please!
> 
> – DE[/color]

–  
Craig Wilson - MCNE, MCSE, CCNA  
Novell Technical Support Engineer

Novell does not officially monitor these forums.

Suggestions/Opinions/Statements made by me are solely my own.  
These thoughts may not be shared by either Novell or any rational human.

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**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex022/uploads/suse/original/2X/5/5012ba89e3ffb5220dac47d5ea0ba032e2fe1cb6.png) [@system](https://forums.suse.com/u/system)\
**Post date:** [February 18, 2014, 10:32am UTC](https://forums.suse.com/t/zenworks-confusion/25151/3 "2014-02-18T10:32:28Z")

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De,[color=blue]

> On the other hand, one of the guys who has been on the Zenworks forums for some  
> years has stated that he was laid off as of last Friday.[/color]

Yes and I personally think that it was a stupid move on Novell’s part, but I do  
not see it as a lack of commitment to Zenworks, rather as a failure to see Shaun’s  
unique contribution.

Without knowing every detail, I simply think that managers were told to let x  
number of people go.

–  
Anders Gustafsson (NKP)  
The Aaland Islands (N60 E20)

Have an idea for a product enhancement? Please visit:  
[http://www.novell.com/rms](http://www.novell.com/rms)

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**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex022/uploads/suse/original/2X/5/5012ba89e3ffb5220dac47d5ea0ba032e2fe1cb6.png) [@system](https://forums.suse.com/u/system)\
**Post date:** [March 15, 2014, 4:42am UTC](https://forums.suse.com/t/zenworks-confusion/25151/4 "2014-03-15T04:42:41Z")

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Anders Gustafsson wrote:[color=blue]

> De,[color=green]
> 
> > On the other hand, one of the guys who has been on the Zenworks forums for some  
> > years has stated that he was laid off as of last Friday.[/color]
> 
> Yes and I personally think that it was a stupid move on Novell’s part, but I do  
> not see it as a lack of commitment to Zenworks, rather as a failure to see Shaun’s  
> unique contribution.
> 
> Without knowing every detail, I simply think that managers were told to let x  
> number of people go.  
> [/color]  
> Thanks for the response from you & Craig. I take your comments as indicating  
> that there were other related layoffs. I’ve been around for an inordinately  
> long time (a dear friend was an early forum Sysop and I go back to the  
> WordPerfect BBS days) but very on-again-off-again, so I’m really out of the  
> loop. But over the years, it becomes easy to see who knows what they’re  
> talking about & who doesn’t. Shaun has been terrifically helpful and  
> proactive, and I’m bugged at his departure.

I think that Craig’s comments about 11.3 are very heartening. Where I’m  
currently working, I have to repeatedly say that I am a true fan of Zenworks,  
because the users are so unhappy about the implementation & I have to explain  
that it’s not Zenworks’ fault that the design is so user-unfriendly, rather  
it’s the result of one person’s skewed vision of how to implement a product  
that can be used completely differently. But there is now a push to look at  
alternate products, and I’m hoping that I will get a voice in the discussion,  
and that I can get people excited about Zenworks and all it can do.

Frankly, I think that the biggest problem with Zenworks being successful has to  
do with the way it always has seemed that Novell management didn’t like their  
own products. I’m hoping that Attachmate’s involvement will take away the  
negative response that many people seem to have to the name alone. After  
Novell all but destroyed WordPerfect’s place in the market, and forced many  
Netware-reliant companies into Windows by not offering an easy upgrade path  
when Netware was, er, terminated … well, if the company mgmt doesn’t believe  
in their own stuff & make it easy to stay with them, the customers aren’t going  
to do the extra work as a rule.

I mean, at my current company, I can’t even get people to =consider= Filr,  
which is really sad since it’s ideal for their needs.

I will be looking forward to pitching Zenworks 11.3, and hope I can stir up a  
positive response. I’d love to see a white paper that compares 11.3 with the  
latest MS SCCM, as well as other company’s competing products for  
packaging/deploying/inventorying/etc., because SCCM is the default direction  
that many customers want to go, even though it just doesn’t offer the ease of  
use and complete functionality that Zenworks has.

– DE

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**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex022/uploads/suse/original/2X/5/5012ba89e3ffb5220dac47d5ea0ba032e2fe1cb6.png) [@system](https://forums.suse.com/u/system)\
**Post date:** [March 26, 2014, 5:27pm UTC](https://forums.suse.com/t/zenworks-confusion/25151/5 "2014-03-26T17:27:02Z")

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> because SCCM is the default[color=blue]  
> direction that many customers want to go, even though it just doesn’t  
> offer the ease of use and complete functionality that Zenworks has.[/color]

Different product, same comparison MAD vs NDS/eDir/(insert latest branding).  
We know where that one ended up. Sorry to hear about Shaun. I agree, top  
drawer talent. Par for the course though.

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**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex022/uploads/suse/original/2X/5/5012ba89e3ffb5220dac47d5ea0ba032e2fe1cb6.png) [@system](https://forums.suse.com/u/system)\
**Post date:** [March 26, 2014, 5:35pm UTC](https://forums.suse.com/t/zenworks-confusion/25151/6 "2014-03-26T17:35:35Z")

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GofBorg,

I’m not dead, you know… :0

–

Shaun Pond  
newly reminted as a Knowledge Professional

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**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex022/uploads/suse/original/2X/5/5012ba89e3ffb5220dac47d5ea0ba032e2fe1cb6.png) [@system](https://forums.suse.com/u/system)\
**Post date:** [March 26, 2014, 6:28pm UTC](https://forums.suse.com/t/zenworks-confusion/25151/7 "2014-03-26T18:28:14Z")

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> GofBorg,[color=blue]
> 
> I’m not dead, you know… :0[/color]

Ah well, I was going to say you would do fine wherever you ended up. 🙂

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**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex022/uploads/suse/original/2X/5/5012ba89e3ffb5220dac47d5ea0ba032e2fe1cb6.png) [@system](https://forums.suse.com/u/system)\
**Post date:** [March 26, 2014, 6:37pm UTC](https://forums.suse.com/t/zenworks-confusion/25151/8 "2014-03-26T18:37:32Z")

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GofBorg,

[https://www.engl.co.uk/](https://www.engl.co.uk/)

–

Shaun Pond  
newly reminted as a Knowledge Professional

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**Author:** ![lhaig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ec9cab/32.png) [@lhaig](https://forums.suse.com/u/lhaig)\
**Post date:** [March 27, 2014, 3:10pm UTC](https://forums.suse.com/t/zenworks-confusion/25151/9 "2014-03-27T15:10:18Z")

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On 26/03/2014 18:37, Shaun Pond wrote:[color=blue]

> GofBorg,
> 
> [https://www.engl.co.uk/](https://www.engl.co.uk/)  
> [/color]

These guys are a great bunch.

I dealt with them quite a bit when I lived in the UK.

Lance

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**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex022/uploads/suse/original/2X/5/5012ba89e3ffb5220dac47d5ea0ba032e2fe1cb6.png) [@system](https://forums.suse.com/u/system)\
**Post date:** [March 27, 2014, 3:16pm UTC](https://forums.suse.com/t/zenworks-confusion/25151/10 "2014-03-27T15:16:46Z")

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Lance,

and I am pleased and proud to be working for them

–

Shaun Pond  
newly reminted as a Knowledge Professional

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**Author:** ![lhaig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ec9cab/32.png) [@lhaig](https://forums.suse.com/u/lhaig)\
**Post date:** [March 27, 2014, 6:01pm UTC](https://forums.suse.com/t/zenworks-confusion/25151/11 "2014-03-27T18:01:28Z")

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On 27/03/2014 15:16, Shaun Pond wrote:[color=blue]

> Lance,
> 
> and I am pleased and proud to be working for them  
> [/color]

I wish they had space for me 🙂

Lance