Surfing the High Tech Wave
Chapter Beginning.
Summary.
The March Massacre of 82.
After the massacre.
Judith Clarke on Comdex 82.
The story the booth tells.
According to Judith, Comdex 82 was Novell's low point. "For weeks
prior to the show we weren't sure if we were going or not. We'd paid for
the booth space and the booth, but even so it'd be on one moment and off
the next."
These weeks prior to Comdex were the period in which the "Novell founding team" was forged. These were the survivors and the believers and these were people who got to know each other's measure. They had faith that the network was a sound product and useful to the market. What they needed now was a way to get it out from under the heap of other Novell products the market had rejected and the heap of other obligations Novell's existence had created over the last two years.
"There was a meeting I remember in particular. I don't know exactly
when it was or much other detail about it's circumstance. I do remember
that Drew, Kyle and Dale and Craig were there. I was there and we were
going over the spec sheets that I just put together for Comdex. It was
for Comdex Fall and we had had eight presidents that year. And we were
just fed up.
"We knew had a good product. We knew that it was the LAN. And by that time I was so involved in it that I was really excited and determined. And I wasn't--at that time I wasn't--interested in making any money out of it or anything. I just thought it was 'A Cause'.
"But all these presidents would come flipping through there and they didn't [know what they had here]. Sometimes we didn't even know who they were! They'd just walk in and say, 'I'm your new president.'
"We thought, 'They don't care about us. The owners of the company don't care about us. They don't care about the product. They just want to get rid of us. They were trying to sell us.' And we were holding the threads together.
"So we were sitting in the conference room going over the spec sheets and reading them and we were talking about the show and how we were going to do it with no money. They kept... every other day they [Safeguard] would call up and say, 'Cancel. You're not going to go.' And we had just about everything all put together and all we had to get was the printing done.
"So we all just said, 'We're going to do this even if we don't get paid.' They thought... They were telling us they were going to cut all our salaries. They were going to close the doors. They weren't going to make the next payroll.
"And so we said, 'We're going to do it! We're going to do it! Not even if we don't get paid, we're still going to do it because we know it's a good product and'.... And so we all just looked at each other and we just said, 'Now, we're going to do it. No matter what, they're not going to stop us from doing it.'
"And I don't know if the others at the meeting even remember it, but it was so significant to me because I thought, 'These guys are really believing in this technology. They know how good it is. And they're not fools, they knew what they were doing.'
"And it just got me so excited to this cause, 'Save this, this software! We're going to take it to Comdex!'
"And we did it. And I think that right there was the big turning point because there was just a group of a few people and we were absolutely determined to let the world know about this product--almost like a rebellion. I felt their dedication. It won me. I really wanted to be a part of this and make it happen."
Chapter Beginning.
Summary.
The March Massacre of 82.
After the massacre.
Judith Clarke on Comdex 82.
The story the booth tells.