Novell Reaffirms Commitment to ODF

Novell Reaffirms its Commitment to the OpenDocument Format

Novell is committed to open standards, putting customer needs first,
ahead of proprietary agendas

WALTHAM, Mass.-17 Jan 2006-Novell today reaffirmed its roadmap for
support of the OpenDocument file format in current and future Novell(r)
products, which reinforces Novell's commitment to open standards,
customer choice and flexibility. Novell has delivered OpenDocument
support in its SUSE(r) Linux distribution since March 2005. Novell will
deliver complete OpenDocument support in the next edition of its
enterprise desktop in 2006. As a result, enterprise customers will be
able to create documents using a perpetually open standard and will not
have to rely on proprietary formats for future document readability.

OpenDocument is a standardized, XML-based file format specification for
office applications. A public, open, application-independent format that
can be implemented within any software program, it covers the features
required by text, spreadsheets, charts and graphical documents.
OpenDocument files can be opened by any OpenDocument-compliant
application regardless of language, freeing users from the shifting
product directions of any one vendor. Novell is working with Google,
IBM, Red Hat, Sun and others to promote this standard across the
industry, the open source community and the marketplace. Novell is a
member of the OASIS Open Document Format for Office Applications
technical committee, the body that manages and publishes the
OpenDocument standard.

"True open standards, like OpenDocument, are subject to public
inspection and contribution and are unencumbered by property rights and
the individual agendas of specific vendors," said Jack Messman, chairman
and CEO of Novell. "Users need these conditions to completely trust the
standard to remain perpetually open. It's that openness that ensures
customer choice, and customer choice has long been Novell's priority."

Erin (Flanigan) O'Keeffe

Horn Group, Inc.

415-905-4005

eokeeffe-at-horngroup.com