Novell stomps on partners feet - once again.

The Novell "marketing machine" recently tried to by-pass its channel partners according to a story in Computer Reseller News (CRN).

Evidently the company recently mass-mailed a number of Small Business Suite customers telling them it was time to renew their support contracts, and noting that they could contact a "local retailer" to do so - but neglected to either give details of, or even inform, the partner who made the original sale! As one said:

"I don't care if they contact the client directly as long as they give me the same opportunity to make the same margin as the direct sales initiative, and they should list our name and number," he said. "I don't think that's asking too much. If they want me to stop selling their product, this is the way to do it."

Considering the poor sales numbers in Novell's last financial report, ticking off your channel partners doesn't seem like a good thing to do.