Novell appears to have caught wind of some Microsoft announcement next week, and has come up with a little spoiler launch of its own -- four new products designed to please NetWare ang NDS users. Java has evidently grown up enough for Novell to have developed its look-up-and-connect eGuide product in that language. Since it works with NDS eDirectory and any LDAP directory, and runs on NetWare, NT, UNIX, and Linux, the maxim of write-once, run-anywhere seems to make sense. Gunnar Bengtsson of Volvo IT said there was a Swedish word for what Novell is calling this simple-yet-customizable product - it's "lagom" and that means "not too heavy", for those who've forgotten their Swedish. Product pricing will be published when it ships in two weeks time. For integrating business processes, perhaps between different company websites, Novell has come up with iChain, which is an extension of NDS eDirectory, with fine-grained security. It is scheduled for release within 60 days. ZENWorks for Networks, now available, makes it possible for network administrators to have software control of the bandwidth of the application and the user on networking kit from various vendors. In a month or so, ZENWorks for Servers is scheduled, which is planned to help manage multiple servers across networks. Novell seems to be showing that there's plenty of life left in NetWare and NDS with cunning little add-ons, but it does make you wonder how people did these things before the gizmos were invented. ®