View source for Ray Noorda

{{Short description|American businessman}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2021|cs1-dates=y}}
{{Use list-defined references|date=December 2021}}
{{Infobox person
|name          = Raymond John Noorda
|image         = 
|birth_name    = 
|birth_date    = {{Birth date|1924|06|19|df=yes}}
|birth_place   = [[Ogden, Utah|Ogden]], Utah
|death_date    = {{Death date and age|2006|10|09|1924|06|19|df=yes}}
|death_place   = [[Orem, Utah|Orem]], Utah
|death_cause   = 
|resting_place = 
|nationality   = [[Americans|American]]
|other_names   = 
|known_for     = [[Novell]] CEO and Chairman
|education     = [[Bachelor of Science|B.S.]] in engineering
|alma_mater    = [[Weber State College]]<br/>[[University of Utah]]
|employer      = 
|occupation    = 
|spouse        = 
|partner       = 
|children      = 
|parents       = 
}}
'''Raymond John "Ray" Noorda''' (19 June 1924 &ndash; 9 October 2006) was an [[United States of America|American]] [[computer]] [[businessman]]. He was [[chief executive officer|CEO]] of [[Novell]] between 1982 and 1994. He also served as [[chairman]] of Novell until he was replaced in 1994.

==Early life==
Noorda was born in [[Ogden, Utah|Ogden]], [[Utah]], the third son of [[Netherlands|Dutch]] immigrants Bertus Noorda and Alida Margaretha van den Berg. He attended [[Weber State University|Weber State College]] in Ogden. During [[World War II]], he served in the [[U.S. Navy]] for two years as an electronics technician, working with [[radar]] systems. He graduated ''[[cum laude]]'' with a bachelor's degree in [[engineering]] from the [[University of Utah]] in 1949. Noorda worked for [[General Electric]] from graduation until 1971, after which he worked at a number of California companies.

==Personal life==
Noorda was a member of [[the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints]] (LDS Church).<ref name="FamousMormons"/> He married Lewena "Tye" Taylor in 1950, and they were later [[Celestial marriage|sealed]] in the [[Salt Lake Temple]].<ref name="DeseretNews-1"/> Among the positions that Noorda held in the LDS Church were counselor in a [[Branch president|branch presidency]] and counselor in a [[Stake (Latter Day Saints)|stake]] [[Sunday School (LDS Church)|Sunday school]] presidency.<ref name="DeseretNews-2"/>

==Novell==
In 1983, Noorda assembled the [[SuperSet]] team whose members included [[Drew Major]], James Bills, Dale Niebaur and Kyle Powell. The team was originally assigned to create a [[CP/M]] disk sharing system, but instead came up with a successful [[file sharing]] system for the newly introduced [[PC compatible|IBM-compatible PC]]. This [[network operating system]] was later called [[Novell NetWare]].

Under Noorda's watch, Novell acquired several companies and products with the goal of countering [[Microsoft]]'s rapid spread into new markets, including [[Digital Research]], [[Unix System Laboratories]], [[WordPerfect]], and [[Borland]]'s [[Quattro Pro]]. Microsoft CEO [[Bill Gates]] claimed that Noorda had a "tremendous vendetta" against Microsoft and that Noorda had supported the [[Federal Trade Commission]]'s antitrust investigations of Microsoft in the early 1990s that led to a [[consent decree]] restricting its [[operating system]] licensing practices.<ref name="Lewyn_1993"/><ref name="Rohm_1998"/>

Noorda ran Novell until 1993. He was succeeded by [[Robert Frankenberg]] in 1994.<ref name="Fisher_1994"/>

Around 1992, Noorda used the term [[co-opetition]] to characterize Novell's business strategy.<ref name="Fisher_1992"/><ref name="Williamson_2006"/>

==Later career==
{{anchor|NFT}}Up to his death, Noorda owned the [[Canopy Group]], which he had founded in 1992 through the Noorda Family Trust (NFT Ventures, Inc.).<ref name="Rogers_2019"/><ref name="NFT_Ventures"/> One of its holdings, [[Caldera (company)|Caldera]], purchased the [[Unix]] assets in 2000 from the [[Santa Cruz Operation]], which had acquired them from Novell in 1995. In 1996, it also acquired the [[Digital Research]] assets from Novell and immediately brought a [[Caldera v. Microsoft|lawsuit]] against [[Microsoft]] that largely duplicated the claims that the [[Federal Trade Commission]] (FTC) and [[United States Department of Justice|Department of Justice]] had pursued in the early 1990s.{{citation needed|date=August 2013}} The lawsuit was ultimately settled in 2000 with a $280 million payment to Caldera.<ref name="Groklaw_2009_NovellWP"/><ref name="Microsoft_2009_Memorandum"/><ref name="Caldera_Microsoft_2000_Settlement"/><ref name="Gomes_2000_Settlement"/>

Noorda received [[Honorary degree|honorary doctorate]]s from the University of Utah in 1994 and Weber State University in 1995. As a consequence of age and associated health issues ([[Alzheimer's disease]] and [[heart disease]]), Noorda did not participate in the day-to-day management of Canopy's affairs after 1998.<ref name="Groklaw_2005"/><ref name="Gray"/>

Noorda was inducted into the Junior Achievement U.S. Business Hall of Fame in 1995.

Noorda had four sons and one daughter. His daughter committed [[suicide]] in 2005.<ref name="Suicide_2005"/> Noorda died on 9 October 2006 at his home in [[Orem, Utah|Orem]], Utah, at the age of 82.

==References==
{{reflist|refs=
<ref name="FamousMormons">{{cite web |title=Famous Mormons in Business |url=http://www.famousmormons.net/bus03.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080514153045/http://www.famousmormons.net/bus03.html |archive-date=2008-05-14}}</ref>
<ref name="DeseretNews-1">{{cite journal |url=https://www.deseret.com/2006/10/13/19753596/obituary-raymond-john-noorda-1st-part/ |title=Obituary: Raymond John Nooorda (1st part) |journal=[[Deseret News]] |date=2006-10-13}}</ref>
<ref name="DeseretNews-2">{{cite journal |url=https://www.deseret.comhttps://www.deseret.com/2006/10/13/19753361/obituary-raymond-john-noorda-2nd-part/ |title=Obituary: Raymond John Noorda (2nd part) |journal=[[Deseret News]] |date=2006-10-13}}</ref>
<ref name="Lewyn_1993">{{cite journal |author-last1=Lewyn |author-first1=Mark |author-first2=Richard |author-last2=Brandt |date=1993-09-27 |title=Novell vs. Microsoft: What's Behind the Hate |journal=[[BusinessWeek]]}}</ref>
<ref name="Rohm_1998">{{cite book |author-first=Wendy |author-last=Goldman Rohm |date=1998-09-01 |title=The Microsoft File - The Secret Case Against Bill Gates |edition=1 |publisher=[[IDG]] |isbn=88-11-73868-7}}</ref>
<ref name="Fisher_1992">{{cite journal |author-last=Fisher |author-first=Lawrence M. |title=Preaching Love Thy Competitor |journal=[[New York Times]] |date=1992-03-29 |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E0CE0D9143EF93AA15750C0A964958260 |access-date=2018-08-04 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180627203815/https://www.nytimes.com/1992/03/29/business/preaching-love-thy-competitor.html |archive-date=2018-06-27}}</ref>
<ref name="Fisher_1994">{{cite journal |author-last=Fisher |author-first=Lawrence M. |date=1994-04-06 |title=Longtime Hewlett Executive Named Novell Chief |journal=[[New York Times]]}}</ref>
<ref name="Williamson_2006">{{cite journal |title=Obituary - Ray Noorda - Pioneer of 'co-opetition' |author-first=Marcus |author-last=Williamson |author-link=Marcus Williamson |date=2006-10-09 |journal=[[The Independent (UK)]] |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/ray-noorda-422415.html |access-date=2018-08-04 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180804102549/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/ray-noorda-422415.html |archive-date=2018-08-04}}</ref>
<ref name="Groklaw_2005">{{cite web |url=http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20050222001026429 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100505074825/http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20050222001026429 |url-status=usurped |archive-date=5 May 2010 |title=Canopy's motion to remove Yarro as director and memo - as text |publisher=[[Groklaw]] |date=2005-02-27}}</ref>
<ref name="Gray">{{cite news |title=Obituary |url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article603903.ece |work=[[The Times]] |author-first=Sadie |author-last=Gray}}{{dead link|date=September 2024|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref>
<ref name="Suicide_2005">{{cite web |url=http://opensource.sys-con.com/node/48789 |title=Noorda's Daughter Committed Suicide |publisher=Open Source Magazine |date=2005-03-21 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190929123356/http://opensource.sys-con.com/node/48789 |archive-date= 2019-09-29 |url-status=dead}}</ref>
<ref name="Groklaw_2009_NovellWP">{{cite web |author-first=Pamela |author-last=Jones |author-link=Pamela Jones |title=Exhibits to Microsoft's Cross Motion for Summary Judgment in Novell WordPerfect Case |url=http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20091120165256836 |work=[[Groklaw]] |date=2009-11-23 |access-date=2011-10-22 |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130821080038/http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20091120165256836 |archive-date=2013-08-21 |quote=[…] exhibits attached to [[Microsoft]]'s Memorandum of Law in support of Microsoft's cross motion for summary judgment in the [[Novell]] v. Microsoft [[antitrust]] litigation. We finally find out what Microsoft paid [[Caldera, Inc.|Caldera]] to settle the [[DR-DOS|DrDOS]] litigation back in 2000: $280 million. We even get to read the settlement agreement. It's attached as an exhibit. […] The settlement terms were sealed for all these years, but […] now that mystery is solved. […] We also find out what Caldera/[[Canopy Group|Canopy]] then paid [[Novell]] from that $280 million: $35.5 million at first, and then after Novell successfully sued Canopy in 2004, Caldera's successor-in-interest on this matter, an additional $17.7 million, according to page 16 of the Memorandum. Microsoft claims that Novell is not the real party in interest in this antitrust case, and so it can't sue Microsoft for the claims it has lodged against it, because, Microsoft says, Novell sold its antitrust claims to Caldera when it sold it DrDOS. So the exhibits are trying to demonstrate that Novell got paid in full, so to speak, via that earlier litigation. As a result, we get to read a number of documents from the Novell v. Canopy litigation. Novell responds it retained its antitrust claims in the applications market. […]}}</ref>
<ref name="Microsoft_2009_Memorandum">{{cite web |title=Microsoft's memorandum in opposition to Novell's renewed motion for summary judgement on Microsoft's affirmative defenses and in support of Microsoft's cross-motion for summary judgement |author-first1=Richard J. |author-last1=Wallis |author-first2=Steven J. |author-last2=Aeschbacher |author-first3=Mark M. |author-last3=Bettilyon |author-first4=G. Stewar |author-last4=Webb, Jr. |author-first5=David B. |author-last5=Tulchin |author-first6=Steven L. |author-last6=Holley |date=2009-11-13 |location=United States District Court, District of Maryland |type=Court document |id=Novell, Inc. v. Microsoft Corporation, Civil Action No. JFM-05-1087 |page=16 |url=http://www.groklaw.net/pdf2/NovvMS-104-2.pdf |access-date=2018-08-03 |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190524154518/http://www.groklaw.net/pdf2/NovvMS-104-2.pdf |archive-date=2019-05-24 |quote=[…] [[Microsoft]] paid $280 million to [[Caldera, Inc.|Caldera]] to settle the case, and $35.5 million of the settlement proceeds were provided by Caldera to [[Novell]] as a so-called "royalty." […] Dissatisfied with that amount, Novell filed suit in June 2000 against Caldera (succeeded by [[The Canopy Group]]), alleging that Novell was entitled to even more. […] Novell ultimately prevailed, adding $17.7 million to its share of the monies paid by Microsoft to Caldera, for a total of more than $53 million […]}}</ref>
<ref name="Caldera_Microsoft_2000_Settlement">{{cite web |title=Settlement agreement - Microsoft Corporation and Caldera, Inc. reach agreement to settle antitrust lawsuit |author-first1=Thomas W. |author-last1=Burt |author-first2=Bryan Wayne |author-last2=Sparks |author-link2=Bryan Wayne Sparks |date=2000-01-07 |id=Case 1:05-cv-01087-JFM, Document 104-8, Filed 2009-11-13; NOV00107061-NOV00107071; LT2288-LT2298; Lan12S311263739.1; Exhibit A |type=Faxed court document |url=http://www.groklaw.net/pdf2/NovvMS-104-8.pdf |access-date=2018-08-03 |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170704220659/http://groklaw.net/pdf2/NovvMS-104-8.pdf |archive-date=2017-07-04 |quote=[…] [[Microsoft]] will pay to [[Caldera, Inc.|Caldera]], by wire transfer in accordance with written instructions provided by Caldera, the amount of two hundred eighty million dollars ($280,000,000), as full settlement of all claims or potential claims covered by this agreement […]}} (NB. This document of the ''[[Caldera v. Microsoft]]'' case was an exhibit in the ''Novell v. Microsoft'' and ''[[Comes v. Microsoft]]'' cases.)</ref>
<ref name="Gomes_2000_Settlement">{{cite news |title=Microsoft Will Pay $275 Million To Settle Lawsuit From Caldera |author-first=Lee |author-last=Gomes |date=2000-01-11 |newspaper=[[The Wall Street Journal]] |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB947543007415899052 |access-date=2019-11-24 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161231130504/http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB947543007415899052 |archive-date=2016-12-31 |quote=[[Microsoft Corp.]] agreed to pay an estimated $275 million to settle an antitrust lawsuit by [[Caldera Inc.]], heading off a trial that was likely to air nasty allegations from a decade ago. […] Microsoft and Caldera, a small Salt Lake City software company that brought the suit in 1996, didn't disclose terms of the settlement. Microsoft, though, said it would take a charge of three cents a share for the agreement in the fiscal third quarter ending March 31 […] the company has roughly 5.5 billion shares outstanding […]}}</ref>
<ref name="Rogers_2019">{{cite web |title=Mark Rogers |work=QuantmRE |publisher=Quantm.One, Inc. |date=2019 |url=https://launch.quantmre.com/mark-rogers/ |access-date=2020-10-18 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201018101940/https://launch.quantmre.com/mark-rogers/ |archive-date=2020-10-18 |quote=Mark co-founded NFT Ventures with Ray Noorda, chairman of [[Novell, Inc.]] and for more than 12 years, managed the portfolio of assets for NFT valued at over $1 billion. He led investment activities in many successful startups primarily focused on technology software and services in Silicon Valley, Utah, Texas and Rhode Island and guided some of the companies through their developmental stages to an acquisition, merger or IPO. On behalf of NFT Ventures, Mark served as interim CEO for several portfolio companies.}}</ref>
<ref name="NFT_Ventures">{{cite web |title=Official Summary of Security Transactions and Holdings - for the period June 11, 1998 thru July 10, 1998 - Reported to the Securities and Exchange Commission Under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and the Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935 |volume=64 |issue=6–7 |publisher=[[U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission]] |date=1998-12-11 |page=329 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BzE4AQAAMAAJ&q=NFT+Ventures+Noorda&pg=PA329 |access-date=2020-10-18 }}</ref>
}}

==Further reading==
* [http://www.nndb.com/people/536/000108212/ Biographical details] NNDB bio
* [http://www.sltrib.com/ci_4465776 Ray Noorda, computer pioneer, dies at 82] (Salt Lake Tribune, 2006-10-09)
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070930035239/http://home.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20061009005914&newsLang=en Technology pioneer Ray Noorda dies] (Canopy press release)
* [http://www.linux-watch.com/news/NS9370964474.html Good-bye Mr. Noorda]{{dead link|date=December 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes}} (Stephen J. Vaughn-Nichols, ''Linux-Watch'')
* {{cite web |title=Digital Research - The Untold Story |author-first=Marc |author-last=Perkel |author-link=Marc Perkel |date=1996-10-18 |orig-year=1991-03-20, 1991-05-23, 1991-07-21, 1991-07-24, 1991-08-02 |url=http://www.ctyme.com/dri.htm |access-date=2019-04-19 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190419190806/http://www.ctyme.com/dri.htm |archive-date=2019-04-19}} [https://web.archive.org/web/20190419191036/http://www.ctyme.com/dri1.htm][https://web.archive.org/web/20190419191113/http://www.ctyme.com/dri2.htm<!-- 1991-02-16, 1991-02-18, 1991-03-04 -->][https://web.archive.org/web/20190419144412/http://www.ctyme.com/dri3.htm<!-- 1991-03-20, 1991-05-23, 1991-07-24, 1991-08-02 -->] (NB. [[Marc Perkel]] claimed to have inspired Ray Noorda in February 1991 for [[Novell]] to buy [[Digital Research]] and develop something he called "[[NovOS]]".)

==External links==
* {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100714181543/http://www.canopy.com/raynoorda/ |date=2010-07-14 |title=Raymond John Noorda}} (canopy.com)
* [http://www.whiteworld.com/cyreenikland/books/surfing/index.html Surfing a High Tech Wave: A story of Novell's Early Years 1980-1990]

{{Novell}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Noorda, Raymond John}}
[[Category:1924 births]]
[[Category:2006 deaths]]
[[Category:American chief executives]]
[[Category:American businesspeople in the computer industry]]
[[Category:Latter Day Saints from Utah]]
[[Category:United States Navy personnel of World War II]]
[[Category:American people of Dutch descent]]
[[Category:Novell NetWare]]
[[Category:Novell people]]
[[Category:Businesspeople from Ogden, Utah]]
[[Category:People from Orem, Utah]]
[[Category:University of Utah alumni]]
[[Category:Weber State University alumni]]
[[Category:20th-century American businesspeople]]
[[Category:United States Navy sailors]]