This article explores the architecture, features, legacy, and enduring cult status of Novell NetWare 3.12. To understand NetWare 3.12, you must forget everything you know about modern operating systems. In the early 90s, Microsoft LAN Manager was struggling, Banyan VINES was expensive, and Windows NT was still in its infancy (version 3.1 launched just months after NetWare 3.12).
Long live the Bindery. External links for further reading (simulated): The Novell Retro Webring, The NetWare 3.12 Installation Guide (PDF Archive), and the comp.os.netware.novell Usenet archive. novell netware 3.12
It was not user-friendly. It was not pretty. But it was beautiful in its brutality. And for the engineers who kept the floppy disks spinning, remains the benchmark against which all reliability is measured. This article explores the architecture