13 Facts About Ray Noorda

Raymond John "Ray" Noorda was a US computer businessman.

Ray Noorda was CEO of Novell between 1982 and 1994.

Ray Noorda served as chairman of Novell until he was replaced in 1994.

Ray Noorda worked for General Electric from graduation until 1971, after which he worked at a number of California companies.

Ray Noorda was a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Ray Noorda married Lewena "Tye" Taylor in 1950, and they were later sealed in the Salt Lake Temple.

In 1983, Ray Noorda assembled the SuperSet team whose members included Drew Major, James Bills, Dale Niebaur and Kyle Powell.

Under Ray 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 Ray Noorda had a "tremendous vendetta" against Microsoft and that Ray 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.

Around 1992, Ray Noorda used the term co-opetition to characterize Novell's business strategy.

Ray Noorda received honorary doctorates from the University of Utah in 1994 and Weber State University in 1995.

Ray Noorda was inducted into the Junior Achievement US Business Hall of Fame in 1995.

Ray Noorda died on 9 October 2006 at his home in Orem, Utah, at the age of 82.