To no one's particular surprise, Novell missed its quarter.

Wall Street thought it could turn six cents a share on $249.78 million. Instead it lost $16.3 million, five cents a share, on flat year-over-year revenues of $245 million in its fourth fiscal quarter ended October 31. It lost $17.9 million last year.

The loss from operations was $6 million, compared to a loss of $13 million last year. The rest was a $14 million impairment charge related to the company's auction-rate securities.

It had little to say about the future other than that it achieved a non-GAAP operating margin of 10% this year, double-digit for the first time in eight years, and "expects to improve on these results, but in light of these uncertain economic times is targeting no less than 10% non-GAAP operating margin in the full fiscal year 2009."

Novell said that product revenue in the October quarter increased 6% offset by a services revenue decline of 26%.

It got $36 million from Open Platform Solutions, $33 million of which it attributed to Linux, up 33% year-over-year.

In the conference call, it said it's basically dependent on Microsoft for Linux sales and that it will cut prices if it has to.

Microsoft originally agreed to buy $240 million worth of Novell support certificates to dole out to customers. It's gone through $195 million and agreed to buy another $100 million. Novell took in the first $25 million last quarter.

Novell product revenue from Identity and Security Management was $37 million, with Identity and Access Management accounting for $35 million, up 11%.

Product revenue from Systems and Resource Management was $45 million, up 15%.

Workgroup product revenue totaled $92 million, down 6%.

For the full fiscal year 2008, Novell lost $9 million, two cents a share, on revenue of $957 million with income from operations of $5 million. Last year it lost $56 million on $932 million.

This time it came in close to the mid-point of its guidance.

For the full year, product revenue increased 8% partially offset by a services revenue decline of 20%, attributed to a charge in focus to product revenues. It reported $129 million of product revenue from Open Platform Solutions, $120 million of which was from Linux, up 38%, better than the market.

Quoting IDC, it claims a three-point increase in market share.

Product revenue from Identity and Security Management was $137 million, with Identity and Access Management kicking in $124 million, up 15%. Product revenue from Systems and Resource Management was $170 million, up 15%, and Workgroup product revenue of $366 million down 2%.

Novell CEO Ron Hovsepian declared himself "pleased" and said "We have substantially completed our two-year transformation, repositioning Novell as a leader in infrastructure software. We have a large, recurring revenue stream, a strong balance sheet, expanding partnerships and excellent products in broad and growing markets which we believe positions us well in this challenging environment."

Novell has $1.1 billion in the bank. Total deferred revenue was $730 million at the end of the October quarter, down from $768 million year-over-year. Cash flow from operations was $67 million, down from $77 million last year.