I'm not OP but I can likely explain. In the late 90's Novell Netware 4 and above had a client package which replaced the Windows login with their own GINA, so users could log in to Windows client machines using their Netware credentials.
Let's hope Microsoft can refrain from the same dirty tactics they used back in the nineties.
I was a junior sysadmin/desktop support back then. Every single software update for the Microsoft Netware Client (which I think sucked on purpose) always caused problems for the Novell one! It was a real cat and mouse release cycle.
My memory, and it's been a while, was that at least partially related to some interop tricks that MS played to make Netware's software work less well in the Windows world. , although I'm sure part of it was also down to Novell finding it challenging to adapt.
I thought that was about WordPerfect etc rather than NetWare.
Totally agree that Microsoft did some bad stuff, I just don’t remember there being any malign attempts to disrupt NetWare integration.
NetWare was the main player in PC networking at the time, so arguably it would not have been a good strategy.
It’s absolutely true that the NDS integration was an issue, but my memory is that this was a quality/competency issue on both sides, and not due to a lack of cooperation.