Microsoft is sending another $100 million toward Novell as part of an ongoing Windows-SUSE Linux relationship. Here are five things Novell should do with that dough.

5. Pay Top Dollar for a Channel Chief: Novell is seeking a new channel chief to replace Pat Bernard and head up the company’s partner program. The VAR Guy hopes Novell raids a top channel organization (Cisco Systems and Microsoft itself come to mind) to find that new hire.

4. Launch an Open Source Applications Lab In Silicon Valley: Novell is based near Boston, yet many of the big and small open source application providers are located in or near Silicon Valley. Novell needs to improve ISV (independent software vendor) relations in order for SUSE Linux to compete more effectively against Red Hat Linux. The obvious answer is to get closer — physically closer — to ISVs. Sure, Novell has a presence in California. Time to bolster that presence, though, with stronger ISV relations.

3. Pump Money Into “Designed for SUSE” Or Similar Branding: Novell’s old “Yes” logo program from the 1990s assured customers that specific hardware and software worked with Novell NetWare. Time for Novell to bring back similar branding and promote partners that offer SUSE-compatible products.

2. Build A Global Partner Summit: Novell Brainshare is a great conference for the company’s customers and partners. But it’s time for Novell to spin out a more focused event just for partners.

1. Invest In Software as a Service and Managed Services: Where does Novell’s software fit into cloud computing, SaaS and managed services? Customers (and this blogger) need answers. Especially since Red Hat is taking a close look at the managed services market.

If those steps don’t consume all of the $100 million from Microsoft, The VAR Guy can always find more ways to spend the dough. Just ask.