Remember that score of alternate sales leads Novell was supposed to have after it blew off Elliott Associates' $2 billion bid to buy the company back in March and repair it privately?

Well, according to the 451 Group, Novell's alternatives have dwindled down to three which it describes as "a private equity-backed company, a UK-based PE firm and a joint bid between a publicly traded tech company and a buyout shop." And it warns that "it's not clear that any of the three will actually close a deal for Novell. (The process has already run past two deadlines, we gather.) Without a deal, shares of Novell would be left to trade on the company's own merits, which probably wouldn't do much for shareholder value."

Novell said last week that its failure to act was hurting its numbers.