LinuxOne At It Again?

Anonymous Coward writes "Check out the recent LinuxOne news release. LinuxOne reports a $500,000 software order from Power Source. Its interesting how Power Source seems to be only a recursive add link without any substance. I couldn't quite figure out, beyond self proclamation, how LinuxOne is one of the fastest growing software distributors in the world. Go figure." At least the LinuxOne Web site is a little more fleshed-out than it was when we first saw it. And they're hiring, too. Check it out!

Comments

Sound the alarms!!!

[Mr Donkey]

What needs to be done is that somehow the "general public" should be informed of what a fraud LinuxOne is.

There is much evidence:
- the SEC S-1 xerox of Redhat's
- they have no real product
- their web site runs a stock copy of RedHat, and probably doesn't contain any of the patches - i.e. can be rooted relatively easily
- it's imaginary customer "Power Source"

Sometype of mainstream discussion; that is out of ./; a column in Wired? a column in a paper?

Whatever can possibly be done, so that the good name of all that is Linux is not brought down by these fly-by-night, wannabe IPO, frauds.

Hiring?

[Anonymous Coward]

Hmm, you think they may need anyone to sort the massive piles of money that investors are going to continue throwing at them given this news release?

Barring that, my only other skill is as a grotesque sycophant. Speaking of which, has anyone else noticed the clear and concise manner with which roblimo posts stories? I love that!

We've got to get the word out!

[Bruce Perens]

In a recent press release, LinuxOne announced a $500,000 software order from "Power Source" of El Cerrito, California.

What LinuxOne didn't mention is that Power Source runs out of a tiny storefront, and their "distributors in 130 countries", an exaggeration, run flea market tables. One of these distributors is usually seen at the Livermore Ham Radio Flea Market here in California, where he occupies one of the $10 tables.

While Power Source appears to be a legitimate business, it is extremely unlikely that they could have $500,000 cash to pay to LinuxOne. Rather, they probably made a deal to sell $500,000 worth of product, when and if they can, without pre-paying for much of it at all. But you would not have realized that from the LinuxOne press release.

There's a pattern here. LinuxOne persists in posing as a company with bright prospects in Linux, but look at what they have done: They are completely unknown in the Linux community, their officers are newcomers to Linux, and nobody known in the Linux community is on their technical staff (if they really have one). The founder of LinuxOne was previously behind NetUSA, which is trading around 60 cents a share, one tenth of its value a year ago. LinuxOne copied Red Hat's S-1 form (the form submitted when making a public stock offering) almost word-for-word, claiming that they have the prospects of Red Hat, a company that entered Linux 5 years before LinuxOne and employs hundreds of people, including some of the best programmers in the Linux world. LinuxOne's products so far appear to be mock-ups: their Linux CD is Red Hat's CD with the words Red Hat removed and LinuxOne filled in. Their "Linux on a disk" product is a Linux CD that someone installed on a hard disk, probably in a single day, and then they copied the disk. A claimed Linux system that runs on top of Windows called LinuxLite appears to be misrepresented in its functionality if it exists at all. LinuxOne staff have not written any significant Linux software to date that I can find, the only software they appear to have written is a program that displays a clock on the X window system.

And this is the company that has registered the stock symbol LINX and is going to take $23 Million from investors who don't know better, any day now. I think it's a really bad investment. But I'm prejudiced: I happen to have a Linux company too. Fortunately, you can hear the same message from other respectable people in the Linux world. For example, read this article in The Register by Rick Moen, a respected, long-time participant in the Linux community.

I've been a Unix operating system kernel programmer since 1981, and have worked on Linux since 1994. Another employee of my company has been working on Linux since 1993 when he started one of the best-respected Linux distributions. We're hiring other people with similar backgrounds. We have paid our dues and we have a proven performance record in the Linux world. There are a number of new companies similar to ours in the bacgrounds of their founders and their technical staff. These companies are not going public until they have real products, and when they do go public, they have some reasonable prospects for success. In contrast, I don't feel that LinuxOne has any prospects, I think they've been very sleazy in their press and promotion, and while it is remotely possible that anyone could build a real Linux software company with that $23M, it makes sense to invest in people with more skill and background than LinuxOne.

I can't save those investors from having their money go down the drain. Some people tell me that I shouldn't feel sorry for people who make poorly-researched investments, but I feel horrible about this. It's going to make Linux look bad and a lot of innocent people who don't have someone experienced in Linux to warn them are going to be hurt.

Somebody has to speak out. Please tell your friends. Tell everyone you know.

Bruce Perens

Re:We've got to get the word out!

[jemfinch]

I agree with you completely.

However, posting on slashdot is not the way to "get the word out." When investors and people start researching LinuxOne, there not going to look at slashdot. They're going to check out linux.org, linux.com, and linux/investment oriented magazines.

Is there any way to get an editorial such as this published in a reputed magazine (perhaps Linux Journal?) or at the very least have links to such an editorial displayed somewhat prominently on the front page of Linux.org or Linux.com?

Slashdot is a great soapbox to stand on, but it's like preaching to the choir--we already know what a scam LinuxOne is. We need to start spreading this beyond slashdot and into the places where clueless investors would think to look.

Jeremy

Re:We've got to get the word out!

[Bruce Perens]

Part of the problem is that some people are being meek about this because:

1. They want to be bending-over-backwards fair in giving them the benefit of the doubt and seeing if they'll be for real or not once they have the money.
2. They are afraid that they'll get sued.
3. They simply refuse to say anything negative about a Linux business.

Certainly you should get every outlet to research this issue and publish something about it. But don't stop when some of them refuse - in the end, it is up to the community to get this word out.

Thanks

Bruce

Re:We've got to get the word out!

[jawad]

Well, Wired has written an article about how the "Linux IPO Plan Draws Fire", but that was months ago. Seeing how much Wired News pays attention to Slashdot (/. is constantly referenced), is there any way for Slashdot to suggest a story to Wired? They're obviously interested based on their first story...

Doesn't Slashdot have the clout?

Re:We've got to get the word out!

[Felinoid]

Yes Media outlets are careful about such advice considering they are not technical experts or experts on the stock market.
It would be wiser to feed this situation to the financal community. They of all people would know how to sniff out a fraud and for LinuxOne the sent is pritty strong.
I doupt anyone experenced in the stock market would dare recomend a company that IPOs so soon after start up.
They should also learn that the Linux/Open Source community is not pleased with this company.

After that let the experts in that community handle it.. they'll know how to make it know.. sometimes a larg media blast isn't a good idea anyway..
Then the word can get out.. even if in a trunicated form.. such as a warning about IPOs soon after startup or companys with no real product or companys who have a bad community standing..
The finantal experts won't spindoctor.. they want to help the avrage investor and they have been dealing with finantal unsavy investors much longer than we have been dealling with tech unsavy computer users. They'll know how to deal with it.

The people who are investing in LinuxOne are not knowladgeable. They see the words "Linux" and "IPO" and they buy. Linux is a hot property and in some ways this scam is a testement to that fact.
But a big LinuxOne scandal could also set us back... [or it may push us forword]
Most investors do more research and would know LinuxOne has IPOed to soon to be of any real value.

I'm guessing if a scandle dose break lose and we have done our "thing" people will see that the Linux community is also a force to recon with.
That we do work together to any goal we belive needs to be reached.
Resistence is fulte.. Do not mess with the Penguin :)

Re:We've got to get the word out!

[warmi]

Hey, once you entered the "money game" anything you say could be interpreted as "competitor FUD".
Your "community" is no more, you and your company are out to make money.

Re:We've got to get the word out!

[aqua]

Speaking of which, yesterday (Tuesday), LinuxOne issued a press release to the effect that they'd opened an office in Taiwan, to:

-- promote sales of all LinuxOne products in Taiwan
-- translate/localize LinuxOne products into Japanese
-- circulate a web-based newsletter for the Taiwan open-source community
-- actively promote the Linux software as a replacement for Window and MacIntosh
-- develop special new software products for the Asian markets

Interpret that how you will. The release goes on to specify that the office holds a manager, a salesdroid, an accountant and three software engineers, with more salesdroids to follow "in the next 10 days."

It'd be useful to find someone with exposure to the Asian tech industry and Linux scene to illustrate what's occurred on that side of the lake.

Re:We've got to get the word out!

[jsm2]

And this is the company that has registered the stock symbol LINX

No it ain't. According to the S-1, it's applied to NASD to be quoted on the Nasdaq with stock ticker LINX. Stock tickers aren't like domain names, and stock quotes aren't like websites.

For a start, even volatile markets like NASDAQ have standards. The NASD has no interest in having grotty pump-n-dump companies quoted on it. For this reason, it withholds the privilege of a quote from companies who don't go through a hell of a lot of hoops.

Then, assuming it gets a quote, NASD has to authorise the ticker. If someone else deserves LINX more, there is an appeals process. It's unusual for someone to be thrown off a ticker if they have first rights, but the market reserves the rights. Since, IIRC, "Linux" is a [tm] owned by Linus, he may have some ability to intercede (try asking the NASD for ticker COKE and see how far you get).

In general, I think that LinuxOne will have difficulty shifting 3,000,000 shares to the public without the help of a broker or investment bank, and may find difficulty in getting one to help. But on the other hand IANAAS (I am not an American stockbroker), so I may be wrong.

I'd gently inform the NASD that all may not be rosy in the garden if you want to -- but it may be taken better coming from a disinterested party than a competitor. If that fails (and this is a last resort which I would not recommend in any normal circs), you might try talking to some of the short sellers like Anthony Elgindy, who might work miracles -- if the stock price is too low, Nasdaq won't touch it because it doesn't like penny stocks. But I must point out that I have never done business with a short-seller (a fortiori not with Mr. Elgindy) and cannot vouch for them.

jsm

Re:We've got to get the word out!

[sanderb]

I can't save those investors from having their money go down the drain. Some people tell me that I shouldn't feel sorry for people who make poorly-researched investments, but I feel horrible about this.

Maybe I am just cynical, but I am not convinced that poorly-researched investments are going to lose money.
What you see currently is that stocks rise beyond actual worth (or actual prospects in my opinion) all the time. If some investor rides the waves of the hype, and buys stock at the beginning and sells just before the hype wears off, he can still become pretty rich. Why would the company need to be any good, all that needs to happen is that the stock rises and there are all kinds of things that can make that happen.

In fact, if LinuxOne's stock climbs steeply in the beginning, it can start buying all kinds of interesting companies and the LinuxOne could actually become an interesting company just because of those acquisitions.

(Disclaimer: I know nothing of the stock exchange thingie)

Re:We've got to get the word out!

[Jon Peterson]

Bruce wrote: "They are completely unknown in the Linux community, their officers are newcomers to Linux, and nobody known in the Linux community is on their technical staff (if they really have one)."

While I broadly agree with you that LinuxOne appear to be a fraud, and a sleezly one at that, I can't let this comment get away.

You seem to me to be suggesting that companies wishing to base a business on Linux should somehow serve an apprenticeship in 'the community' where they will recieve the benevolent blessing of the 'known figures' of the community, and they can then trade acceptably.

This is not a bazaar. This is a situation remarkably similar to the late medieval trade guilds in northern Europe, which did an excellent job of serving their own interests and stifling competition, all in the name of maintaining standards.

To hell with the ESRs, ACs, and the other figures of our supposed worship and gratitude. If I one day have a great idea for a new kind of folding chair, do I need to grovel before the established figures of the chair industry? Do I need to play the game of being a good little manufacturer that doesn't push their luck? Do I need to employ some 'well known' chair designers to establish my credibility in the market place?

The hell I do. I get my capital together, I go out there, and I try to prove my products and ideas in the marketplace.

Likewise with Linux. If one day I say "That's it!!" "I've just figured out a create way to do package management!", do I then need to prove my worthiness by hanging around on some RPM mailing list and demonstrating on my CV that I've contributed to previous package management projects?

No, I do not. I write my code, and I go out there and say fair and square "This is a better way of doing it. You've never heared of me, you don't know I am, I don't employ any 'known figures' but I've got a new product that frankly works a hell of alot better than the old ones. Please use it".

Employ known figures indeed. Sounds like some of the famous traders in the old bazaar don't want too many newcomers setting up stalls unless they pay their dues.

Pah (with respect, but Pah, nonetheless)

Re:We've got to get the word out!

[Anonymous Coward]

In fact, if LinuxOne's stock climbs steeply in the beginning, it can start buying all kinds of interesting companies and the LinuxOne could actually become an interesting company just because of those acquisitions.

An interesting company to die in. Seriously, do you expect that buying companies -- even good ones -- will automatically make LinuxOne a better company? Every company I've delt with that had problems had problems because of poor management...the good and the bad flows from the top.

Re:We've got to get the word out!

[Roblimo]

"Employ known figures indeed. Sounds like some of the famous traders in the old bazaar don't want too many newcomers setting up stalls unless they pay their dues."

What's wrong with that? In the "pure" Open Source business model, for-profit companies are living on the backs of the community. They need to give a little back in order to have any cred.

Even on the journalistic side, everybody at Slashdot (including me) did a lot of FREE writing and reporting before making any money at it, and Andover.net quietly ran the freecode.com site long before most of the other Open Source code indexes and repositories came along.

As far as employing "known figures," I doubt that Bruce is thinking "known" in the "heavily quoted" sense. I can think of many excellent developers and project organizers who get little or no public attention but are respected by kernel maintainers and other free software developers. I'm sure Bruce would consider these unsung ones to be valid hires for a company that wanted to make a splash in the Linux or Open Source world.

If you came up with a better package management system, you would be a "known" developer as soon as three other people tried it and liked it, whether they found out about your product through an RPM mailing list or through a company you set up to distribute your work. The point is that you would have *done something* instead of purely riding on others' backs.

And VA Linux? They actually *do* somthing. They have Linux-based hardware products you can order and have delivered, and they "give back" to the community in many ways both visible and invisible without directly asking for anything in return.

It's a fine edge, isn't it?

But then, I'm an old-fashioned person who believes it's better to earn your money by working hard than by selling chaff as wheat, so maybe I'm not the best person to listen to on this subject; my attitude is obviously not in tune with current financial and stock market thinking.

- Robin

Re:We've got to get the word out!

[Our Man In Redmond]

Here's a thought: It's just barely possible that LinuxOne may someday make money. In an age of $7.5M+ domian names, how much would some other company pay to get LinuxOne's most valuable asset -- the ticker symbol LINX?
--

Re:We've got to get the word out!

[Syberghost]

Those three software engineers no doubt busily employed building a Perl script to
s/Red Hat/LinuxOne/g throughout Red Hat's Japanese edition.

Re:We've got to get the word out!

[Shorty]

Getting the word out won't do any good. Anyone with $.02 of brain will know better than to invest in them.

What _WILL_ do good is to get the SEC onto them. This last press release, while it may not be wholly untrue, is worded in such a way as to make it appear that they have a $500,000 check from a real customer, instead of (what might be) a deal to sell $500,000 of their software. And then there's their carbon-copied Red Hat S1.

I imagine that there are some red flags on their SEC file anyway, but it would be good if we could make sure they're aware of this. LinuxOne going public will be a black eye for the Linux and Open Source communities in the mind of the business world.

Is there anyone here who knows more about SEC policy in regards to pre-IPO publicity and regulations about a company's S1 filing? Anyone know a way to get the SEC's attention?

Robbie

Re:We've got to get the word out!

[mlc]

LinuxOne issued a press release to the effect that they'd opened an office in Taiwan, to:
...
-- translate/localize LinuxOne products into Japanese

Right. I may not have taken geography since 8th grade, but even I know that they speak Japanese in *Japan* and *Chinese* (can't remember what dialect. Cantonese, maybe? As I understand it, it's all the same when written down anyway.) in Taiwan.

Re:We've got to get the word out!

[whoop]

I guess the question we have with LinuxOne is not that they aren't blessed by AC/Linus/ESR/BP/whoever, but that their first step is to have an IPO. Add in their past IPO failures, it just looks suspicious to anyone.

I have been in the Linux community going on six years now. The best way to sell a Linux product is to put it out there and let word of mouth take over. Let it be reviewed on a myriad of web sites, pitting it against similar products. For extra icing on the cake, release the nifty features that make your product different (if there really is a difference, besides the name) under the GPL (or appropriate license). Let the business grow for a while, perhaps hire some people who write programs that are key to your product. As word of mouth spreads, your Linux IPO will be profoundly more profitable and well accepted.

Or go the alternative route, after three or four big IPOs by suckers that did that long, tedious method, slap whatever catch words you need on your web site, and file for an IPO. I can see why people would be suspicious. The Slashdot effect is powerful, and using it to your benefit is a million times more profitable in the long run than to have it turned against you.

Re:We've got to get the word out!

[um... Lucas]

Nasdaq owns the stock symbols and just issues them to companies as they're needed. COKE is already used by, suprise, Coca-Cola.... There's no reason why Linux One shouldn't be allowed to be LINX, if VA Linux can be LNUX. It's a complete double standard to say that Linux One can't have a symbol that's close to Linux, when VA linux be LNUX as opposed to, say VALX, which appears to be available.

You can't just selectively apply standards based on whether you like a company or not... but regardless, no one can really intercede, unless a company confronts Nasdaq and wants that ticker and has a strong case for having it, say Linx, Inc, or something like that....

Re:We've got to get the word out!

[Mark F. Komarinski]

Bruce,

Your comments are somewhat disturbing. Are you trying to imply that any Linux company out there has to hire a kernel developer or big-name Linux person to have credibility? Between RHAT and LNUX (whom you are associated with), most of the "big names" are taken. The remainder choose not to associate with any one company.

Does this make RHAT and LNUX the only "real" Linux companies out there? I don't see you defending Corel, who has certainly paid their dues but is getting beat up by the press as a Linux newcomer.

I've been using Linux since 1992. My company is going to install Linux on customer machines if they ask (and we have been asked). But I'm not a big name. I've written a few books, wrote some articles, but 95% of the Linux people out there don't know me. You don't know me. Does this mean that my company shouldn't be involved with Linux because I'm a "no-name". I paid my does, but does anyone know that?

I agree that L1 seems to be shady, and there are plenty of reasons to avoid them. Saying "they never paid their dues" isn't one. You're giving us no-names out here a bad name.

Disc: I have shares in RHAT, LNUX, and CORL. Don't want any L1.

Re:We've got to get the word out!

[Mark F. Komarinski]

Wouldn't the sheer act of selling Linux-based anything be giving back to the community? I mean, they're popularizing the OS. They coming out and saying "Instead of that garbage Windows-powered OS, we're using Linux". It's more than a buzzword, it's saying "We're basing the future of our company on this OS. We trust it that much". Gosh, that sounds like one of those credibe stories MS has been looking for.

By your reasoning, TiVo is a sham too, since they don't employ any well-known kernel developers, and their code changes probably won't help too many people (I didn't look at it). Noone on /. seems to think TiVo is a sham. We all love the idea.

Note here I'm not disagreeing with the issue of L1 and if it's a sham or not. There's plenty of other reasons to avoid the stock. My issue is the credibility of the technical staff and popularity. Linux isn't supposed to be a popularity contest contest or who can hack the kernel the fastest. It's about learning. It's about exploring. It's about doing things you wouldn't think of doing with a plain 'ol PC (like turn it into a digital VCR).

Re:We've got to get the word out!

[Arkay]

I'm sure {at least I hope} that Bruce didn't mean to sound as extreme and "old boy" as he came across in his message.

After all, it would be difficult to be well known by everyone in the Linux community, or even a large percent of the Slashdot posters. Heck, if one out of a hundred thousand people knew who you were, then that's a major accomplishment.

Still, if you don't appear to be offering anything of value, then there had better be something that indicates you aren't a scam. It seems that L1 has failed to do this.
--
Richard R. Klemmer
WebTrek L.L.C.

Re:We've got to get the word out!

[Mark F. Komarinski]

As a followup to my own comment: AFAIK, Bruce is not affiliated with LNUX. My mistake. Sorry.

Re:We've got to get the word out!

[TurboJustin]

I think the point that everyone is missing, and that Bruce made, is that there is noone with Linux experience *or* any known developers, i.e. if I have been working with Linux since its' inception but just haven't done anything recognizable, and suddenly had an idea worth recognition and wanted to capitalize off of it, that's fine - OR if I had an unsuccessful business venture that went public (NetUSA?) and decided that the Linux industry was the way to go, I should get some decent developers with experience, and probably some marketing/management people who understand Linux, the community, the ideas, etc.. and then I would be ok.. but if I simply take the word 'Linux' and maybe one developer, I might be able to create a successful company - but my first task should be to create a product, not to file for an IPO. It isn't that *all* of these need to be present, but at least one.. There's nothing wrong with being an unknown - but what would make an unknown think he could interest the public in 23M worth of stock without doing anything significant first, except that 'Linux' is a big buzz word - and it is, my family knows that I work for a Linux company and is always asking me about investments in Linux, etc.. People want in, because it's new and big and it's internet-related. It's the ultimate buzz, and that's what LinuxOne is banking on (or hoping to bank on ;p)

Re:We've got to get the word out!

[Silver A]

Jon Peterson wrote:

"Employ known figures indeed. Sounds like some of the famous traders in the old bazaar don't want too many newcomers setting up stalls unless they pay their dues."

RobLimo wrote:

What's wrong with that? In the "pure" Open Source business model, for-profit companies are living on the backs of the community. They need to give a little back in order to have any cred.

Bruce Perens goes overboard by implying that a bunch of nobodies can't be up to any good.

In this particular case, it's pretty obvious that LinuxOne is a scam, and it is generally true that folks who come from nowhere deserve extra scrutiny. However, just because someone has no (known) history in the community doesn't mean that he doesn't belong. LinuxOne would smell just as bad if it had a well-known Unix kernel hacker on staff. Contrariwise, if a bunch of nobodies said "We've translated all the on-line documentation into Chinese, and we're going to re-sell a Chinese RedHat distro", with a real business plan and some real funding (not a copy of the RedHat plan and some orders from controlled shell companies), I'd see nothing wrong with it.

Don't confuse the issue of LinuxOne being a fraud with the issue of LinuxOne coming out of nowhere. They're related, but not congruent.

Re:We've got to get the word out!

[GeeBee]

I guess the question we have with LinuxOne is not that they aren't blessed by AC/Linus/ESR/BP/whoever, but that their first step is to have an IPO. Add in their past IPO failures, it just looks suspicious to anyone.

Exactly. Not only that, but it is one thing to set up a stall in the bazaar to sell stuff. But when the only reason that the stall seems to be getting set up is to sell the stall, then the distrust and unacceptance from the other stall owners is deserved.

Re:We've got to get the word out!

[Bruce Perens]

I am not associated with RHAT or LNUX. What made you think I was?

Thanks

Bruce

Power Source web site

[Bruce Perens]

The web site for Power Source is http://www.poso.com/ .

Re:Power Source web site

[Anonymous Coward]

Obviously, a moderator got hit with the "OMIGOD ITS BRUCE PERENS" bug...

1. Not "insightful", but if you had to throw a positive label on it, it would be "informative".
2. Should be labelled as "redundant". Roblimo put it in the posting, Bruce.

Re:Power Source web site

[Bruce Perens]

I posted it because another poster was confused about the link. But I am not claiming that this one is worthy of any moderation points. Have a good night :-)

Bruce

Re:Power Source web site

[Anonymous Coward]

POSO, eh? As in, "Piece Of S--- Organization"?

Re:Power Source web site

[Anonymous Coward]

Which other poster? I cruise at a threshhold of -1, and I failed to see the comment you're referring to.

Re:Power Source web site

[Anonymous Coward]

1. You tart.
2. You self-important tart.

Re:Power Source web site

[aqua]

Dig their meta tags:

<META NAME="KEYWORDS" CONTENT="CD-ROM, CDROM, CD, CD-R, VideoCD, Software, Discs, Drinks, Gold, Nintendo, Spice, Play Station, Sega, Games, Breasts, Tits,Red Alert, shopping, Office, Access, Visual Basic, Sex, Girls, Nude, Cheats, Cheat Codes, Food, Ships, Boats, Discs"> <META NAME="AUTHOR" CONTENT="Captain John"> <META NAME="ROBOTS" CONTENT="ALL">

dammit Rob, fix the &special symbols...

Re:Power Source web site

[Anonymous Coward]

Why the H is this a score 2?

Re:Power Source web site

[jeremy f]

I think what's REALLY funny is that both POS-O, and Super Telecom (the "supposed" free CD company without a real webpage) are housed in the same building and use the same phone number. But, it's not JUST a phone number: if you lok at POS-O's webpage you'll see that number - (510)-527-6908, but on Supertelecom, you'll see that you can fax them at, not suprisingly - (510)-527-6908. In fact, all of the banner's that they show on the webpage, to four different companies, has the exact same phone #.

So my question is what happens for incoming calls? Is there someone who picks up the phone and if they hear the carrier of a fax transmission, quickly hang up the phone, turn the fax machine on, and hope the caller will call back? =)

Sounds like a .5 bit operation to me. Or, maybe if we're lucky, it's a forefront for a mob organization... Hehe, getting organized crime to back a supposed OSS company, what could be better? =)

I ran across their coolstuff4free.com, and I got this quote:

"Super Telecom Inc is a world leader for internet access and web hosting services."

Which figures, because I think they're all in their own little world over there ;)

Re:Power Source web site

[jeremy f]

The hilarity continues!

I called the phone number -- it's 8:55 am EST here, so it's just about 6 am over there. Someone answered the phone, and sounded VERY sleepy.

Ya think this is being run out of a bedroom? =)

Re:Power Source web site

[whoop]

As an aside, mgetty's docs say it can sort out voice/modem/fax calls. The last time I tried, it just failed to find anything from the fax machine at work. I gave up after a while. :)

But it's not like I think they'd go to that much effort to set up mgetty. It's funny that the other poster called them and he was sleepy.

Re:Power Source web site

[Jburkholder]

You can do this though with hardware costing about US$500

Re:Power Source web site

[Bruce Perens]

Robin the limo driver. Maybe I shouldn't refer to him as a "poster".

Fastest growing distro!

[Anonymous Coward]

From 0 sales per year to 500,000 in presales to a shady CD-ROM stamper! Their growth is INFINITE! Invest now, at this rate, they will own the entire market for software in the universe by the end of the year!

Short LINX...

[lordsutch]

Here's a way to make a cheap buck off the clueless Wall Street types who haven't gotten the message yet (but will as soon as an analyst comes out with a fifty cent price target):

On the day of the IPO, when its price rises to ridiculous levels, short sell it. About a week later, once everyone else's figured out how stupid this company is, buy to cover. Invest the proceeds in SGI, Cobalt, VA Linux, or Red Hat (or if you feel really suicidal, CORL... all the price volatility of an IPO in an established company ;-)); better yet, donate it to SPI or the FSF.

Repeat when the next LINX comes down the pike.

Re:Short LINX...

[evilquaker]

On the day of the IPO, when its price rises to ridiculous levels, short sell it.

Nice idea, but you can't short it until 30 days after its IPO. If (by some miracle) LinuxOne hasn't crashed and burned by then, then it is not being valued on fundamentals (heh, as if RHAT was...), and these types of stocks make lousy short candidates.

Re:Short LINX...

[*Pres*]

I wouldn't invest in SGI.

It has been named as one of the worst possible stocks to buy, together with TWA and a number of other loser stocks.

Are you going to be in El Cerrito?

[Bruce Perens]

The storefront says "PS Multimedia" and is approximately across the street from the Burger King on San Pablo and a block south, if my memory is correct. Check them out yourself. Report back to us. 10032 San Pablo.

Bruce

well what can be expected

[jlb]

From what I understand from Bruce's post about the company, LinuxOne is just the first poor-quality knockoff. I imagine there's going to be many more where that came from.

Really this could hurt the linux community quite a lot. If a place like this gets some news coverage then screws something up (like what's inevitably going to happen), then that will reflect badly on all of linux.

Does anyone see the open licenses eventually creating problems for the adoption of Linux in this way? Anyone can make their own crap distribution, slap a name on it, make a few press releases and suddenly, to a portion of people out there, they represent linux.

Re:well what can be expected

[sterno]

There are scame artists and scheisters in just about every business in the world. Now, as Linux becomes more main stream, we are going to see our fair share of them popping up. I mean if anybody can download a distribution and start selling it, why wouldn't somebody try what LinuxOne appears to be trying.

In the end what this will do is further reinforce the value of brand within the Linux community. Red Hat, SUSE, VA Linux, Debian, etc, etc. These will be names that will be tied to reputations about products that have a certain level of quality. A few people will get burned by these scam artists, and it will just strengthen the position of those who deliver a real and valuable product or service.

I'd be curious to see an interview with some folks at LinuxOne on Slashdot. I'd be interested to hear them attempt to defend themselves.

---

Re:well what can be expected

[Black Parrot]

I think the courts awarded the "Linux" trademark to Linus after the last big scandal. Is he in a position to forbid these lusers to use it?

And if so, would that be a desirable move on his part?

--
It's October 6th. Where's W2K? Over the horizon again, eh?

Re:well what can be expected

[jlb]

Yes, but this is a dangerous time for Linux. People here always complain about managers or media people not knowing something that seems simple, like that redhat is just *one* brand of linux. Some people assume redhat == linux and linux == redhat.

Do you know why slackware jumped his version up? People were asking if he was/why wasn't he "linux 6.0" compliant. Referring to redhats version number.

Sure everyone in the community understands, but a lot of people outside don't.

Re:well what can be expected

[Anonymous Coward]

Spelling error on your part: LINX is not the same as Linux. Or the Lynx browser would also be in trouble, along with the Lynx embedded OS.

Oh, BTW:
Squack, squack, have a cracker, parrotboy.

Hostile TakeOver and run em into the ground

[clustersnarf]

Actually,
If alot of the recent millionaires bought up all the stock really cheap. And say they issue like 1 million shares or something. Then everyone sells them all. and the company is left holding all the shares. Eventually with no product pushing to generate revenues, and Taxes on the Shares of a Public company come Due. Then they lose all the cash they had, and directly go bankrupt and try their had ot other crimes of fraud. Such as promising old ladies they have one a sweepstakes.

DP

Re:Hostile TakeOver and run em into the ground

[Bruce Perens]

This isn't the way the market works. It would be the underwriter who would get stuck, but before that happened trading would be halted on the stock. There would also be an investigation afterward and collusion to tank a stock is no doubt a violation of securities law.

No, I think get the word out is the right way to do it. I would prefer to see other people making their own investigations, and posting what they have found out firsthand, so that it's not just me. Actually, I was reluctant to say as much as I did today - I wrote that posting this evening for Technocrat.net, because I simply could in good conscience let the situation go on any longer without my saying something forceful about it. But I would feel more comfortable if someone who isn't doing his own IPO, and thus has less appearance of prejudice, would take the "point" on this issue.

Thanks

Bruce

Not good...

[Listerine]

Got this off their website.. apparently some of the other CDs they sale for $7.95 won't help Linux's reputation...

Anarchist's Cookbook
ATM Machines
Beating Lie Detectors (Polygraphs)
Beginner's Guide to Hacking
Big Book of Mischief
Booby Traps
Bypassing Phone Billing Systems
Cable TV Piracy
Cloning Cellular Phones
Computer Underground Digest (Volumes 1-6)
Credit Card Scams
Drugs & Recipes
Electronics (Modification Files)
Explosives from Common Household Ingredients
Fake IDs
Free Airline Travel
FREEBAGE (Art of Bernsteining)
Fire Works
Get RICH QUICK Scams
Getting Unlisted Phone Numbers
Hacking UNIX Systems
Hacking VAX Systems
Interrogation Tactics
Jackpotting Change Machines
Jolly Roger's Cookbook
Knock-out Drops
Know your Legal Rights
Legal Tips that can save your ASS
Listening Devices
Lock Picking
LSD Recipes
Money Making Scams
M-80's
New Identities
Occult
Payphones (Free Calls, Jackpotting)
Radar Jamming Techniques
Revenge Tactics
Sabotage on Automobiles
Secret Radio Frequency Lists
Smoke Bombs
Spells & Potions
Telephone Box Plans
Telephone Technology Tutorials
UFOs
Underground BBSs
VooDoo
Witchcraft
ZOMBIE Potions
SO MUCH MORE!!!

The entire contents of this CD is for educational
purposes only. The Authors, Publishers and Distri-
butors neither approve nor condone the actual use
of this information.

YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED

--------------------
I dont like the smell of this.

Re:Not good...

[paul.dunne]

> Get RICH QUICK Scams

Looks like they are providing an object lesson in this subject, anyways...

Re:Not good...

[Anonymous Coward]

Oh, it's so nice to see my religion mixed in with zombie potions and blowing shit up.

That's probably basis for a court case.

Re:Not good...

[EasyTarget]

Looks like a standard list of /. postings to me..

EZ
-'Press Ctrl-Alt-Del to log in..'

Re:Not good...

[Jburkholder]

Geez, all you need to make that list complete:

1) Successful dating techniques with Ruhipnol
2) Proper preparaion and deployment of large fertilizer bombs at federal buildings
3) Print yor own counterfeit money for fun and profit
4) How to overthrow small island nations

Gawd.

Re:Not good...

[Anonymous Coward]

It's not a religion, buster.

It's just your (and ESR's) way of bagging chicks.

Smell like Bre-X

[Etam]

I feel extremely uncomfortable with everything that surround this new company. I'm not sure they intend to stay in business in the long run, they could be just trying to pull a fast one from clueless investors.

I see two possibilities that can come out of this:

1. They want to be in the Linux game by getting venture capital in place before hiring expertise to actually work on the product. Normally this is investor beware because they (first) don't have the expertise, (second) don't have enough confident to invest their own money in it to create a worthy product before IPO.

2. They are just interested in inflating their stock and continue the hype until the time comes when they (or he) can sell some of their stock (more than 40% belongs to him alone I believe) and cash in. Objectives being to milk as much as possible out of this and move on to their next project.

With so many more establish Linux company that potentially can do IPO this year, we won't lose any sleep passing up this one.

Awww, cut 'em some slack

[Zico]

Sure, they might be totally bogus, and no, I won't be sinking my money into them, but in the grand scheme of things, LinuxOne probably won't consistantly lose big piles of money like just about every other tech stock that has IPOed in the past couple of years has been doing(*cough*salonredhatxoomamazon*cough).

Cheers,
ZicoKnows@hotmail.com

Re:Awww, cut 'em some slack

[jawad]

By cutting them some slack, that (1) decreases trust in Linux-related companies, and (2) encourages other "companies" to jump onto the Linux bandwagon to "make a quick buck".

LinuxOne should be made an example of.

Educate and Complain!

[mdb31]

I have to agree that this is going way too far: there is a thin line between IPO optimism and fraud, but it seems quite clear that LinuxOne does not have the best interests of investors in mind. (Nevermind the Linux community: whatever will happen here will have a bad reflection on it...)

But anyway, what can you do? Linking to one of the more recent in The Register from your web site or in your .sig is probably a good idea.

If you're a US citizen, also complain to the SEC, the government organization overseeing everything related to stock trading. Their web page is here, and makes it quite clear that what LinuxOne is doing is potentially illegal:

For example, it is unlawful in certain situations for someone to sell securities to you while withholding important information that could affect your investment decision, such as selling you stock in a company but not disclosing to you that the business has no existing operations or selling a stock to you for ten dollars per share when the seller knows the stock is worthless.

I'd say they'd at least take a good look at LinuxOne if enough people complain...

Unable to verify Auditor/Law Firm/Transfer Agent

[Dark Coder]

All three key player of the IPO: Issuer's Law Firm, Auditor, Transfer Agent are low-profile first time player. www.ipo.com

I have not been successful in getting the address of the Auditor (using WWW tenacious and privacy busting databases).

Until these information are substantiated, I would steer clear of their upcoming Jan 31st IPO.

Email address

[MentlFlos]

Ah yes, we all know how many businesses use hotmail accounts for their primary communication.

Or was that e-bay users, I always get those two mixed up


(yes, it was supposta be funny, I just hope that guy who doesn't find UF funny stays away and dosen't write an article about me)
---------------------------------------
The art of flying is throwing yourself at the ground...
... and missing.

Re:Email address

[daemonchild]

heh
i laughed out loud when i read that...
good call

Re:Email address

[daemonchild]

heh
i laughed out loud when i read that...
the hotmail account is definately the nail in the coffin as far as proving POSO as a low rent scam

Huh?

[Zico]

For every share sold, that means that someone was willing to buy it. You can't just sell shares into thin air.

Cheers,
ZicoKnows@hotmail.com

Finally, real, prosecutable fraud?

[JohnZed]

Clearly "POSO" is not a real company that could place a $500,000 order. Note also that the email address on the site is a hotmail address, and hotmail can't be used for business purposes. Sounds very much like a puppet company set up by LinuxOne folks to create fake demand. Shouldn't they be in their quiet period by now anyways? --JRZ

Gee, what's that smell...

[Deosyne]

Somehow, I just can't bring myself to trust a company that comes out of nowhere, offering carbon-copy products and BS marketing, that claims to have a half-million dollar software distribution arrangement with a company that sells $7.95 software and has a Hotmail address for a point of contact. Why do I get the feeling that the LinuxOne board members all have secondary accounts set up under false names that are going to just happen to get an invite into the LinuxOne IPO and just happen to invest a crapload of cash into it and then just happen to sell off at the end of the first day of trading, just hours before the aforementioned board members disappear? Guess I'm just paranoid...

Deosyne

Not to mention a hotmail account

[Etam]

Those pozo at www.poso.com don't even have their own mail server but use a hotmail account instead. The form aren't encrypted and served from etailprice.com running off a Microsoft web server and is currently in "under construction" stage. The www.poso.com itself is served by a ISP named web.provide.net which is also under construction.

Looks like some newbies trying to build a vapour company on the web to scam money. This "Power Source" definitely do not have the $500,000 in cash.

GPL side effects?

[jetpack]

While I agree that this LinuxOne nonesense sounds like a complete scam, and that their IPO could potentially hurt alot of unwise and unknowledgable investors, it seems to bring up an interesting side effect of the GPL.

For ages, the OSS community has touted the benifits (nay, the necessity) of Free Software. The reasons are many and varied, but seem to boil down to enhancing quality of software and the computing experience. However, this LinuxOne foolishness seems to point out a fact that no-one seems to have pondered before:

If you don't have control over your software, while others can't ruin your software, they can, without legal penalty, completely destroy your software's reputation.

Don't get me wrong, I'm an OSS fan as much as the next geek, but it appears OSS may solve technical problems at the expense of social dynamics.

Re:GPL side effects?

[tialaramex]

You can apply this argument to every other industry too.
(Some of) Wall Street is stupid enough to pay $$$ for things which are patently worthless today, to avoid the possibility of missing out on a potential gold mine tomorrow.

Some people who get burnt by this will blame Red Hat, or Linux, or even Linus Torvalds, but you can bet they won't be doing it anywhere high profile.
Why? Because no-one likes to admit that they can't tell the difference between The Real Thing and a cheap copy. It's embarassing.

The Linux trademark could potentially be used to prevent this sort of thing, but I think it's already too diluted to be effective, and in many ways that's for the best -- who would decide which companies are "too shady" to trade under the Linux name?

Re:GPL side effects?

[jetpack]

I agree with most of what you wrote, except for this:

Some people who get burnt by this will blame Red Hat, or Linux, or even Linus Torvalds, but you can bet they won't be doing it anywhere high profile. Why? Because no-one likes to admit that they can't tell the difference between The Real Thing and a cheap copy. It's embarassing

Altho you are probably correct about investors being too imbarrassed to raise a stink, I'm sure Microsoft and the Press would have a field day. In fact, most of the Press, being as clueless as they are about technical issues, would just blow this out of proportion based on the financial fiasco alone, and link it to the name 'Linux'.

Re:GPL side effects?

[Anonymous Coward]

Slashdot Security Advisory SSA-1900-01

Due to everyone in The City being a twonk, your major financial institutions and many private individuals will invest in an untrusted stock if it has a kewl name, or seems to be vaguely associated with something they do not understand and which is apparently completely unprofitable.

If the company has a nice logo, or if the IPO details were sent out on better-than-usual quality of paper then large BUY orders will be put in without even reading the risks section or asking someone who's heard of the company in question.

In the event that you invest huge quantities of money in stock for a company that will likely go tits up in the near future, we recommend installing a patch to prevent future re-occurences. This patch will turn all of your spare capital into a powdery ash, and has an animated progress bar which displays the amount of capital still to be converted. The length of the animation depends on how much capital you had, and whether it was in the form of "tens" or "fifties".

PS Who wants some shares in my new company OIL Co., we will be trading under the identifier OIL, and have already secured some of the market with zero initial investment (*) Most of your investment will be directed to Switzerland, but we will also be making some purchases in the transport sector (#)

(*) I once gave a friend some 3-in-1 and he gave me a shiny five pence piece. I hope to leverage this into a multi-national business over a period of just long to take the money and run.

(#) A nice fast car, and a one-way plane ticket

Re:GPL side effects?

[LMariachi]

Not that this couldn't happen through deftly-applied FUD, but investors have an interest in getting good information; they get nothing out of writing off a potential gold mine based on, for instance, a 60 Minutes story about one company.

No one wrote off the entire automobile industry based on Pinto explosions, no one wrote off Colgate-Palmolive based on one story about a dentist fondling his patients, no one (or no one with any juice, anyway) should write off the Linux based on LinuxOne. Any individual press outlet, knowing that their credibility is at stake, would hesitate to make blanket conclusions based on one instance. CNN/FN != Hard Copy.

Re:GPL side effects?

[Chris Johnson]

Actually, no.

Free Software only exists within a social context. Expecting a formal punishment for people like this belies the fact that already the social penalty is death :) both in Linux circles and, interestingly, in stock market circles, LinuxOne == mud.

There isn't a need for a formal authority stating that LinuxOne is bad, because there wasn't a formal authority stating Linux is good either- indeed, the most likely candidate for a formal authority is the likes of Mindcraft and Microsoft, and it's pretty obvious that their credibility is zilch too, particularly when you consider the subject and their motives for assuming authority on it and making announcements.

Instead, LinuxOne has already been singled out for contempt and dismissal (bordering on vengeance!) by two entirely separate communities. Any uninformed person inquiring, later, why it was a disaster, could get two entirely distinct authoritative answers why it was a big scam (OSS: it was Mandrake with the serial numbers filed off, they wouldn't give source, etc.. and The Street: didn't you notice they were incorporated in Nevada? etc)

LinuxOne watching is nothing more than bloodsport or sick humor and doesn't really _matter_ in any sense. Be assured that if any investors get suckered, Wall Street itself will think (along with OSS people) that they were fools. The prospect of Wall Street going "Oh my God, Linux is a scam!" is zilch: they know, better than we could ever know, how to spot con artist entrepreneurs, and the Street has already spotted LinuxOne for what it is (besides which, anyone trying to find out on the net would rapidly hit tons of Slashdot hysteria and outrage on the subject- and again, Wall Street knows what that sort of thing means.)

oops

[Anonymous Coward]

aaaaargh...hit submit instead of preview pleez don't waste modreator points on it...my karma's sad enuf already

Please, for one second, THINK!

[Anonymous Coward]

Excuse me, but how is this different from "andover.net" or whatever (!) buying up a group of non-revenue producing "websites" (!) and selling the resulting mismash to the public through an IPO? (!) Now, I'm not knocking the whole "web revolution," but let's call a spade a spade. And please don't tell me how this site is legit, that one is not, etc? Don't any of you (anyone, anyone?) recall how !!VA LINUX!! was greeted with very similar skepticism???? That it was a "copy of the Red Hat S-1", etc etc?? There's only one lesson in this dot com stock market run up...get it while you can! Because even our beloved slashdot has NEVER MADE A DIME! (please, don't insult me with talk about "ad revenues," ok? When you subtract salaries, etc, and consider market cap, it would be a better investment to BUY US Treasuries! You know this is true! Quit criticising LinuxOne, they're no worse than the rest...

Re:Please, for one second, THINK!

[Felinoid]

even our beloved slashdot has NEVER MADE A DIME! (please, don't insult me with talk about "ad revenues," ok?
Being the loon that I am I can do math in my head.
Many free services are pulling a proffit from banner ads with more staff and less traffic than /.

VA and LinuxOne are almost oposates...
VA: Long time Linux hardware vender with much welcomed IPO
LinuxOne: Newbe software vender with much loathed IPO
Only one person had anything bad to say about VA... Hi Sam!!!

Re:Please, for one second, THINK!

[voncheesebiscuit]

I think people are on LinuxOne's case because they seem to be claiming to be something their not, i.e. a big Linux distributor. Andover and /. don't make claims (or at least I haven't seen any) that aren't true.

Re:Please, for one second, THINK!

[TurboJustin]

The difference between LinuxOne (as we've seen it so far, at least) and VA Linux, Andover.net, etc.. is that LinuxOne was created to go public, they filed for their IPO before they had a product. VA Linux's IPO was not met with the same skepticism, they have been around for a long, long time and are the leader in Linux Hardware, as well as employing TONS of open-source developers to do work that doesn't directly benefit their sales. Andover.net purchased websites such as Slashdot that are phenomenally popular and growing quickly. Regardless of whether or not either one turned a profit, it is normal for a business to go a year or so without turning a profit - you have to build a customer base and branding - and should do so before you ask the public to invest in you. VA Linux, RedHat, and Andover.net have all done this, LinuxOne has not - you can call a spade a spade, but don't call an ace a spade..

Re:Please, for one second, THINK!

[TurboJustin]

er uh.. ace a spade.. didnt make sense.. dont call a diamond a space.. brain fart..

Go where investors go!

[Zach Baker]

The Yahoo! Finance message boards are a good start (just search for LINX or LinuxOne to see where people are talking about it). An even better place is the message boards at E*TRADE or your stockbroker of choice. Stock investors are by nature a chatty bunch, and if they get tipped off in the right places, the information will soon make the word on the Street.

Re:Go where investors go!

[EricWright]

Here is a link to the yahoo search I did to find messages posted about the LinuxOne IPO. It seems like a good many people out there know/claim that this is a farce, but posts from people with actual facts to back up these claims are needed. If you have posted information here, please post similar messages here and other relevant sites!

Eric

Poso.com operating from Hotmail account

[Anonymous Coward]

I think the fact that poso.com has a contact address at hotmail.com is an indication of what kind of firm this is.

Can I say unprofessional?

Zarlox

Seen it before

[Nobodyy]

This $500,000 is of course bogus , as everyone has pointed out. It is the same way the scientologists keep Dianetics on the best seller list. This is also what killed TSR. The way that this works is you push product onto distributers. They buy it up because you offer them a 100% return value. you then can claim it is mass sales of the object in question even though no customer has actually bought your product. You use this technique to artificially boost sales for the purpose of inflatting it's percieved value. In the case of dianetics it keeps the book on the best seller list so they can claim it has been thier for years , even though they are just recycling the same books over and over. This techinique can also kill you, TSR did the same thing to boost it's short term sales to make the company look profitable. It worked until the distributers were full of product and would not take any more stock. The story goes that TSR then offered to buy back this stock in the hopes of once again inflating sales. What they did not count on was the fact that their was so much stock on hand at the distrubutors. Their first return was for 19 million dollars and bankrupted them. The moral to that story is that you can only play that game for so long before it bites you unless you also control the distributors so they will rebuy the stock. They are setting a 90 day time bomb for themselves , let's see if it goes off.

What an ungrateful guest!

[Zico]

... other "companies" to jump onto the Linux bandwagon to "make a quick buck".

Hey now, you really shouldn't talk about Andover.net (NASDAQ: ANDN) like that, seeing how they're the parent company of the very site we're posting on. Shame on you!

:-)

Cheers,
ZicoKnows@hotmail.com

Ok...Where does AbsoluteFuture.com play?

[Traverser]

Looking at LinuxOnes's press releases, the bottom of the release (legal stuff) looks to be a direct rip from AbsoluteFuture's press releases. Anybody know if there are any agreements? I didn't know that LinuxOne was already being represented by NASD.

Or is it an escape route if things don't work out?

DONT GIVE A SUCKER AN EVEN BRAKE

[Anonymous Coward]

Evolution at work here - do you want to play God?

Fly by night...

[Barbarian]

The Powersource website's order form doesn't even have an encrypted order page... what kind of fly-by-night operation is this?

Also, no mention of Linux One in their CD list.

Re:Fly by night...

[KarMann]

And get this--if you follow that 'Free CD!' link from the first page, the page about the free CD's has, amongst its VERY sparse content, three links: One to the IP number used by the rest of the site, an e-mail address using joymail.com this time, and a 'Our Company' link to a domain name 'super-telecom.com' that NSI says doesn't exist yet. Now, I may not have the greatest faith in NSI, and sometimes mixups happen, like with Microsoft's password.com oversight around XMas, but this doesn't strike me as one of those times.
And, for that matter, the page title is "DiDa HTML Editor - www.faico.net/cdida/"--doesn't look like anyone put much thought or work into this one before they rushed it out so they could pretend to be a real company that was independently interested in LinuxOne's offerings!

Good... bad... I'm the one with the gun.

fear those classic texts.

[Anonymous Coward]

Those are just classic txts that have been floating around the net and BBSs for ages. I read most of those when I was a lil kid with my 1200 baud modem. Jolly Rogers Cookbook and the Anarchists Cookbook were especially good. Anyway, don't run out and spend $7.95. You can get all of those texts for free.

Don't be silly...

[Etam]

I hope you are saying this jokingly because in shorting stocks, timing is everything. If the prices didn't go down before your contracts expire, you are toasted.

OT: Interface Design

[orcrist]

With the frequency of such occurences, maybe it would be a good idea for Rob to put the Submit and Preview buttons on opposite sides of the Plain Old Text/etc. button, instead of right next to each other?

Chris

The LinuxOne world, according to Chas.

[Chas]

Here's what I see.

1. Shady history of the founder, and a past venture that now exists at 1/10th the initial valuation.
2. A "linux company" that was, until very recently, completely unheard of within the Linux community. One with NO known factors from that community.
3. A "linux company" with no real product. Incorporated in Nevada so that they were not subject to the full disclosure (Like "Uhh. We have no real product") required by other states.
4. A "linux company" who's supposedly forthcoming product is basically RedHat (or Mandrake) with all the names and serial numbers filed off.
5. A "linux company" whose open source soloution is "get it from Mandrake", in clear violation of existing licensing.
6. A "linux company" that photocopies another company's IPO, save for underwriter support. The IPO service they're going with is extremely low profile and extremely green in the market.
7. A share price set, not by estimating value on an existing product (since one doesn't exist), but on an arbitrary "this is what we thing the stock is worth" guesstimate from the "people" who run the "company".
8. A "half million dollar contract" from a little storefront that wishes it was Walnut Creek. The announcement of which is almost certainly a violation of the SEC-imposed quiet period.
9. A storefront with a Hotmail account as it's business contact. Hosted by a provider whose own site is barely more than an "under construction" sign.
10. A storefront whose main customers appear to be small computer shows and flea markets.

Now, for some reason, this inspires ZERO confidence in me (not sure if there's such a thing as a negative level of confidence, so I won't go that far).

In fact. The only thing it inspires is haiku.

Big Ripoff I See
Their business profile screams SCAM!!!
No dough shall I waste


Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!

Re:The LinuxOne world, according to Chas.

[PigleT]

You're absolutely right, especially about the flea market thing. Taking a list of the 'software titles' available, it looks like nothing more than the crap-ware you'd expect at a local fair.

Not to mention, http://www.poso.com/gui-page.htm is no way to tune a guitar. You don't want a piano, the timbre's all wrong. You certainly *don't* want to start with open 6th string, as any inaccuracy there sucks. You don't want to do each string separately either - the best is harmonics off 5th and 7th frets, starting with 6th and working up. Misinformation. Grrr!

Re:The LinuxOne world, according to Chas.

[Felinoid]

Now, for some reason, this inspires ZERO confidence in me (not sure if there's such a thing as a negative level of confidence, so I won't go that far).
There is.. it's called fear....

Re:The LinuxOne world, according to Chas.

[Gleef]

Chas wrote:

8. A "half million dollar contract" from a little storefront that wishes it was Walnut Creek. The announcement of which is almost certainly a violation of the SEC-imposed quiet period.

Hey, if they are in violation of the quiet period, maybe we can get the SEC and/or NASDAQ to punish them. Maybe stop the IPO or at least take their ticker symbol away.

----

You forgot one thing...

[Anonymous Coward]

And just happen to flee to the caymans very very quickly :)

what goes around comes around

[Anonymous Coward]

This is simply another example of how corporate America is running computing (in the academic and hobbyist sense) into the ground. One of the main reasons that I've been running Linux for the last 6 years is that the future of the OS was not dependent on some company's bottom line. Now I'm not so sure...

Re:what goes around comes around

[sterno]

It isn't dependent on the bottom line of any company. Welcome to the elegance of the GPL. If any of the Linux organizations start taking a direction that you don't want, you have the power to ignore them and go your own way.

Actually, what I suspect is going to happen with Linux is a sort of fragmentation. Most of the big players right now are interested in developing Linux to be more valuable to businesses. This means that development will likely slow down and focus on stability rather than innovation. Those people out there who came into their own as "linux hackers" will wear the hat of "linux developer" now, trying to look more reputable and trying to get some compensation for their years of hard work.

As the main Linux distributions become more mainstream and corporatized, a new underground version of Linux will begin to evolve. As the old Linux bloats and slow under the weight of legacy compatibility, this new hacker off shoot will come into its own, just like the current Linux has. And so on and so on...

Or maybe all the hackers will just start playing with Hurd :).

---Steve

---

Re:what goes around comes around

[Darchmare]

This isn't corporate America - this looks like a scam.

Even corporate America wouldn't touch this with a 10 foot pole...

- Jeff A. Campbell
- VelociNews (http://www.velocinews.com)

Re:what goes around comes around

[Anonymous Coward]

Sounds like Engel's synthesis and antithesis in action here.

lamers!

[jsm2]

Call that spamdex?!!!

They left out "mp3z", "pirate" and "passwords" for starters!

I also am surprised to see no mention of Jennifer Love Hewitt, and if they think "Spice" is getting them search engine placings any time since 1997, they're sorely mistaken.

jsm

(who remembers when it was all "Winona")

Hmm..

[Weezul]

I'm pretty shure you are correct, but I don't even see how the above posters idea would work? As you sell something to tank it don't you loose a lot of money? Sales taking time to go through and all.

I do have one slightly-related question---the glass of water is partially ontopic instead of mostly offtopic. :)

Background: I believe enviromental orginisations have occasionally gotten into trouble for tring to trash a co.'s stock price, but I do not know wether it was just that the co. could sued them or the SEC came after them (can the SEC come after you if your just saing things and not buying or selling?).. and there are people currently trieng to do this to etoys (and I hope they drive them into the ground).

Question: Can we get arround the problems those enviromental orginisations with trashing a company by not being orginized? If it's just a lot of people talking about how cool it would be if people did X en-mass and people do X en-mass (where X is only illegal to do en-mass).. is there really collusion or whatever going on?

I realize this is going to be very specific to the situation, but it seems like our legal system may need leaders and orginization to have a conspiracy? The Etoys thing is a good example.. as people just keep posting to the investment chat rooms about how everyone is boycotting and hacking them.. then the stock may contuinue to decline.. but no one is orginizing it.

Jeff

Re:Hmm..

[DreamerFi]

I suggest you take a look at how Greenpeace handled the Brent Spar situation with Shell.

-John

VA Linux S-1 filing greated with scepticism

[EyesOfNostradamus]

References please! (URL's to Slashdot comments, etc.)!

VA Linux' S-1 is significantly different from Red Hat's, whereas Linux One's is almost a word for word copy.

Re:VA Linux S-1 filing greated with scepticism

[lordsutch]

Here are the prospectuses; judge for yourself:

• RHAT
• LNUX
• LINX

Bear in mind that all prospectuses will be similar in form; however, they should not (normally) be word-for-word copies.

Re:VA Linux S-1 filing greated with scepticism

[sinnergy]

Those were quite a read! Even though they used Nevada to hide most of their chicanery, the many statements of risk outlined in the filing should give the potential investor in LinuxOne a good picture of how shoddy the company really is. i don't think we have much to worry about, ok?

LinuxOne takes over the world (or at least Taiwan)

[tjansen]

They just released a press release that they rented a "3,000 square feet" office for 6 employes.
See
http://www.newsalert.com/bin/story?StoryId=Cohf:ub Kbyta0mZy.

VA != LinuxOne

[Felinoid]

Cheap shot there...
Don't you remember how VA Linux was also called a scam, right here on these pages?

Red Hat & VA IPO Speculation by CNET
VA Linux Files For IPO

Far from it... people were drooling over the prospect of a VA Linux IPO

LinuxOne has IPOed to soon after startup to have any credability in the stock market..


Wait a second... Sam? are you back slamming VA again?

[In "Red Hat & VA IPO Speculation by CNET" an Ex-employee of VA ran around slamming VA as an AC...]
Hi Sam :)

Or, it could be a LinuxOne huckster trying to...

[cyberdonny]

... stir up some positive interest. Unprobable though, as they'd have to know about Slashdot ;)

Short sell != put option

[cyberdonny]

Shorts and put options are not the same thing. You can hold a short position as long as you want, their is no expiry. However, you have to be sure to keep a sufficient amount of margin in your acocunt (150% of the value of the short position).

Minnor Trivia

[Felinoid]

(try asking the NASD for ticker COKE and see how far you get)
Good example.. however Coke is assigned to Coke.. along with KO..
[One for the company the other for the bottler.. branch of...]

Still good example :) and for all I know someone might have been bumpped for Coke to get that symble.

On the other hand the holder of "Trek" lost his ticker and is now "SIFI"...
Paramount may have had something to do with that... I don't know..

Linus is the new Don!

[Naiad]

Looking at the list of titles available from poso.com, it's all clear to me. Bruce pointed out, that they're selling their products on flea markets - do real companies do this? No!

It fits all together now. When Linus talked about world domination beeing around the corner, he meant the LinuxOne IPO. They are clearly a Mafia company and Linus will be the new Don!

Praise Linus, praise LinuxOne!

Is there any way the local Chamber of Commerce ...

[FleaPlus]

or Better Business Bureau could get involved? Forgive me if it's a clueless question, but I haven't seen anybody comment on this yet.

Difference between code and business

[tilly]

I honestly believe that Bruce agrees with you absolutely when it comes to participating in the bazaar of ideas. You don't get a reputation by begging, you get a reputation by contributing something that others recognize as good.

That said, if you want to run a business based on selling open source (based) products, you had better be adding some value to your version of the product. That takes technical skill. For an outside investor the simplest way to judge that skill is to look at past contributions of your employees. If you have none, and no real product, that is a danger sign. Either your employees should have a history or you should have a demonstrated product. Both would be nice.

So go ahead and prove yourself in the software bazaar. And go ahead and try to prove yourself in the free market bazaar as well. But if someone in the free market bazaar is trying to sell you open source software doesn't meet the BS test for what makes good software development, then don't be a sucker.

Note that what LinuxOne is doing is allowed. But to fall for it is idiotic. And warning people that it is idiotic is an appropriate thing to do.

Cheers,
Ben

Latest LinuxOne Press Release ;)

[Bedemus]

Mountain View, CA., January 5, 2000 - LinuxOne, Inc., the One Stop for LinuxTM, announced today that its CEO, Wun C. Chiou, sold the first copy of LinuxOne OS today, and signed its latest in a series of distribution contracts. The purchaser, 10-year-old William "Billy" Foster, made the purchase at 7:02 PM last night, using his parents' credit card.

"Billy," a student at Rolling Hills Elementary School, plans to burn at least 100 copies and trade them for Twinkies at lunch time. "This young entrepreneur reminds me of myself at his age, though I preferred Ho-Hos myself," states Wun C. Chiou. "Billy" added: "I was really mad at my mommy and daddy last night, so I swiped their credit card and bought something. I didn't want to get in trouble when it arrived, so I chose to order LinuxOne OS, knowing it would probably never be shipped to me. IMagine my surprise when I became part of the LinuxOne family of distributors!"

The LinuxOne Rolling Hills Elementary office is staffed by 1 employee, consisting of a General Manager. More salespersons will be hired in the next 10 days. The purpose of the office is to:

Attempt to earn additonal respect for a virtually non-existent entity in the Linux market
translate/localize LinuxOne products into elementary school lingo
circulate a newsletter for the under-12-yr-old members of the Open Source Community
Dupe would-be Linux investors into investing in a company that will take the money and run at the first chance it gets (Oops, did we say that?)

Dr. Wun C. Chiou, Sr., President of LinuxOne, Inc., stated, "We are very excited about our expansion into Rolling Hills Elementary. This represents a very significant step for our Company and, once again, demonstrates our commitment to the open-source community in schools the world over. The children are our future, and with Billy's help, they'll be taking LinuxOne OS as their OS of choice. This ensures LinuxOne OS's future dominance in the Linux market, which it has yet to penetrate."

For more information, contact:

LinuxOne Worldwide Headquarters
201 San Antonio Circle, C250
Mountain View, CA 94040
Phone: (650) 948-6201
Fax: (650) 948-2932
Email: robert@linuxone.net
URL: http://www.linuxone.net/

Mr. William Foster, General Manager
LinuxOne - Rolling Hills Elementary
168 Happy Acres Dr.
Anywhere, USA
Phone: 555-2110
Fax: 555-2501-1854
Email: billy@linuxone.net
URL: http://www.geocities.com/This/IsAH OAX/index.html

Certain information included in this communication (as well as information included in oral statements or other written statements made or to be made by the Company) contains statements that are patently false. Such as statements relating to the future anticipated direction of the Internet industry, plans for future expansion, various business development activities, planned capital expenditures, future funding resources, anticipated sales growth and stagnation in the Twinkie market of schools worldwide. These forward statements are subject to a number of known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause actual operations or results to be totally opposite of everything we represent. The NASD has not reviewed and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release.

:)

Coming to my backdoor

[natek]

I saw an article in the paper that LinuxOne is expanding to Taiwan--apparantly an international presence is more important than a product. Go away! Just because you have Linux in your name doesn't mean we need you! There are actually a number of companies in Taiwan that ship Linux products, there are several LUGs here... Even Tatung seems to have a Linux division, my local computer store near Chung Yo has a big section with lots of Chinese manuals and Linux Mandrake and Caldera and Red Hat + CLE and SUSE and Debian... Lots of stuff from Linpus (good Taiwanese trademark) up in Taipei. There are also lots of domain names with *linux*.tw, many universities have a freebsd or linux subdomain and there are lots of mirrors of gnu, Linux, etc. here. Plus the Linux counter has hundreds of Taiwan residents. It's nice to finally see Linux having a visible presence in Taiwan, even in the Real World. So Linuxone's planned "expansion" doesn't exactly thrill me.

Nate

Question about stock offering

[DartX]

Okay, as I understand it, LinuxOne has applied for an IPO with the SEC. Now, do we have the right to write to the SEC with our concerns about this?

If so, does anyone know have an address to write to?

Re:Question about stock offering

[Anonymous Coward]

Please see http://www.sec.gov/enforce/con-form.htm. You can file a complaint there.

Re:Question about stock offering

[Anonymous Coward]

Please see http://www.sec.gov/enforce/con-form.htm You can file a complaint there.

Power Source and Linux

[Adam J. Richter]

I believe that in late 1992 or early 1993, the Power Source store in El Cerrito became the first reseller on the planet to carry a Linux CD when they picked up our "Linux/GNU/X alpha release", which later became Plug-and-Play Linux. I remember visiting PowerSource to test the distribution on some of their machines. I have not had occasion to visit Power Source since I moved Yggdrasil to Silicon Valley six years ago, but, at least back then, I really appreciated Power Source's focus on people on a budget with their bins of used computer parts and their extensive printed catalog of really cheap computer hardware that they were importing from Taiwan that had not yet made its way into most "white box" PC's in typical computer stores (for example, motherboards with smaller form factors come to mind). If you wanted to get hardware that seemed only to be available in computer flea markets, but there was no flea market in town, Power Source was the place to go. They may not have been Dell or Compaq, but I could see then that PowerSource had a bit more infrastructure than your average independent computer retail store and an interesting angle. Come to think of it, there is still some computer hardware in a back room at Yggdrasil that I remember buying from Julius at Power Source. I don't feel I have enough information yet to comment on Linux One or how substantive their relationship may be with Power Source, but I can say that, based on my experience with Power Source of several years ago, they're good people. Adam J. Richter President Yggdrasil Computing, Inc.

What's up with that disclaimer?

[barzok]

At the bottom of the press release (nelow the contact info) is a disclaimer that I don't see on any of the previous ones. It reads:

Certain information included in this communication (as well as information included in oral statements or other written statements made or to be made by AbsoluteFuture.com) contains statements that are forward-looking. Such as statements relating to the future anticipated direction of the Internet industry, plans for future expansion, various business development activities, planned capital expenditures, future funding resources, anticipated sales growth and potential contracts. These forward statements are subject to a number of known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause actual operations or results to differ materially from those anticipated. The NASD has not reviewed and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release.

I's 7:30 AM, and I'm not totally with it. So I ask: what's this mean? The last press release (#14) also has this disclaimer (but I don't see it on any of the previous ones), but in a smaller font and doesn't mention AbsoluteFuture.com. Is this something they're required to append because they're about to attempt an IPO?

Re:What's up with that disclaimer?

[medcalf]

It's a really badly written standard disclaimer. Any statement made by a company which offers stock (or is about to?) must include a disclaimer that any forward-looking statements inherently contain risk and should not be used as a basis for investment.

Re:What's up with that disclaimer?

[XLawyer]

The disclaimer is not *required* so far as I know, but just about every release from a tech company includes it. They are trying to take advantage of a "safe harbor" created by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act for predictions (in securities law jargon, predictions are called "forward looking statements").

See, what used to happen was, executives at tech companies would make their best guess about what their companies would do or achieve in the future. Prediction is an inexact science, though, and so they were often wrong, sometimes badly wrong. Some investors lost money and sued, and the plaintiffs' lawyers claimed that the false predictions were really fraud. (Yes, that's ridiculous, but being ridiculous doesn't bother the typical plaintiffs' lawyer.)

Congress changed the law to state the obvious, that a prediction that later fails to come true is not necessarily fraud. But to take advantage of the new law, companies need to identify the predictions as such and accompany the predictions with a list of the risks that could keep the predictions from coming true. The disclaimer in the press release is a legal incantation meant to invoke these new legal protections.

Now, this disclaimer does *not* mean that LinuxOne now has some kind of blanket immunity from criminal or civil liability for fraud, so please don't post irate follow-ups about how this is an example of corporatations escaping responsibility for their actions. All it means is that you can't sue them for fraud just because some predictions that they make don't come true. The disclaimer in no way protects LinuxOne from liability if they lied about anything material to get people to buy their stock.

Sorry about the formatting (repost)

[Adam J. Richter]

Oops. Sorry for screwing up the formatting of that message. I had not noticed that slashdot had changed its default submission format to HTML, and I foolishly did not bother to use the "Preview" button. For your convenience, here is my message again, properly formatted:

I believe that in late 1992 or early 1993, the Power Source store in El Cerrito became the first reseller on the planet to carry a Linux CD when they picked up our "Linux/GNU/X alpha release", which later became Plug-and-Play Linux. I remember visiting PowerSource to test the distribution on some of their machines.

I have not had occasion to visit Power Source since I moved Yggdrasil to Silicon Valley six years ago, but, at least back then, I really appreciated Power Source's focus on people on a budget with their bins of used computer parts and their extensive printed catalog of really cheap computer hardware that they were importing from Taiwan that had not yet made its way into most "white box" PC's in typical computer stores (for example, motherboards with smaller form factors come to mind). If you wanted to get hardware that seemed only to be available in computer flea markets, but there was no flea market in town, Power Source was the place to go. They may not have been Dell or Compaq, but I could see then that PowerSource had a bit more infrastructure than your average independent computer retail store and an interesting angle.

Come to think of it, there is still some computer hardware in a back room at Yggdrasil that I remember buying from Julius at Power Source.

I don't feel I have enough information yet to comment on Linux One or how substantive their relationship may be with Power Source, but I can say that, based on my experience with Power Source of several years ago, they're good people.

Adam J. Richter
President
Yggdrasil Computing, Inc.

Maybe

[Felinoid]

Maybe LinuxOne hired Sam :)
Ok now that is far fetched but it was to funny to pass up :)

LINUX (?!!) Torvalds.....

[OOPChugALug]

I was comparing the prospectuses of Red Hat, and Linux One, and it amazes me that there is no plagiarism rule. One thing I noticed that was quite funny was Linux One's statement, and I quote:

"OUR RELIANCE ON THE SUPPORT OF LINUX TORVALDS AND OTHER PROMINENT LINUX
DEVELOPERS COULD IMPAIR OUR ABILITY TO RELEASE MAJOR PRODUCT UPGRADES AND
ESTABLISH MARKET SHARE."

This company is obviously a complete crock. They can't even copy correctly, and don't re-read their own prospecutus. Also, I noted that their balance sheet is in Actual Dollars, (not thousands as usual)...
Balance Sheet Data:
Cash and cash equivalents 147,336
Property and Equipment, Net 4,984

My home network (2 linux machines and a solaris box) is worth a lot more than 5000$ !! What a joke.

What's a "only a recursive add link"?

[Anonymous Coward]

What's a "only a recursive add link"? Can any of the Slashdot kids speak English? Are there any people who work at Slashdot who have a high school education? How about anybody who's older than 12??

LinuxOne runs Mandrake..

[AndmaN]

Connected to www.linuxone.net. Escape character is '^]'. Linux Mandrake release 6.1 (Helios) Kernel 2.2.13-4mdk on an i686 login:

Re:LinuxOne runs Mandrake..

[xtremex]

We have one server here that runs LinuxOne..it IS Mandrake..Mandrake 6.1 actually. I installed it on one of the servers because we received a free cd in the mail (a la AOL?). I think Mandrake is great, thus LinuxOne is great. Although I wouldn't trust them any farther than I could throw them. Haven't had one problem with the OS (minus my own screw ups :))

Re:LinuxOne runs Mandrake..

[blixco]

You haven't had any problems with it because it's a RedHat distro, and they're pretty good at that kind of thing.

Forget LinuxOne!

[dattaway]

That's right, man, you can see through everything! Up until now, I've had a well paying daytime job doing electrical work and Linux was just my hobby. But now, all this hype is making me consider running my own IPO too. No FUD at the moment, but just the facts:

Announcing LinuxTwo IPO:

We plan to sell twice as much bogus software as LinuxOne.

We use a proven S-1 form, with our name inserted over LinuxOne's.

We hire software programmer icons for free, and just like LinuxOne, to cut costs.

We do not waste gas traveling to those educational conferences, such as the Atlanta Linux Showcase and rub shoulders with the caffeinated programmers that can make keyboards smoke.

And LinuxTwo's web page is served through a dialup connection, which offers the same speed as LinuxOne's. Coincidence?

OK, I'll shut up. But my point is that I use Linux and am offended by a cheap knock off that has apparently nothing to contribute, besides being an apparent 100% fluff machine. I sure don't want bullshit to be worth $23,000,000 dollars. That's a lot of bullshit that's going to come from the sky.

I'd benefit from investments that actually have a chance of helping people who are known to put effort and acheive results. Linuxone is mighty secretive and I don't think they have anything concrete they are hiding.

power sourse, flea market outlet? yup

[Anonymous Coward]

Yup power sourse is a small cheapy outlet, im in sydney OZ and there was a power sourse store down the road from me, the logo is the same, the store closed after about 6 months trading, and i also find it hard to believe that powersourse is going to give them 1/2 a mil for their product, i mean just take a look at linux one's web page, HOT DEAL get linux one on a hard drive?

This smells like a shonky grab at cash, just like the power sourse outlets, i mean check out the HOTMAIL email for powersourse sheesh!.

The fact that this distro has the "LINX" symbol too is a disgrace, i hope they dont raise a cent and fold.

Slightly OT: securing a server

[Anonymous Coward]

The last time this company was mentioned here on /. it referenced this article from LinuxWorld, and this part caught my attention:

The platform for www.linuxone.net proved, on examination, to be a very generic Red Hat 6.0 installation on an Intel box, parked on a home-grade (and low-bandwidth) Pacific Bell ADSL line. Numerous TCP ports had been left wide open to the Internet, including Telnet access, finger, an RPC portmapper, the Berkeley r-commands, Samba, the Linuxconf facility (used for remote administration), and the X Window System. Security was definitely not high on the list of priorities.

I'm also interested (and probably others too) in the possibility of one day soon running a simple web server out of my home when I can get DSL. What's a good place to start to learn how to secure a box like this and not leave so many ports open like these guys? The Linux Network Administrators Guide? Any other suggestions? TIA.

LinuxOne is *soooooooo* forwarding looking...

[EvilAlien]

Gotta love this disclaimer on that "press release":
Certain information included in this communication (as well as information included in oral statements or other written statements made or to be made by AbsoluteFuture.com) contains statements that are forward-looking. Such as statements relating to the future anticipated direction of the Internet industry, plans for future expansion, various business development activities, planned capital expenditures, future funding resources, anticipated sales growth and potential contracts. These forward statements are subject to a number of known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause actual operations or results to differ materially from those anticipated. The NASD has not reviewed and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release.

Sounds a bit like Zooooom to me....

[Randy Rathbun]

I seem to remember this company called Zoooom back in the 1980s that was all the rage on Wall Street. It ended up being a front for some big organized crime scam.

They had big press releases, got written up favorably by everyone. Then they got busted and a few folks went to jail.

What really really really bothers me about this is if this LinuxOne outfit pulls a Zooooom (see - I still can't remember how many o's are in the name!) I have a horrid feeling that it is going to come back to haunt all of Linux - not just the investors that get screwed.

LinuxOne, Inc, Press Release #16

[borg]

LinuxOne, Inc, Press Release #15

January 5, 2000

Mountain View, CA, January 5 2000 -- LinuxOne, Inc, announced today the introduction of the LINXTerm, a remarkable productivity-enhancing piece of software designed to complement their LinuxOne OS and LinuxOne Lite operating system products.

The LINXTerm, a substaitial achievement in software engineering, reproduces DEC VT102/VT220 (VTxxx) and Tektronix 4014 compatible terminals for programs that can't use the windowing system directly. It thus implements the traditional text-based Linux interface in a Graphical User Environment (GUI), such as the soon-to-be-released OneX Windowing System.

Dr. Wun C. Chiouu,Sr., President of LinuxOne, Inc., stated "We are quite pleased in the achievements of our research and development (R & D) division. The release of the LINXTerm will consolidate our position as a leader in Linux-related technologies."

Bill, a regional distributor for Power Source (www.poso.com) at the Reading Expo Center Gun and Computer Show, commented, "Hey,like are you going to buy something or are you just going to stand there all day."

LinuxOne, Inc, is an open source software provider and a highly-regarded developer of the shareware Linux OS.

Power Source, Inc., www.poso.com, is a prominent software distributor that is simultaneously one of the largest distributors and one of the fastest growing.

For more information, contact:


Roy Holmes, Vice President of Sales LinuxOne Worldwide Headquarters:
201 San Antonio Circle, C250
Mountain View, CA 94040
Phone: (650) 948-6201
Fax: (650) 948-2932
Email: roy@linuxone.net
URL: http://www.linuxone.net/

Julius Liu, President
Power Source, Inc.
10032 San Pablo Avenue
El Cerrito, CA. 94530
Phone: (510) 527-6908 or (510) 697-6388
Fax: (510) 527-3823

Wall-street is already skeptical

[Anonymous Coward]

Why is everyone here assuming that investors don't already know LinuxOne is full of it? I've seen articles all over tech and investing sites about this. The IPO will likely end up going at low rates to people who are looking for a bargain in the event LinuxOne gets its act together.

Hey, I've *been* there!

[Anonymous Coward]

My parents live in El Cerrito, and I've been to that little shop!

It was just another random neighborhood computer shop the last time I looked, which was in November.

"IPO Hardball" (webcast) slams LinuxOne

[johnhebert]

The LinuxOne (LINX) IPO was discussed Monday, 1/4/00 at 4pm EDT on IPO Hardball, an IPO analysis audio program available on the web. They discuss LinuxOne starting about 28:30 into the webcast till about 32:50. The entire webcast is 01:14:02 (hh:mm:ss) long. Listen to the whole webcast if you want to establish their credibility.

The short of it is that they slam LinuxOne.

Quotes:
"... strictly a play on the stupidity of people buying Linux names ..."

"... if I were in that industry, I would really be unhappy with them (LinuxOne)for that, for coming public when they are, as it would really sour people on the future of Linux in that industry ..."

"this is a manufactured deal"

The participants in this particular webcast do invite e-mail feedback. I urge you to listen to the archived webcast and send your thoughts to them. This is a good opportunity to share some of our knowledge with a few pundits on Wall Street.

They do have some other interesting analysis about how this affects the longer term future for Linux and other Internet related IPOs such as BUY.COM.

My confidence has been restored

[drix]

Well they've got it all now - a website, a big cheesy red logo, a domain name with the word "open" in it, and a link to Google on their front page. Shucks, guys, they must be a big important Linux company, right? Forget beer, forget pizza, forget toilet paper - I'm saving everything I can and dumping it into LINX. You guys knock them now, but in six months, I'll be laughing all the way to the bank!

;)


--

A freudian slip?

[drix]

Hahaha. Okay I want everyone to go to their page and click 'Y2k compliance' at the bottom of the products page. Read the crap they put their if you want, then check out the left hand nav bar. Click on 'Worst Case Scenario' and where do you end up? Thaaaat's right - right back and the LinuxOne homepage, where they hawk their three incantations of RedHat's operating system at you.

--

Re:A freudian slip?

[Gord]

From the Y2K compliance document:


In July 1999, we formed a committee consisting of our President, Chief Financial Officer, and a systems administrator, as part of our effort to perform a coordinated audit of:


Since when would a President of a company get involved in a Year 2000 audit


In addition, in September 1999, we hired an independent contractor to test LinuxOne OS for Year 2000 readiness. The independent contractor certified these products as Year 2000 compliant


Contractor == Family Friend.

dont invest

[Anonymous Coward]

i predict this stock will be as worthless as andover stock in a month

..yeah right

[BradyB]

Linuxone's website does look a lot better than it used to, but the people that placed the $500,000 order has a website that blows big chunks. I know my website isn't much better but come on, if you have your own domain at least accept email at your own domain not from hotmail. That all there is to say about that. Apparently it's a hoax to get money. Hell I can make a website and say that someone is ordering stuff from my business. They'll be found out soon enough

Powersource = Pink and Soft

[Shorty]

Mmmmm, spam.

-Complete Internet Marketing Kit CD-ROM"

Down at the bottom of the page there are details of their 'complete E-Mail Marketing Package complete with 27,000,000 Fresh E-Mail Addresses" and an "excellent Shareware Stealth E-Mailing program".

Considering Linux One's business plan so far, maybe this is how they're going to promote themselves.

Robbie

Ummm Power Source?

[doobie]

If Power Source is paying 500,000 to LinuxOne, couldn't they atleast spend maybe $200 to get a real web page, and get a real email address, not a hotmail one?

Fight them!

[Anonymous Coward]

I've e-mailed hotmail.com notifying them that Power Source is using a Hotmail address as a business address.

That's a violation of their Terms of Service, and hotmail will close their e-mail account.

Harassment of the fraudulent is a viable way of fighting them. If they need an e-mail address, they should use one that is designated for business.

"Fastest Growing" very easy to accomplish

[alhaz]

I don't even know why they use that marketing term. Well, I guess i do. Morons are impressed by it i guess.

Lets say you sell popcicles.

Say in april you sold no popcicles at all. Then in may you sold fifty popcicles, and in june you sold 200 popcicles.

The curve of your growth rate would be pretty impressive, regardless of the fact that your sales are chump change.

So, the *Only* thing you could claim is "Well, we've got over 200 times the sales we did 3 months ago"

Which would indeed make you the fastest growing popcicle vendor.

This is much the same way that Windows NT became the "fastest growing server base" - it's real easy to go from none, to 500k, to 1 million installed. a LOT easier than it is to go from 10 million to 20 million installed. Even if it did take them almost 3 years to reach 1 million installed, including both 3.51 and 4.0.

And if enough people are impressed, you can go file your IPO and live off the stock for the rest of your life.

Power Source vs Open Source

[NoWhereMan]

Good insight. My Linux/GNU/X CD was bought at a computer flea market so perhaps I am one of the customers they think is interested in $500,000 of this new product. If they are still the good people you remember them to be, I would suggest it is time to be Open about their affiliation with LinuxOne.

Just in case they are counting on selling me one of those CDs, they might want to consider how things change. Today, I have a DSL connection to my ISP and that $5 CD becomes obsolete even faster in Internet Time ;-)

Re:LinuxOne takes over the world (or at least Taiw

[whoop]

Mr. Ben Hsu, General Manager
LinuxOne - Taiwan
7F, No. 317, Song-Chiang Road
Taipei, Taiwan
Phone: 886-2-2501-2110
Fax: 886-2-2501-1854
Email: ben@linuxone.net
URL: http://www.LinuxOneTaiwan.com

Interestingly, linuxonetaiwan.com doesn't seem to exist anywhere in reality. Wonder what would happen if someone sent $70 to NSI and registered some random domain... Not that I'm saying anything, or nothing. Then again, the press release is dated Jan 4, maybe it'll take another few days for NSI to register this domain for LinuxOne if they just now bought it.

But is there anyone in or around Taipei that can verify what this address is, or isn't?

Disclaimer

[Anonymous Coward]

You'll notice at the bottom of their press releases, you will see...

Certain information included in this communication (as well as information included in oral statements or other written statements made or to be made by the Company) contains statements that are forward-looking. Such as statements relating to the future anticipated direction of the Internet industry, plans for future expansion, various business development activities, planned capital expenditures, future funding resources, anticipated sales growth and potential contracts. These forward statements are subject to a number of known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause actual operations or results to differ materially from those anticipated. The NASD has not reviewed and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release.

Translated: "What you have just read may not be true."

Re:Disclaimer

[Lionel Hutts]

Such a disclaimer does indeed protect them from liability (under most circumstances) for forward-looking statements. Most of the press release was not forward-looking, though. It's sounding pretty likely that they are guilty of securities fraud.

Re:Or, it could be a LinuxOne huckster trying to..

[NoWhereMan]

Seems logical to me. I first saw the announcement when I went to the Linux International site a few days ago. I remember the concern I had that linking to the announcement might be construed by a newbie as some sort of validation.

The moral, apply some filter in your scripts. Just because an announcement contains the word LINUX does not make it worthwhile ;-)

Domain doesnt exist

[brunes69]

from http://www.newsalert.com/bin/story?StoryId=Cohf:ub Kbyta0mZy&Topic=Linux&Nav=pr-prmynews-&T itle=Linux
:

Mr. Ben Hsu, General Manager
LinuxOne - Taiwan
7F, No. 317, Song-Chiang Road
Taipei, Taiwan
Phone: 886-2-2501-2110
Fax: 886-2-2501-1854
email: ben@linuxone.net
URL: http://www.LinuxOneTaiwan.com

Big surprise, www.linuxonetaiwan.com doesnt exist... and neither does the whole office, i bet.

LinuxOne's security - I got a shell acct..

[Anonymous Coward]

This was interesting. I telnet to www.linuxone.org, type ftp as user, it asks me to type in a new password.. done. Got myself a full shell account at LinuxOne. :

Trying 140.174.127.98...
Connected to www.linuxone.net.
Escape character is '^]'.
Linux Mandrake release 6.1 (Helios)
Kernel 2.2.13-4mdk on an i686
login: ftp
You are required to change your password immediately
New UNIX password:
Retype new UNIX password:
[ftp@webbe ftp]$

A thought about LinuxOne situation...

[joe_wang]

With all these "new" distribution poping up like flies. Don't you guys think we need to have some sort of consortium to oversee the Linux distribution companies? With it this will ensure the quality of Linux distributions as well as keeping things to a basic standard. Much like Sun's 100% pure java certification except this time it checks for proper packages that are bundled within the distribution. Maybe this already exists but I'm not aware of it.

error: illegal divide by zero

[emmons]

Mr. Helmreich always said I have to be careful of doing that...

-----

Preaching to the Choir

[Outlyer]

I can understand that we're all rightfully pissed off about this, but let's be honest. LinuxOne isn't planning on selling shares to institutional traders or reasonably enlightened people.
The majority of people on Slashdot won't buy into this one, but you're not the market they're after. We've ripped their SEC filing apart, the company, etc., but it doesn't matter... what's going to frustrate us is that lot's of people are going to invest their money, and get screwed.
Professional traders didn't inflate VA Linux to $299 at the open, that was day traders, and day traders are the ones getting screwed here too.... personally, I don't care too much, it bugs me that these criminals will make so much money, but day traders are exactly what is wrong with our market right now, and the correction is going to slaughter them. This is just a preview.

LinuxOne warning on Fool Financial site

[fahnd]

It looks like non-geek people are starting to pay attention. Here's an excerpt from a fool page.

"Speaking of doom and gloom, I'd like to let everyone know of the widespread scorn and derision the geek community has expressed towards the initial public offering (IPO) of LinuxOne Inc., future stock symbol LINX. Despite the name, this company is NOT one of the veteran Linux companies, which have been having multi-billion dollar IPOs recently. It doesn't appear to be a veteran anything, and I have yet to find anyone who knows what they actually DO, other than issue stock. As I've written before, investing in an area you know nothing about just because it's hot is an easy way to lose money. I'm not telling you NOT to invest in LinuxOne, but I'm not telling you never to suck on a loaded gun, either. To help you do your own research (which will remain a good idea even after Y2K), ..."

linuxone and redhat

[psaltes]

Something along these lines has probably been said before, but check out ftp://140.174.127.95/pub/Linux One/LinuxOne_OS/README

Gotta LOVE the POSO.COM Site....

[Big_Lamer]

I love the fact that poso.com is so small the owner is using a HOTMAIL Email address: ps84@hotmail.com and has the website hosted by with only a single page residing on "their" server.(Probably just being hosted by Etailprice.com who hosts the rest of their site.) The Administrative and billing contact for both Etailprice.com and poso.com is Isaiah Choo and he only has an email address at greatshop.com (The Company that owns etailprice.com)

I would love to hear other peoples opinions on the idea that this company (Perfect Solution Multimedia Inc) appears to be something smaller than my garage....

www.poso.com is a joke - check out the META tag

[Anonymous Coward]

This was lifted right out of the www.poso.com home page. Looks like "Captain John" knows how to get those hits from the search pages, eh?

<HEAD>
<TITLE>POWER SOURCE
<META NAME="KEYWORDS" CONTENT="CD-ROM,
CDROM, CD, CD-R, VideoCD, Software, Discs,
Drinks, Gold, Nintendo, Spice, Play Station,
Sega, Games, Breasts, Tits,Red Alert,
shopping, Office, Access, Visual Basic, Sex,
Girls, Nude, Cheats, Cheat Codes, Food, Ships,
Boats, Discs">
<META NAME="AUTHOR" CONTENT="Captain John">
<META NAME="ROBOTS" CONTENT="ALL>
</HEAD>

Re:www.poso.com is a joke - check out the META tag

[Anonymous Coward]

H AahAH ahAHah AHA POWER SOURCE SUCKS!

LinuxTwo?

[Anonymous Coward]

jonkatz sucks!

linuxone logo observation

[spoonyfork]

I am in the market for a cheapo refurb laptop and whilst browsing I came across this page:

http://www.affordablecomputers.com/store/images/ mainlogo.gif

Check out the logo.. doesn't it look a lot like the logo from the linuxone site?

http://www.linuxone.net/images/mainlogo-gif.gif

Hell, the file names are even similar. Is there anything original here?

how many are ?

[Anonymous Coward]

Here how many companies now have actual products ? at what again ?

Findings

[Anonymous Coward]

their ftp server is at 140.174.127.95 i downloaded a rpm from there the buildhost field on it was kenobi.mandrakesoft.com strange...

and another DEAL announced ....

[michajoe]

LinuxOne, Inc. Receives Initial Software Order From Supercom

right here

Hey Everyone Look at the Linux Newbie and Laugh!

[Repossed]

Anyone out there ever have a problem in which Linux consistently loses ones IDE cd-rom interrupt? eg. hdd: Lost Interrupt If so can someone recommend a fix? (using RedHat 6.1, GNOME etc...) Please email at repossed@aol.com (Oh God not only is he a newbie, he uses AOL!?)