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LinuxOne Lite: First Looks

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the that-is-funny-as-hell dept.

Sensei^ from LinuxNewbie sent us their Review of LinuxOne. Basically, the distribution is "A Badly Repackaged Mandrake". Read this review: the list of problems is amusing, and it will cause your disgust of the corporate entity known as LinuxOne to climb to a new level.

2 of 221 comments (clear)

  1. Amusing? by AstroJetson · · Score: 5

    ...the list of problems is amusing...
    I, for one, am not all that amused. How many new potential Linux users will install this (or try to) and fail miserably, then conclude that Linux is crap. How many of them will tell their friends about their misfortune? Will Big Bad Bill point to this and say "See, we told ya! It's hard to install and buggy. Come back to us and we'll hold your hand and make it all better."

    We know that LinuxOne != Linux, but newbies may try to equate the two. This could end up alienating many converts to the light side. We are now between a rock and a hard place: we want LinuxOne to bite turf, but we don't want Linux itself to crash and burn with it.

    In our advocacy of Linux, let's be sure to point people to some of the many fine distros that are available and steer folks away from LinuxOne.

    --
    Admit nothing, deny everything and make counter-accusations.
  2. Re:I hope their IPO doesn't rocket... by Animats · · Score: 5
    Red Hat stock seems to be doing OK, while VA Linux seems to be in a screaming dive. It's probably too late for a third player, especially a flakey one.

    Incidentally, VA Linux does not make hardware. They're a reseller for a small PC assembler in Fremont, CA. Read their SEC filing.

    Historically, there are very few examples of companies that had huge price/revenue ratios and eventually grew up to generate enough profits to justify them. (Exercise for investors: name three.) But there are many examples of speculative bubbles.

    The Linux stocks aren't the usual growth company situation. Usually, you have big revenue, big expenses, and small profits. The classic good example is Amazon.com. (The classic bad example is Buy.com, which has a business model of selling at a loss and making it up on volume.) But both Red Hat and VA Linux have small revenue, no profits, no valuable assets, and a huge market cap. That's not a growth company. It's something else, and it's not good.

    The current market is running on what's called "greater fool theory", the hope that, even though you own something that's overpriced, there's some sucker out there who will buy it for even more money. As with all Ponzi schemes, eventually you run out of suckers.

    There is going to be a bloodbath in these stocks. Probably this year.