Slashdot Mirror
Andover.Net and VA Linux Join Together
As you may have heard, VA Linux and Andover.Net are gonna be joining up. We thought it would be dishonest not to say something about it, but as you probably understand, we're sorta restricted in what we can say. Of course, you can say whatever you want, and you can
read the press release if you're curious about some of the details. Creative control of Slashdot will remain where it always has been.
It sounded more like an acquistion of Andover, to me.
--
"A dessert without cheese is like a beautiful woman who has lost an eye." -- Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin
Linux Daily News had Slashdot scooped on this issue by more than an hour, and I submitted this half an hour ago. It was promply rejected. I sort of wonder why Slashdot is now the last news source to get anything, even when it's about them.
Sam TH
AbiWord Developer
How does this affect the server51 (Andover) and sourceforge (VA) projects, since they both appear to have similar goals?
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Sorta puts that postponed Larry Augustin interview into a new light, eh?
BTW, you are opening yourselves to a lot of jokes by saying "Creative control...remains where it's always been".
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First, I like the idea of Andover and VA Linux marrying. Both companies seem to be to be of the rare breed that "get it", and seem to do the right thing in almost all circumstances.
I'm wondering how this would affect the potential for Slashdot in the future to on it's own, or in partnerships, expand into other subject areas with its brand of site design and format. Granted, with the emergence of the open source Slash engine and PHPSlash, dozens of Slashlings are sprouting up everywhere (my own site included).
I guess I was just thinking at some point down the road that a "portal" or "index" of Slash-based sites covering a wide array of subject areas would emerge, either under the direct auspices of SlashDot, or some other party...I'm not sure how this acquisition would affect that scenario, tho.
Either way, I'm not disaffected. I think it's a great merger and I can't wait to see the results of the open Slash engines on the 'net.
With the auto-posting perl scripts?
Oh boy, here it comes. All this is well and good, but how does it affect /.? This is not intended as flamebait but I think that since Andover bought /. The quality has gone downhill, mostly due to the increased traffic which also increases the trolls and the fray. When VA Linux takes over I'm curious how the flavor of /. Will change. Will added participation and content value come through more participation (on a massive scale)? Will the /. model change, part of what make slashdot so successful is the simplicity of the model. Time will tell, but I think that VA will add bureocracy and overhead to the site and change it in a way that takes it furthur from what has made it so great.
Never knock on Death's door:
More race stuff in one place,
than any one place on the net.
But of course you're now going to have to fire Jon Katz, because now you're one of those big media conglomerates... ;-)
Steven E. Ehrbar
So I'm at VA's site and I see the following press release titled: /. users but the tittle just seems to imply allot more than there is to it. I'm trying to picture Mr. T (Linus) and such people running around calling people saying "Oh my god! This is 'Most Significant Transaction in Linux History'"
"VA Linux to Acquire Andover.Net in Most Significant Transaction in Linux History"
I can't help but giggle a little at the hype. I appreciate that this important to me and allot of other
Sometimes corporate hype is just too darned funny to take seriously.
Creative control stays
with Anonymous Cowards,
Natalie Portman
---
Hand me that airplane glue and I'll tell you another story.
Frankly, I'd been occasionally worried about Andover's direction and commitment to free software, but I absolutely trust VA and their commitment, so in that sense I welcome VA's involvement. It also seems that since VA is getting so heavily into the media side of things themselves, this match makes a lot of sense and will reduce the squandering of resources by the movement as a whole. (server51 and sourceforge really just seemed like good ideas that didn't need to be competing against each other.)
Good luck, Rob- I remember the days when I contemplated getting some CD's through your links so you'd get some spare change from CDNow. Glad to see things have changed for you all.
~luge
IAAL,BIANLY
But, regardless of the fact that you state "Creative control of Slashdot will remain where it always has been"... I find it difficult to believe that slashdot can really remain as independant as it was (especially when it was completely self run). I (and surely many others) come to slashdot because of the independant perspective presented by the editors and next by the readers. The quality/independance of the editors has already gone down since the andover purchase, I fear what will happen now that slashdot it owned by valinux...
donfede
Everyone knows this is all about server51. sourceforge.org is to become the nexus of opensource... With server51 in the picture, they saw an opportunity where there could be competition, not cooperation. I think that the server51 dudes and sourceforge dudes will be hooked up and all will be good.
:)
I dont think server51 had the hardware resources VA had. Just think.... the sourceforgenetwork. A whole ton of "mini" sourceforges that differ in setup and stuff like that. Heh.. perhaps not
Perhaps there will be skinning of sourceforge
Have a good one out to Andover and VA.
-- dieman - Scott Dier
"...we're sorta restricted in what we can say..."
"Creative control will remain where it's always been."
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I think that their track record of support for major Open Source projects ensures that the Slash Engine will continue to be a strong project. I'm not sure what this will mean for the project that is called Area 51. It will be interesting to see how SourceForge and Freshmeat interact.
In any case, I think a combined VA-Andover has a tremendous supply of proven talent. They have the people in place to create a lot of new and interesting software and Web Sites. I think it will be interesting to see whether the majority of these people will stick around, or if they will leave, as many did when RedHat bought Cygnus.
--
Dave Aiello
-- Dave Aiello
This is flatly not true. If they wanted the biggest name in the Linux and Open Source community, they should have gone for:
VA LINUX
Or,
VIRGINIA LINUX
Or,
VIRGINIA LINUX
Or,
V-I-R-G-I-N-I-A L-I-N-U-X
Or,
V-I-R-G-I-N-I-A L-I-N-U-X
Or,
ANDOVERDOTNET A WHOLELY OWNED SUBSIDIIARY OF VIRGINIA LINUX INCORPORATED
Or,
ANDOVERDOTNET A WHOLELY OWNED SUBSIDIIARY OF VIRGINIA LINUX INCORPORATED
Or,
A-N-D-O-V-E-R-D-O-T-N-E-T A W-H-O-L-E-L-Y O-W-N-E-D S-U-B-S-I-D-I-I-A-R-Y O-F V-I-R-G-I-N-I-A L-I-N-U-X I-N-C-O-R-P-O-R-A-T-E-D
Or,
A-N-D-O-V-E-R-D-O-T-N-E-T A W-H-O-L-E-L-Y O-W-N-E-D S-U-B-S-I-D-I-I-A-R-Y O-F V-I-R-G-I-N-I-A L-I-N-U-X I-N-C-O-R-P-O-R-A-T-E-D
Or, A-N-D-O-V-E-R-D-O-T-N-E-T A W-H-O-L-E-L-Y O-W-N-E-D S-U-B-S-I-D-I-I-A-R-Y O-F V-I-R-G-I-N-I-A- L-I-N-U-X I-N-C-O-R-P-O-R-A-T-E-D, O-W-N-E-R-S O-F S-L-A-S-H-D-O-T
Or better yet,
A-N-D-O-V-E-R-D-O-T-N-E-T A W-H-O-L-E-L-Y O-W-N-E-D S-U-B-S-I-D-I-I-A-R-Y O-F V-I-R-G-I-N-I-A- L-I-N-U-X I-N-C-O-R-P-O-R-A-T-E-D, O-W-N-E-R-S O-F S-L-A-S-H-D-O-T
Never knock on Death's door:
More race stuff in one place,
than any one place on the net.
That's GOOD?!?
From now on, Slashdot, which has been actively covering every twist and turn with Redhat's and VA Linux's stock (which I personally got rather sick of) may need to stop and VA story when it comes time to announce earnings?
This is BAD BAD BAD! Why can't many people see that?
You get angry when AOL buys time/warner because they'll monoplize consumer content on the internet, and rejoice when ANDN takes over most of the good site and then gets bought by VA Linux, who will now oww 50%+ of the real Linux related sites.
Short sited.
I thought the reason you guys (Rob & Jeff) decided to be bought (or whatever the technical term is) by Andover was because it wasn't a Linux company, so it wouldn't seem like you would be losing any partiality. I realize you guys and VA have been buddies for a long time (IIRC, most of Slashdot runs on VA Hardware, bought through the barter system [they get free ads, you get free hardware]... right?), plus, Rob's (one of) the webmaster(s) (or some dang thing) for Linux.com, which they own. So VA and Andover were probably already pretty chummy... but what prompted this? I.e., why?
I don't know what you all are allowed to say, what with SEC restrictions and all that kinda stuff, but (how) will this affect Slashdot? Will we get even more editors (like the advent of Roblimo when Andover took over)?
I'm just guessing, but I assume Mr. Malda is pretty high on the Andover totem pole. What's going to be his new position at VA Linux, or is he going to remain at his current position inside Andover?
I think the Andover aquisition was a Good Thing, and VA seems like a nice company, so I guess this will also be a Good Thing. Then again, you know how the Open Source Community(tm) feels about monopolies...
Any info from higher-ups would be appreciated... and if you can't say anything, then say that you can't say anything! Otherwise I will have hurt feelings...
___________________
rooooar
While I like both VA Linux and Andover.Net, this is not a good thing for Linux consumers. Did anybody besides me notice that once Andover.Net took control of Slashdot that the ads for Copyleft disappeared and were replaced by ThinkGeek (which is owned by Andover). Now that VA Linux owns Slashdot what are the chances that we will ever see another ad for SGI or Penguin Computing?
--
Howard Roark, Architect
Howard Roark, Architect
I believe in a Man's right to exist for his own sake.
It seems to me that having a major community hubs like Slashdot and Freshmeat owned by a parent media company was bad enough. Having them owned by a particular producer of Linux products is downright scary. I'm sure that Rob & Co. will argue that content won't be effected. While they might believe this, I sort of doubt the reality of the claim.
Bear with me here: It figures that Slashdot and Freshmeat are the main portals for Linux information. Therefore, they are the prime ground for advertising by Linux-related companies (especially OEMs). How many Penguin Computing or Indybox ads are we going to see here when VA is fully entrenched? They might not vanish outright, but smart money says that VA will slowly muscle them out.
Not allowing (or rather, making it difficult for) other OEMs to post up their banner ads is just as bad as if VA imposed editorial restrictions. It also makes perfect sense from a business point of view to keep your competitors from advertising on your channels -- how many ABC superbowl ads did you see on FOX?
I hope I'm wrong. It could be that the people at VA are more idealistic than the average business types. Even so, management can change -- this cloud will forever hang over Slashdot, Freshmeat and any other major community site which ever gets aquired by a large company.
----
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Please answer haiku
with haiku! Why, you may ask?
It is more polite.
Yes, i miscounted
syllables. It's too early
for me to count well.
No need to flame me.
I'm not perfect, but at least
admit my mistakes.
What shall i do now?
I'll gaze Medusa-like on
Natalie Portman!
Haiku is so cool.
Even Natalie Portman
jokes can almost work.
What else can i say?
Hemos sux? BSD rules?
Katz is a windbag?
---
Hand me that airplane glue and I'll tell you another story.