Slashdot Mirror
Linuxcare Withdraws IPO, Cuts Staff
Eupolis writes "Reuters reports that Linuxcare has withdrawn its IPO filings, and is now cutting staff to try to keep from running out of money. " As well as the report from Reuters, News.com has an analysis of the situation as well.
VA is currently at $60, that doesn't seem too bad. (I could be wrong, I'm not well versed in Wall Street)
Finkployd
It appears that Richard Stallman has won after all. Despite the attempts of a few brave pioneers to actually make money off of "free software" his anti-capitalist shackles have once again seen off the threat of people making a living from doing what it is that they love.
In fact, it appears to me as if the only person who has really benefitted financially from the whole free software movement and its pseudo-socialist ethics is RMS himself. After all, he obviously has the money to spend his whole time railing on about the evils of proprietaty software and the naming of Linux. So really, he wins all round - he is the only person to make money off of his so-called "philosophy" and he gets to look wise and benevolent to all the people he's brainwashed into accepting his vision of the future.
Personally, I think this smacks of hyprocrasy, but I'm sure many people will blindly disagree and flame me for holding this opinion. But then again, this is /., where knee-jerk flamage is accepted as the norm.
I'm glad to see some actual market forethought and planning by a (GNU) Linux-based company. I'd much rather see them drop the IPO than end up like VA. We really need some companies to build up actual strength and worth rather than inflating their stock prices to look powerful. Rock on Linuxcare!
Of all the Linux companies, I am disappointed the most with LinuxCare.
I had originally thought that they have the best business model and would make real money since they are in services and not in selling GPL'd software.
However, it seems that their current dilemma is caused more by lack of execution and bringing in people who did not get what Open Source / Free Software is all about (e.g. Doug Nassaur, ...etc.)
Internally, there has been infighting between pro- (i.e. the founders) and anti- (read: the VC appointed management) Open Source factions.
At least there are lessons to be learnt from all that. I wish the founders the best of luck in the future.
2bits.com, Inc: Drupal, WordPress, and LAMP performance tuning.
Linuxcare IPO stopped talking to other employees. He sat long hours at his desk. No one was quite sure what he did there, but the mounds of coffee cups laced with methamphetamines couldn't be a good sign. He stopped going out to the bar with the rest of the staff on fridays. IPO felt that he no longer needed the company of his co-workers. "I know what they'll say," he thought to himself, "they'll say 'I never expected it from him . . . he was such a quiet IPO. Kept to himself. Didn't bother anyone'. If only they knew what evil lurks inside the heart of an IPO . . ."
At home Linuxcare IPO would systematically windex every photo he had of his mother (RedHat IPO). He had long since cleaned all the furniture out of his apartment. he didn't need all that glitzy stuff. Besides, he needed the space for his journals. He had kept a journal for every day since he had learned to write. He had a journaling file system so he could pull out any bit of writing at a minutes notice to reference in it. He found his writing to be insightful and enlightening.
"no one else could understand"
"no one else could know what I know"
"I've seen things"
"I understand"
"They hate me for it"
"They're trying to distroy me for my knowledge"
Months went by like that, and soon Linuxcare IPO developed a taste for flesh. It started innocently, killing the rats in his apartment and smearing thier eviscerated flesh over his own naked body. But it wasn't enough, there wasn't enough blood to hide them. He had to keep his secret safe, and blood had powers, and no one could see him behind a mask of blood, and he could be happy, and he could finally achieve what his mother had long prophesised. Yes, it was good, and it was safe and right. Linuxcare IPO knew what he had to do.
The next day at work, people noticed a change in IPO. He had been so withdrawn for so long, but now he was talking to everyone, eyes darting nervously to and fro. Then, about ten minutes before lunch, IPO pulled out the knife he had made himself, and started plunging it into Linuxcare Staff. He would cut Staff alright . . . he would cut him REAL good . . .
The reason the poster called them a laughing stock is that ... and correct me if I'm wrong... VA Linux's stock rose very high ($300+/share), then dropped very low (to about what it is now) all in one day. It was the highest rise and fall in one day.
Actually this isn't quite true. VA Linux stock didn't fall in one day. It closed at around $300 on the IPO day and has the record for being the largest rise in one day (approximately 900 to a 1000 percent from $30). The stock then dropped daily for months until it got to $26 a few weeks ago and now it's on the upswing. The reason it's called a laughing stock is because it is now a poster boy for everything that is wrong with today's stock market (overvaluation, banks bidding prices up unscrupolously, day traders, etc). For more info read their charts and check out the Yahoo message board to see what the investor sentiment is like.
Wtf?! Does everyone around here have the attention span of a gerbil? Ohmygod, (insert favorite Linux company name) is not making gazillions of $$$, so IT'S THE END OF THE WORLD!
To the folks at Linuxcare, I wish you the best, hope all goes well.
To /.ers, expect successes and failures for Linux companies. Name me a company that doesn't go through its problems. This industry is no different.
IBM used to be The Enemy. Today they are more friend than foe. In the early 80s, IBM had something like 400,000 people working for them. Their staffing at one point dropped to half of that. Point is, change will happen.
Final point to consider is that this is only the beginning of the commercial side of the Linux revolution. There will be more of the proverbial "bumps in the road". Yet, if you look where things are today, overall, things look pretty darned good. Imho.
first_post
Live it. Linux.
first_post
Live it. Linux.
One of my Linuxcare friends had a job interview this morning that I helped set up. If you're one of the LC people looking, I now have even more contacts. Feel free to email me at deirdre@deirdre.net and I'll pass along what I know.
While the prognosis for everyone there is good, the early birds will have more choices.
If you're one of the ex-Linuxcare staff, I'm also asking the companies to show up at the next BALUG meeting as well. And, if you're a company that I missed somehow, just show up. :)
_Deirdre