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VA Linux Announces Planned 25% Staff Cut
prac_regex was the first to write with news of planned cuts announced today for VA Linux. "The title doesn't say it all, but it says a lot.
Yahoo reports the cost cutting VA implemented today." VA reported higher-than expected per-share losses, and announced some big organizational changes as well. Guess "playing in the big leagues" means taking the occasional bean-ball. (Note: OSDN, of which Slashdot is a part, is itself part of VA, in case you hadn't heard;))
Not once has a popular website been bought out by a big corporation without losing its soul, and not once has a corporation managed such a site successfully without losing its shirt.
Slashdot? We just haven't seen the end of the road, yet. But it's coming.
It's the classic problem of vertical consolidation in the industry: VaLinux makes the hardware that people run when reading VaLinux's web content (via Andover). They control each stage of the production, and they ought to be able to do so financially successfully, right?
Wrong.
The disparate parts of VaLinux's farflung online empire were never well-suited to furthering VaLinux's corporate goals. VaLinux was and probably always will be a company that builds expensive linux machines for elite linux users (unlike Dell and other companies targetting the low-end linux crowd). Slashdot, Freshmeat, and now Kuro5hin were never aimed at this same audience.
The average Slashdot reader can't be bothered to load OSDN's ads. What made VaLinux think they could convince those same users to buy VaLinux-branded hardware?
Either the Andover division is going down in flames with VaLinux, or it will be jettisoned.
I only wish I could see the smirk melting from ESR's face. What's his portfolio worth now?
Read the rest of this comment...
Here. In terms of code, this is how a start up runs:
if (Money Out > Money In && Stupid_Venture_Capitalists == 0)
decrease_money_out();
else
buy_superbowl_ads();
What did you eat today? http://www.atetoday.com/
Jon Katz I hope... please oh please oh please....
First, I really put very little thought into writing proper English on slashdot. I don't proof read for it here. The only thing I care about is whether or not I'm conveying my message clearly. When the grammar is so poor as to make that difficult, then I care.
Second, you, and the vast majority of other users, know exactly what I meant.
Third, irregardless is a word, albeit a colloqial and not entirely accepted word. Please refer to Merriam-Webster's dictionary if you do not believe me. That is, incidentally, a little more than just "any" online dictionary, even if it is not quite OED. If you're reading slashdot, you're clearly more than willing and capable of reading broken english, never mind broken thought processes.
Fourth, I am more than capable of writing proper english when I so desire.
Fifth, if you're going to be a grammar nazi, please do yourself a favor and learn to spell grammar properly. Otherwise, the egg ends up on your face, not on your victim's face. Your comment is riddled with other flaws too. For instance, "meant" is the past participle and past tense of "mean", it simply does not fit in that sentence of yours.
QED
While it's not appropriate for me to comment on too many things, I wanted to address concerns about SourceForge.net and SourceForge onsite (SFOS). So basically, during the , uh, shuffle, VA has had to decide where people will be cut and which areas of thebusiness will be concentrated on.
One of those areas is SourceForge and it's sister group, SFOS. SF and SFOS is super important to the future of VA from a bunch of angles. Dan Bressler, the product manager will be posting a reply to this note giving a brain dump on what's going on within. In short, SF has headcount and budget and we are looking to add staff on both teams. So that's the short post. Dan will post a more in depth piece. I wanted to get a place holder in for those who care about SF.
I'll answer other questions if I can, but for many questions, the answer can only legitimately be given by Pat Fossenier, our investor relations person.
Chris DiBona
Linux Community Evangelist, VA Linux Systems
--
Grant Chair, Linux Int.
Pres, SVLUG
Co-Editor, Open Sources
Open Source Program Manager, Google, Inc.
- of three articles a day on Napster and P2P
- of the latest stupid way to cram linux into something better suited to be a toaster oven than a computer
- of three articles a day on why Open Source is the answer to the universe (we know it is already!)
- of the same article posted three times in the same day
- of links to 5 gigabyte video files
- of lists of things that people are tired of
- of goatsex
- of the lack of editorial review and a spell checker
- of people saying Athalon instead of Athlon and saying 'then' when they mean the comparitive 'than'
- of ten stories a day on some new stupid patent and why the government is collapsing next week because of stupid patents (we know already!)
- of clever signatures.
I'd like to see more ofSomeone you trust is one of us.
We don't need
-Jon Katz
-Anonymous Cowards
-Trolls
Err, wait. That's about 80% of slashdot...
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Check out my blackbox styles
Who should be pink-slipped? ( ) CmdrTaco ( ) Hemos ( ) Timothy ( ) CowboyNeal
If you celebrate Xmas, befriend me (538
Cool - nice to see you on here trying to put those who wonder in the know! But, this comment presents a problem:
Anyway, hope this clears up any concern.
Man, you must be kidding. Does that clear up the idea that SourceForge is going to loose a lot of people in the short term (IE, next 3-6 months)? Yep. Does that clear up the idea that in the longer term (1 - 2 years) SourceForge is going to have serious problem? Nope. I like the idea of SourceForge and all, but, it's still hard to see where all of this outlay is really getting VA it's money back. Sure, some of the projects get a fairly direct return back to VA when even nearly completed. But, take a look at the contents of SourceForge - very little of it really seems to apply. I mean, take a look at all those projects listed - a good number are half-ass thought out projects that are going to fail within the first two months because the creator of the project can't find people to help out or just plain old can develop the idea they came up with. Heck if I get another offer to join so-and-so's VB game project, complete with a link to a SourceForge project, I'm going to SHOOT SOMEONE! (Especially when I look, and there's not even a 'design' behind the game yet. *SIGH*)
It's hard to see where that much, well... random crap that SourceForge is having to support in terms of bandwidth, storage, and support requests really do much to contribute to VA's business. I'd probably have more faith in it if there was an approval process or something - IE, users submit a written request for the privilage of hosting a project on SourceForge. Something that makes them stop and think about what they are doing, instead of letting SourceForge become the GeoCities of Open Source projects. For every good project like CrystalSpace3D, there's now 3 projects in the 'pre-alpha' stage with no chance of getting any farther.
Anyway - I don't mean to sound like a troll or flamer who's saying it can't ever work, etc. Just pointing out what I've been seeing and have been heavily concerned about on SourceForge. On the flipside of those concerns, I think it's great that SourceForge exists, and provides access to a collaborative environment for Open Source developers with a minimum of hastle!
Davis Ray Sickmon, Jr - looking for something to read? Check out my three free novels at MidnightRyder.org