Slashdot Mirror
VA Linux Now VA Software
g2g was among the people who noticed that Slashdot & OSDNs parent, VA Linux Systems has changed its name to VA Software. vasoftware.com is the new domain as I guess they are focusing on SourceForge and OSDN. On the upside, I guess newspapers will stop calling the company 'Linux' all the time.
they'll probably start calling it "software" now :-/
...who?
They're still around?
Somehow this reminds me of NeXT computers changing name to NeXT Software (and then was bought out by apple).
But I suppose the new name better reflects their business.
Erik Dalén
...because it's really Red Hat == Linux, right? :)
Your right to not believe: Americans United for Separation of Church and
VA Linux was riding the wave.
Why take the NASDAQ symbol LNUX if you don't want to be known as Linux?
From the press release:
Are they planning on changing their ticker symbol or do they enjoy the contradiction of it all?
This is the next step after the stockmarket crash of Linux shares. System integrators will no longer be *Linux* system integrators. VA will concentrate on software, not specifically on Linux software.
On the upside, it might make people see Open Source as something not necessarily Linux, but as a serious way of developing software. Open Source is more then Linux.
change the ticker symbol from LNUX to VSFT?
I guess they are focusing on SourceForge and OSDN.
Yeah, I got that idea from Roblimo's note to kuro5hin about why it was being dropped by OSDN.
One question: How does Katz fit into the whole OSDN/Sourceforge idea? Keep in mind that Kuro5hin wasn't a part of the OSDN/Sourceforge idea...
(No need to reply with "Just take him off your reading list", I am curious of the answer Taco/Roblimo will give. Aren't you?).
Good quote, too many chars. Seriously, the slashdot 120 char limit sucks!
I remember when they IPO'd. I got a letter saying I could have bought some shares at around $10per. That day it opened at around $33, and maxed at around $319, closing at around $270. Now it's at a hundredth of that.
Given that was an off the wall IPO and one of the first Linux IPO's, but still...
Brain fart.
Well, they sold hardware, initially. They were associated with Linux, initially. Now neither directly applies.
:(
When larger companies do this it creates quite a hit in the financials. Most even suffer enough losses to fall off the face of the earth. Markets like to interface with companies that are well-defined, to begin with.
I miss their hardware lineup -- really thought it was a GoodThing(TM). I'd say we're going to lose another good friend, in the long run
Umm, what stock chart are you looking at?
Looking up LNUX shows that it has a moderate downslope, then being relatively flat since the beginning of September, with a recent moderate rise.
This is not totally unlike the Dow Jones Ind. Avg., which is recovering quite nicely from the Sept. 11th events, and is even making up ground lost since the recession started and the dot-bomb era.
Now, I am not sure that VA is going to do well. But the stock market doesn't agree. At this time, the stock is up ~3%
Jesus was all right but his disciples were thick and ordinary. -John Lennon
Given the current state of web advertising I cant imagine that anyone would want to buy them, so VA will probably be stuck with them for a while to come whether they like it or not.
Anyone want to buy /.? Going real cheap :)
... its not changed to VA GNU/Linux.
Baz
If I were Linus I would have sued VA for tarnishing the Linux name. :)
Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government.
The old story was about VA proposing the name change. They still needed shareholder approval, which they only recently got.
-- Don't Tase me, bro!
I guess in a time where anything with the name Linux attached has gone down in flames, it's a good move, but you have to wonder at what point will the company change it's name back? (because they probably will when the Linux desktop marketshare picks up reaches some level that makes it more commercially viable). PR is like that. Jump on any mane that works for as long as it works then run like hell when the name itself doesn't drive customers any longer. This is why old companies had it right: 'General Electric' for example made appliances, but now they also do Insurance and Investment Products. DO you see them changing their name? Of course, by that reasoning VA Software would still be VA Systems (which it was before VA Linux).
--CTH
--Got Lists? | Top 95 Star Wars Line
This was posted about two months ago on slashdot.
Snoozer.
the media probably won't be mentioning its name at all any more.
ok then your [sic] infringing on my copyright! Could you as [sic] me next time before STEALING my comments for your own?
Did I really type "stocker symbol"? Damn dyslexia, lack of sleep and no coffee blows.
Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government.
if you want to help the free sourceforge effort, lend a hand with Debian-SF... let's really get this codebase cranking! 2.5 installs great on woody, 2.6 (the last ever public snapshot) on its way...
09
Any rational person could tell you that the IPO was totally incorrect. Most of the dot-bomb IPO's were incorrect. Following traditional and time tested valuation policies, the market failed and is now correct.
Jesus was all right but his disciples were thick and ordinary. -John Lennon
Just imagine the confusion of having a ticker symbol of LNUX if you don't identify that anywhere in your company name. As LNUX is up to 2.84, this morning, I'd say they're safe from the NASDAQ axe, which accidentally chopped off Sedona the other day.
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
Why not call yourselves Software,Hardware and Information Technology? The new ticker will be adequate with the company's performance too.
Your pizza just the way you ought to have it.
If people changed their name, each time they started doing somethign different, you'd never keep track. Companies are no different. The name, per se, really doesn't matter. It's the -identity- that counts. And that is something VA* is rapidly losing.
The only time I've seen name-changes be profitable is when the company desperately needs to ditch the old identity. (eg: Windscale's name-change to Selafield was purely for PR reasons, cos Windscale had an image so utterly carp that Satan himself would have looked on with envy.)
A good example of a company losing out is Lucent. Bell Labs made a REAL blunder on this one. Nobody knew who they were. No identity had been created. And yet, they were trying to play right alongside the REALLY big players. It was a disaster.
VA* should go back to VA Research, because that's a name that was (and is) known. It's established. It gained credibility. Not the company, the identity. Companies (and people) don't gain credibility with others, by and large. It's the image that does. That's why trademarks (literally, the mark that identifies the origin, for trade) are so important. Because THAT is where the money lies.
(You could build two absolutely identical computers, for example. But if one of them had a sticker labelling it as the product of a trusted company, and the other didn't, it wouldn't matter that the person building them, and even the parts, were the same. People buy the label, not the product. The product is simply the thing that the label is stuck onto.)
It's a small world and it smells funny; I'd buy another if it wasn't for the money; Take back what I paid (SoM)
Looks like they were too late for .biz registration ;)
I hope Rusty gets kuro5hin back up. Bet he'll be more anal about backups after this. One of the things I like about k5 is that it reminds me of what /. was a few years ago.
Best Slashdot Co
but why is this news? I mean, I know I sound like a troll..
It's been coming for months; anyone can go find this out for themselves. Stockholders will already be notified..
How on earth is VA changing it's name slightly a newsworthy article?
Seriously... slashdot has been going downhill.. the number of quality articles has been going down, down down....
It's not even funny. The editors don't edit.. the titles are often sensationalist and misleading. They are often full of grammatical errors, as well as syntactical ones.
Sure, I might make mistakes.. but I'm not the editor..
C'mon guys. Let's get back to posting nerd news that MATTERS, and having some intelligent discussion.
To reflect the fact they do not, have never and will never sell apples, Apple computers have changes their name to "Mac"
To reflect the fact that they are now more of a computer manufacturior rather than a machine manufacturer, and that they also operate at both a personal and business level, International Business Machines (IBM) have changed their name to International Computers & Stuff (ICS).
To reflect the fact that they are not mandrakes, do not look like mandrakes, and - despite the fact they are french - rarely even eat mandrakes, Mandrake Software are changin their name to "ThatFrenchDistro".
and so on....
To reflect the fact that I am not really Denholm Elliot in Indian Jones and the last crusade, I will now be changing my name by Deed Poll to "Depressed Cupboard Cheescake", to better represent my psychological state.
Thankyou, and.... Goodnight
After the failure of so many .com companies, the last thing a company wanted in its name was .com . It became synonymous with a poorly thought out business model and imminent bankruptcy.
I'm afraid that this will be a similar trend. The Wall Street love affair with Linux is over. No longer can a company put Linux in its name and demand large sums of venture capital. VA wants to decouple itself from what it perceives as a sinking ship, the "Linux trend".
Notice that I decouple this from the technical merits of the operating system. To argue that Linux-based business models have proven difficult to establish profits is not the same thing as to undermine the Linux operating system.
I love the operating system but don't think many of the current "Linux companies" have viable business models. I favor the IBM approach. They are embracing Linux under their established IT services business.
Does anyone else think they should give up the LNUX ticker symbol and the Linux.com domain? Not that they should have to necessarily, but it might be a good idea, especially considering they have kind of gotten out of the "Linux business". Obviously they are still involved with Open Source software, but that is a much larger set than the subset that is "Linux".
Just my 2 cents.
Co-founder and designer at Music Nearby: http://musicnearby.com
Here's another interesting graph:
Compare LNUX vs RHATAnd yet another:
LNUX vs MSFTVA Linux is perhaps an under-performer, but the general trends can be seen in all the graphs.
Want to learn about race cars? Read my Book
Actually, my only holdings are about $500 in a couple of 401k accounts. (Having just reviewed the annual report, holdings in tech companies are rather low, and holdings in linux companies are nonexistant.)
Read my other post. The stock was totally and incredibly overvalued at $200+.
You sound like an angry man who bought some of those same stocks when they were overvalued, and are now pissed that you didn't get out earlier.
Jesus was all right but his disciples were thick and ordinary. -John Lennon
I don't agree with the evaluation that the parent to your post made. But there is no way in hell it should be flamebait. It's part of a discussion.
Jesus was all right but his disciples were thick and ordinary. -John Lennon
I didnt see your other post before I replied -- might have been before you wrote it. I have just seen so much astroturfing lately to save stupid business plans.
If I show anger, it is because I have watched too many people get burned in the market trying to tie their CPU/Software activism into profits. When it fails, I think it hurts the movement.
Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government.
Sure it is. The answer is "layoff fodder". :(
ObTopic: Katz is probably a "contributing something-or-other" as opposed to a direct employee, so their relationship should be flexible enough to deal with VA's changes.
Really, the largest three threats to VA are:
a.) getting delisted,
b.) having a profitable business model, and
c.) being able to overcome their leveraging.
a.) Getting delisted would mean that any new issues of stock wouldn't find a market on NASDAQ though it would prob be an OTC Penny Stock (e.g., found on the "Pink Sheets"). They would have a harder time finding underwriters for new issues of stock or, if they elect a best efforts underwriting, willing investors to buy the stock.
b.) A successful businessplan. All of us have seen a lot of stupid companies die from not having a solid way to make money. We have all seen raving open-source lunatics turn into begrudged closed-source adherents (not supporters) when the paychecks stopped. You need to make money and have reasonable margins. I haven't seen many open-source plans that scale beyond a small, thrifty business... and VA is neither. I'm not convinced that Red Hat is much better because (as we have seen in /. before) they are quite good at cooking the books.
c.) VA is highly leveraged, meaning they have a lot of creditors. A real challenge is going to be paying off the creditors and still maintaining enough of a profit margin to keep their heads above water. If you don't start a business with profit, it becomes an order of magnitude higher to gain one later. As an example, ask any small business owner who has had to take out a loan and try to make a profit in the short term while incurring serious debt. You can't reinvest as much into the business which is absolutely crucial when you are trying to start up.
Remember way back when VA (then called VA Research) snapped up Linux Hardware Solutions? They were acquired at the same time as "Enlightenment Solutions." Afterwards, they changed their name to "VA Linux Systems," probably because nobody knew what the hell "VA Research" meant.
A few months later, they announced their IPO. Folks there must have felt drunk when they saw their stock valuation vault to - well, it was the biggest first-day pop in history, let's just put it that way. Even Eric Raymond piped up about the windfall (salient points for the busy: "Wow. Thanks, Linux hackers. I'm buying a new gun. Charities can go fuck themselves.")
All this was only two years ago. How time flies. I'm looking at my comparatively antediluvean userID and feeling all nostaligic.
Incidentally - VA's stock has been doing not-so-badly since November. Interesting.
Does anyone know what will happen to their stock symbol on Nasdaq? In cases like this, do companies ever change their symbol, or is it common practice to never change a symbol for convenience' sake. I'm curious. Anyone have an answer to this?
And I've been wondering... will enough heads explode while boggling that very question to just make it stop entirely?
I like to play children's songs in minor keys.
"We're all sons of bitches now." --J. Robert Oppenheimer
A company can request a change of stock symbol, but it's rarely done. More common is what happens in bankruptcy. When a NASDAQ-listed company goes into bankruptcy, its symbol gets a "Q" on the end, as you can see here when At Home Corp. was changed from ATHM to ATHMQ on October 10, 2001.
Another year, another name for Larry Augustin's company. Now accepting sealed prognostications for next years new name.
A Government Is a Body of People, Usually Notably Ungoverned
I am sure in a couple of months this article will be referenced by many when VA finally does go belly up. Its sad to see Slashdot sell out so much to their corporate master in the hopes that they actually might be able to ride out their options.
Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government.
I bet if they don't change the stock ticker every time Red Hat's stock goes up so will VA (this, of course could be an insider traders dream).
Of course I'm sure it'll go down when RHAT does as well. Also, I think Red Hat has too much marketing invisted in the "Red Hat" brand to change the stock ticker.
Oh well, nice try as a linux company VA, I really thought you'd make it (or atleast stay in the game).
M0571y H@rml355.
How many people outside of programming understand wildcard characters?
When was the last time Joe Q. Windows User needed to know what a wildcard was, what it looked like, or what it meant?
Nobody will save time and effort this way, because nobody outside of programming is intelligent enough to use this "abbreviation". :-)
You cannot apply a technological solution to a sociological problem. (Edwards' Law)
Face it, everybody here is aware that the stock dropped like a rock and is worthless. I think it is interesting that it is not dropping right now (not that I would recommend anybody buy it, either), since I (and I bet you) would assumme it is still dropping. Why can't people point out facts that contradict the assummed wisdom?
Well, I've read through the first page of comments, and I'm sick. Why is everyone criticizing VA Software!? They're the ones who provide us with the OSDN. Guess what, guys... VA dies, so does slashdot. And we all love slashdot. And Sourceforge. And freshmeat. They really have no way of making money off these sites, and yet they keep them up anyways. Just be thankful, and don't be so mean because they took "Linux" out of their name. Microsoft doesn't have "Windows" in their name, and they do okay (crap product, but oh well ;). Okay, I'm done ranting now :)
My other car is first.
LNUX isn't really appropriate, but there's no need to change it. Just wait for it to drop off of the market completely.
Looking at the past trend, with ups and downs, the share price has maintained a drop of about one order of magnitude per year. If it continues the trend it will shortly reverse the small gains it has made recently and head down into sub-$1 range shortly. That will lead to its delisting, obviating the need to change from LNUX to SOFT or whatever.
Even Slashdot wants to hide some things