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.
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!
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
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)
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.
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.
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 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)