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Lineo near Death
An anonymous reader notd a bit running on LinuxGram about Lineo about
ready to croak. It paints a pretty bleak view of the Linux embedded system
company. Oddly enough, I'm still not exactly sure what they were trying to
do.
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It was also reportedly spending $40,000 a month on an office in San Mateo, California to house 10 people
It's simple why this company is going bankrupt. It's poor management like in the example above. There are likely to be many others like it.
It's time business retreats from the glitz and gets back to basics: making money.
If I weren't nailed to the penis, I'd be pushing up the daisies!
Oddly enough, I'm still not exactly sure what they were trying to do.
Which pretty much explains why they are going under, doesn't it? If you can't get your point across to those that are interested in what you are doing, you have no hope when it comes to the rest of the world.
It hurts when I pee.
Well, if you read the article right at the end, they made / participated in the Embedded Linux for Sharp PDAs.
Of course, bad management is what causes bankruptcies like this. 70 staff and only Sharp on the books, with royalties coming in a year later?
I bet they were all screwing around with cool Linux kernel stuff and forgetting to sell it to anyone as a practical application. Hehe.
Conversion Rate Optimisation French / English consultant
Ten to twenty years from now, people are going to be shaking their heads in bewilderment about the attempts to make money selling "free software." They will react in much the same way that we do when people mention "New Coke".
It's said a lot of embedded engineers regard Linux as "that operating system for pimple-faced computer science nerds dressed in T-shirts they brought at the last 'Star Trek' convention."
This, coupled with "Embedded experts claim the embedded space is practically impossible to play in these days if all you have is an operating system, especially when the OS is basically immaterial to the embedded designer. The fact that Linux is ostensibly free is also reportedly a hurdle to design-wins in view of Lineo's royalty proposition." would seem to indicate what I had thought all along..."Linux is not the be-all and end-all"
"Anybody who tells me I can't use a program because it's not open source, go suck on rms. I'm not interested." (LT 2004)
Didnt know there were still companies around that dont have a clear plan a lots of money to throw around. I thought 2001 was the year that all bad and some good companies went down for the count.
Nothing too surprising or new to read here, just another technology company that was riding the tech boom and investor ignorance.
It paints a pretty bleak view of the Linux embedded system company.
If only they'd changed their focus in time. They could have been a survivor, like VA Ice Cream And Adult Novelties.
--saint
n fact, a fair number of the last paychecks of the 50 people laid off reportedly didn't clear the bank. Paychecks paid to current employees at the end of March didn't have any funds to cover them either and automatic deposits weren't made.
The people in charge know long before all the money runs out that things are in bad shape. It doesn't sound like they notified any of their employees or gave them any warning so that they could look for other jobs.
Cripes. People have bills to pay and families to feed. Doesn't anyone have a shred of decency anymore?
Is there anyone out there in the OpenSource Business World that is doing it right, making a profit and kicking corporate butt? The Mandrake Club sounds like a glimmer of hope. It would be interesting to read of stories where code freedom equals profits.
Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government.
Lineo was far too specialized for their own good.
I used to work for one of the biggest technology companies, and one of the projects I was working with was a device that was used an imbedded OS. WindRiver was used at first, then after their licencing became far too expensive, they went to Linux. Not having the expertise themselves to develop everything, they went to Red Had. I am not trying to say that RH is everything, but they offered everything this project needed, and at a decent price. If RH didn't get our account, that's OK, as they have other businesses to keep them going.
Lineo does not have that kind of diversification. They are/were far to specialized for their own good.
As a former employee of Merinta (an embedded Linux company that went under in May 2001), I am very sympathetic to the Lineo employees. I guess I was fortunate--at least Merinta never bounced a paycheck, and our CEO (Camillo Martino) gave us a heads-up before we actually ran out of money.
Linux shows so much promise in the embedded market, but it will never get there until companies wise up and start using sound business practices. I am so sick and tired of seeing companies with great ideas and talented people fail because they have incompetent management with poor spending practices.
Having millions of dollars in venture capital funding does not mean your company is "successful" or "wealthy". It means you have been trusted with money to make your idea work. Don't go out and blow the money on Aeron chairs, fancy offices and glitzy parties. Spend it wisely, and use it to get your product out the door. When your company is generating REAL revenue and profit, THEN you can consider celebrating.
Blowing venture capital on stupid things is about the same as maxing out a personal credit card on luxury items in my book. It's just plain stupid.
I feel so passionately about this issue because I've seen so many companies go under, where the workers suffer because of poor management. Enron is a really big example, but there are hundreds if not thousands of "dot-coms" that did the same thing to their workers.
I hope TUXIA is still doing well, and I hope they learn from the mistakes of others in the marketplace.
Having to keep finding new customers is a royal pain in the ass. You're much better off with Windows, where they keep coming back...
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
They sell, among other things, a full linux compatible embedded system that fits completely on a single simm chip (30 and 72 pin varieties). Along with 10mbps ethernet, there are several I/O lines available for interfacing with the outside world. The systems I have run at 33mhz and use extremely low power as well as a sleep mode that uses even less. Basically, it can easily function off of nothing more than a small solar cell. It only needs something like 70 mA at 3.3 volts, even less if ethernet isn't being used.
The big problem with its design is, I don't think it scratches a big itch. Its primary useful application is for prototyping. Any company that makes embedded products might want to develop their software using such a device for testing, but if they plan to produce anything remotely resembling significant quantities, they'll lay out their own embedded design to better fit the application at hand.
Also, except in the tiny portable computer market, extremely low power doesn't make much sense. If the product being developed has no power restrictions tied to it (it gets power from the outlet for instance), then the entire advantage of this device is thrown out the window. I've done an analysis of the chips on their board, and it could be built for 1/4 the price if more power hungry versions were used instead. Also, if this
device will be primarily used for prototyping, and there IS a market for such devices, there's no reason to make them work off solar cells. As long as they remain compatible with low power models, they'll be just as effective, and a whole lot cheaper in the long run. And if they're less expensive people will purchase a LOT more of them.
Even the hobby market could support them if only they were priced more reasonably.
But regardless of all of that, face the fact, Lineo is a legacy dot com company. They spend more money than they have, and it shows.
-Restil
Play with my webcams and lights here
>SLC is pretty damned "major" if you ask me.
I would agree with you, but I've actually seen SLC.
- Have a picture
It is shipped from the factory. You can order it on the internet at www.dublindrpepper.com. I bothered to link to it in the parent post. Also, you can get it in glass bottles, which is even better than the can. Finally, I purchase it at the local fancy-pants market, where it goes for $1.50 for a 12 oz bottle. That is, I used to purchase it.
Lasers Controlled Games!
It's not just employees that get screwed, of course.
- Companies that are short of cash often resort to "Accounts Payable financing": ordering supplies they know they can't afford. If things turn around, they can pay off then. And if they don't, it doesn't really matter how much you owe, does it. Well, it doesn't matter to you. The suppliers might feel differently.
- Your customers are presumably going around assuming you'll still be in business tomorrow. If you don't tell them you're in trouble, they're screwed. But if you do tell them, you're screwed. Consider the typical airline bankruptcy. Never announced until the planes stop flying -- much to the dismay of people who haven't quite made it home yet.
Need I go on?