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Tech Companies That Won't Survive 2009

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the in-a-blaze-of-glory dept.

buzzardsbay writes "Fresh off their annual market survey, eWEEK channel folks have compiled the list of tech vendors their readers think will fail, falter, or be sold off in 2009. It's important to note that these aren't the opinions of the magazine or its editors. The list comes from folks who work in IT, mostly technology resellers, who are out in the field selling, installing and maintaining this stuff. If there were ever canaries in the tech coal mine, they'd be these service and solution providers who live and die by the slightest shift in the markets. Some of the companies on this list, like Sun and AMD, are shocking because of their size. Others, like CA and Symantec, not so surprising." What other companies are headed for implosion, or should be if all were right with the universe?

18 of 385 comments (clear)

  1. The list by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    Here's the list for those who are too lazy to read TFA or allow Flash:

    1) Novell
    2) NetApp
    3) Checkpoint
    4) McAfee (let's hope so!)
    5) Salesforce.com
    6) Juniper, CA, and AMD are tied for sixth place.
    7) Sun, no surprise there
    8) Citrix
    9) Symantec (again, let's hope so!)
    10) VMware

    1. Re:The list by eln · · Score: 5, Funny

      If you believe the "Channel Insider" predictions, this is more a list of the companies that are highly unlikely to go out of business in 2009.

      Summary of article:
      "Our readers predicted these companies will fail. Our readers are idiots, all of these companies will be fine."

    2. Re:The list by Telvin_3d · · Score: 5, Insightful

      The list is obviously bull. Most of the companies on there could survive in some form for years just on legacy support contracts. Sure, some of them might shrink, have some layoffs or toss out a department or two, but go under? Not on your life.

    3. Re:The list by lekker+biltong · · Score: 5, Funny

      0. SCO

    4. Re:The list by edsousa · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Not funny your comment.. More like insightful and tells the story on one line.
      My first impression reading that article (can I say it is an article? I think that flash slideshows are not articles) was that my Engrish tricked me, but no...

    5. Re:The list by Ngarrang · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Here's the list for those who are too lazy to read TFA or allow Flash:

      Cool. Thank for saving the click.

      1) Novell

      Odd. SUSE Linux is a popular product with many tie-in deals. They will be fine.

      2) NetApp

      Overpriced products easily duplicated with FreeNAS or any number of products at a fraction of the cost.

      3) Checkpoint

      Too many corporate support deals to go away quickly.

      4) McAfee (let's hope so!)

      Horrible products for years. Illicit money has been propping this company up for years.

      5) Salesforce.com

      Won't go away, but may have to scale back the development staff. Their product is too close to helping SaaS succeed.

      6) Juniper, CA, and AMD are tied for sixth place.

      AMD is stable. Juniper I could see going away.

      7) Sun, no surprise there

      Sun is a good company. Why do people harp on them?

      8) Citrix

      Their product is licenses by MS and integrated into Windows Server. I just don't see them going away.

      9) Symantec (again, let's hope so!)

      This is wishful thinking. Despite many years of bad product, their tie-ins with OEMs keep them afloat.

      10) VMware

      Now this is just crazy talk. VMware is a good product with a strong user base and good support. The free solutions simply don't compare in scope and flexibility.

      --
      Bearded Dragon
  2. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 5, Funny

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  3. Well now they're doomed! by ivoras · · Score: 5, Insightful

    How would you feel if you were the owner or a shareholder of one of companies so prominently set to fail? Self-fulfilling prophecies all around. Given how sensitive to subjective perception these things are, it's by now probably enough for a company's name to be mentioned in the same sentence as the word "bankrupt" for it to really do so.

    --
    -- Sig down
    1. Re:Well now they're doomed! by Anonymous+Cowpat · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Absolutely - we should stop giving articles like this publicity. ~ This is what's been happening in the UK over the last few months:

      1. Some hack writes that company X looks like it might be in trouble
      2. All the lenders think company X is now a very bad risk
      3. Company X suddenly finds that all their credit has dried up
      4. Company X collapses
      5. Hack says 'I told you so'

      STOP IT! STOP IT! STOP IT! you're killing perfectly viable companies!

      --
      FGD 135
    2. Re:Well now they're doomed! by rthille · · Score: 5, Insightful

      AMD not of value? Are you insane? Why do you think Intel invests so much in making their chips better/faster? Hint, it's because they have competition...

      --
      Awesome furniture, accessories and cabinetry in Santa Rosa, CA: http://humanity-home.com/
  4. No problem by PPH · · Score: 5, Funny

    We'll just release 2010 ahead of schedule.

    --
    Have gnu, will travel.
  5. Can I be the first to ask by ericrost · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Why the fuck is this presented in Flash? It has NO added value and makes the material harder to digest.

    --
    My Babylon
    1. Re:Can I be the first to ask by Thelasko · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Why the fuck is this presented in Flash? It has NO added value and makes the material harder to digest.

      Now there is a company I would like to see go out of business. Unfortunately, Adobe appears to be doing just fine.

      --
      One of our competitors trademarked the term "hypothesis". From now on, we will call them "boneheaded ideas".
    2. Re:Can I be the first to ask by MBGMorden · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Youtube's sucess speaks otherwise. The simple fact is that the vast majority of systems have some working version of Flash on them. Youtube leverages this fact to the extent that rather than worrying about system architecture, browser, installed codecs, etc, it simply plays a video in flash. It doesn't look great, but it works almost everywhere and for the quick/stupid content present on Youtube the quality is mostly sufficient.

      --
      "People who think they know everything are very annoying to those of us who do."-Mark Twain
  6. So much for RTFA by Paul+Carver · · Score: 5, Informative

    I usually RTFA but in this case there doesn't appear to be an article. There's a bit of an intro but no list of companies that I can see.

  7. Re:Virtualization by Amouth · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Vmware isn't going any place.. to have them on the list just shows how much of a joke this is

    --
    '...if only "Jumping to a Conclusion" was an event in the Olympics.'
  8. And if we're really lucky.... by david_thornley · · Score: 5, Funny

    SCO!

    --
    "When you have eliminated the unacceptable, whatever is left, however improbable, must be the truthiness" - Holmes
  9. *My* Predictions by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    OK, here goes:

    10)HP
    9)eBay
    8)Nintendo
    7)Adobe
    6)Red Hat
    5)Amazom.com
    4)IBM
    3)Microsoft
    2)Apple
    1)Google :D