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VA hints more about going public
An anonymous bastard writes "I'll be covering LWCE next week, and so I'm on a list of e-mail addresses for "the press" who get invited to interview "Linux People" for their publications. One of the e-mails was from the PR firm for VA Linux Systems (formerly VA Research) asking if I'd want to interview Larry Augustin.
Interesting to note was this phrase: "Larry is one of the keynote speakers at the show, and
has a lot of VA-related news and annct's to brief you on before VA goes into its quiet period."
Apparently they've got a quiet period coming up, which means Linux IPO Number Two is coming.
" Well, I've had a nice conversation with the press person at VA-they wanted to assure me that they are not headed directly into the quiet period post-LWCE. It'll be sometime soon, but don't hold your breath waiting for it-at least for the next couple weeks. *grin* Bottom line: Still waiting.
Let's just hope they don't use E-Trade...
Another Linux IPO, except this time it's a hardware company so no-one can bitch. Someone'll still find a reason, though.
This is the best news of all the Linux IPOs so far. It's all very well having a cool OS, but with accompanying hardware, it'll be something people can really appreciate.
Seems that Linux is really building up steam here with Redhat and now VA. This covers the hardware and software. With luck maybe we'll get more companies building around the success of these companies that are going public.
The more linux companies going public the better. That means more people might start developing more games and other software. This is really awesome.
VA is one of my favortite Linux companies. Go team! You guys deserve this. :)
_Deirdre
Coming on the heels of the Red Hat announcement, this can only help raise awareness of Linux in circles at the opposite extreme from Geekdom.
With several consecutive IPO's managers and investors will start to appreciate the momentum of Linux before they even get a chance to understand why it has such momentum. All of the subsequent attention also serves to detract from the what was recently thought of as the "juggernaut" of NT. Truly a good thing.
Geeky modern art T-shirts
Do other industries have these periods of IPO frenzy too?
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and their PIA ($199 linux box) is cooler and will do more for WORLD DOMINATION than any 8-way server...
Anyone remember then? I have one of their machines from about 1995ish sitting right next to me. Working fairly well for a 486/100.
Watchguard is a company which makes firewalls based on the Linux kernel. They just recently went public.
One thing that concerns me about all of this is that Linux grows too fast and becomes somewhat of a fad. NT rode the "fad train" for some time. Managers and VPs were recommending it before the people in the trenches knew what was going on.
Ironically, Linux is being driven from the opposite end - the admins and UNIX gurus are pushing forward. These IPOs have the potential to push Linux into the spotlight too soon, bringing it to the attention of the IT managers who will attempt to deploy Linux in situations where certain key features are immature or not optimized, giving NT fans ammo to fire back.
We need to avoid IPO frenzies and keep Linux on track, as it has been.
Tired of being "punished" by the Slashdot $rtbl since 2002. I'm now over at http://soylentnews.org/ .
Now, I have no questions about thier quality, knowledge, and service. It's my understanding that VA Res^H^H^HLinux Systems is one of the best in these areas.
What strikes me as odd, is the staff, and the push for "talent." Maybe I am wrong here, but for about 4 months now (at least) it was looking like VARe^H^HLinux Systems was after every and any "Big Name" in the Linux community. It seemed that there wasn't a "plan" because they were all over the map, GUI people, drivers people, etc...
Then, the plan comes to light. Get big names, get attention, get more money, get more backing, get more big name people, get more backing, get more money.... Uh. Well, that's what I see right now anyway. I hope I am wrong.
Now don't get me wrong, VA Linux Systems and it's "partner" companies that it now owns would be a great place to work. And, I can't think of more knowledgeable people to work with than the people VA employees. And, _IF_ they are just hiring talent, and allowing these great coders to just "do thier thing" and write for Linux, that's really cool. But, it just seems a little "lurky" to me. I'd just like to see some clear information out there... For Example:
VA Linux OS Version 6.0 Kit Now, what the heck is this? No more does VA give you a choice of OS's, they made thier own. Well, good, maybe, bad maybe... Considering the talent that is there, this could mean that they have a custom kernel for each system (duals, quads, etc), a nice professional GUI and administration package from thier GUI team, and drivers that are rock solid from the drivers guys on staff. And with all this, you know the staff will be there to "help you out" by getting you the right binary packages, optimized for you system, avaliable on thier FTP sites, orginized just for your system, ready at each software update... Waahoo... Corporate No Brainer Linux Solution. But... I don't think I see that happening, VA's FTP site is REALLY LACKING considering the staff they have there, and they don't say anything about this new "VA Linux OS" package, and I have even emailed them to ask what it's based on (Red Hat I suspect), if anything at all, and they never even wrote me back..
So, Although I see some good there, I still see a lot of spending, and not a lot of "value" that will draw more consumers. So, I don't think I would be standing in line to get at the IPO. At least not with what I know now.
Oh, and the Intel thing... Hard to have a low end system when Intel is your major financial backer. Ever wonder why they don't have any systems for under $2,000 and no systems with AMD processors?
Pardon me, but this doesn't sound too official. There was no link to an article and no real names or evidence was given.
-Clump
It will be interesting to see if they will follow Red Hat's lead in trying to give a share of their financial success back to the community, or if they will be scared off by the bad PR Red Hat ended up getting from what was, in all likelihood, a well-intentioned offer.
I don't think you can compare the two, Linux and NT.
NT rode not the "fad train", but the "marketing train" of empty promises. NT can (and will) work if placed in the correct role, however MicroSoft tried to pawn it off prematurely as the "BE ALL, DO ALL" Operating System. I have no doubt that Linux will be able to fulfill any roles it is forced into.
What will hold Linux back are the amount of distributions, coupled with IT Manager mentality. I personally work for a large telecommications company, and ran into some "heat" awhile back for trying to implement an "unsupported" application.
The unsupported application was 'gzip'. I was told 'compress' was the authorized choice.
Companies looking to purchase Linux as an OS Solution are going to look for a dominant company, that can provide all support great and small. You have a few dominant commercial choices, RH, Caldera, and SuSE, however I don't believe they are yet equipped to handle Corporate Support. I think RH may be the closest right now, but my experience with their support has been mediocre.
I believe VALinux will truly be the one to watch, they have a tested formula, selling hardware and OS (own version of linux now). If they can provide the same level, or better support as the Big Vendors (Sun, SGI, HP..etc), they will certainely do well.
Just my take on it:)
Awesome!
VA used to support more distros and we will be supporting more in the future (look at our hiring of Joey and Sean for debian) it's just that while we were growing exponentially, we had to grow fast, so we cut the product line down and settled on our most popular distribution until we had the bandwidth to handle more.
Again, VA has it's own machine configuration and not it's own distribution As far as standing in line for the IPO that's your call, but the reason we hire the people we do is to make it possible to create the best linux machines we can. That's our value.
We do have machines under 2000$. And as far as AMD goes, we'd love to have a broader product line and include them, and we may later, but it's more like why we chose red hat above, we had to choose what we wanted to ship a -lot- of and concentrate on it.
So there you go.
Chris DiBona
VA Linux Systems
--
Grant Chair, Linux Int.
VP, SVLUG
Co-Editor, Open Sources
Open Source Program Manager, Google, Inc.
Now, if I could only NOT receive any special offers about buying stock, that'd be just great :-)
Good luck.
I hate to disappoint everyone, but we're not exactly announcing an IPO today.
I do find it really amusing to come to work and see everyone buzzing about us going IPO because they read it on slashdot, though. We were all running around like chickens with our heads cut off trying to figure out who it was that sent this email out, and then after I read the email that this guy ACTUALLY got, I thought to myself "oh, he figures we're going public just because we say we're IPO track? oh nevermind, this guy's just a donut" *grin*
enough for now.
--
Geoff Harrison (http://mandrake.net)
Senior Software Engineer - VA Linux Labs (http://www.valinux.com)
Geoff "Mandrake" Harrison
Some Random UI Hacker
I invite anyone who cares to to email me thier suggestions on the best way to do it. Or just post here on slashdot.
Again, I'm not confirming anything but our intentions to do this right, in case some VA IPO style event should happen. I have some great ideas, but I'm wary of sharing them until I get more legal feedback.
Chris DiBona
mail me here.
VA Linux Systems.
--
Grant Chair, Linux Int.
VP, SVLUG
Co-Editor, Open Sources
Open Source Program Manager, Google, Inc.
But since your here, and answering questions, how about these.. Why did VA buy out Mandrakes company then, thier mostly GUI related. And have you hired Raster yet? Something is in the GUI pipeline there, it's not that easy to hide who you hire and who you talk to ;-)
And, any ETA on the AMD systems or return to other distributions? Even a wild guess? 1 year too long before the groth settles? 6 months? 2 years?
And... I really would LOVE to see someone with VA's quality enter the FreeBSD market, anyone at VA Linux Systems considered a "VA FreeBSD Systems" branch?
Ok, I'm done for now. Don't wanna press ya, never meant to make VA look bad. I just have questions about the company from a "potential IPO" standpoint. As far as what company I would recommend for someone looking for a quality Linux box, VA is _THE_ top of my list. But when I see "IPO" pop up, and then the topic of the story changes within the first few minutes, the type of questions I have completely change... But... That's buisness.
Paranoid delusions? I saw one just hours ago! ;)
Chris DiBona
VA Linux Systems
--
Grant Chair, Linux Int.
VP, SVLUG
Co-Editor, Open Sources
Open Source Program Manager, Google, Inc.
Gee, at this rate, we can buy a Linux portfolio of funds... I'll just wait until I can "buy Linux" as a mutual fund or something. Maybe a Penguin family of funds?
At this rate, we should have it in a year or two, about when we achieve world domination for the next eon or so.
pb Reply or e-mail; don't vaguely moderate.
This was supposed to go under the LinModem item.
Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way
Sam ?? Is this you Sammy ?
VA Feels that the desktop will be a huge part of the business. We love E. So there you go. And we write tools all the time that could use a good interface and I don't have as much time as I'd like to write interfaces anymore. Hence, Mandrake , ras and Michael Jennings.
I have no eta's for you. Sorry.
As far as BSD goes, VA concentrates on Linux only and that won't change any time in the forseeable future. What's funny is a bunch of companies buy our boxes and run bsd on them anyway, which is pretty funny, but they run well so we're happy about it.
And don't worry about the questions, watching slashdot is part of my job and I'll answer whatever I can.
And as far as my job description goes, It's been changed to , get this, "Linux Community Evangelist". Which means, um, well, whatever I like :-)
Chris DiBona
VA Linux Systems
--
Grant Chair, Linux Int.
VP, SVLUG
Co-Editor, Open Sources
Open Source Program Manager, Google, Inc.
VA is where my cash is going...
Why?
1) Proven business model. Lookie at Dell, Gateway, etc. Direct web sales WORK. Now look at Red Hat. Wonderfully idealistic, but THEY GIVE AWAY THEIR PRODUCT. Good stuff, but not a proven business model.
2) Redhat is FUDable, they deal with software. VA is a reseller - they can put together a box using whatever the BEST distro is; if you FUD redhat to death, they move to Debian, etc, etc.
3) VA is bigger, grown faster, been stronger. Proven track record, proven model, proven products.
4) VA has exhibited better management; and will be more able to deal with a mass infusion of cash.
Does VA Research have a public SEC registration yet? Can't really have an IPO without one...
A W S ----------- QABO : BALA
Mmmmmm creamy gooey sweet mmmmmmm je meal deal for upper class homers mmmmmmm Napoleans
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Infuriate left and right
In ten years you'll be able to auction it off for big bucks lotsa yucks
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Infuriate left and right
It's worth noting (the original) President John F. Kennedy's famous proclamation "Ich bin ein Berliner." Of course anyone who's ever been to a bakery in Germany can tell you that a Berliner is the German name for a jelly donut. So whoever it was who got called a donut here is in good (if rather dead) company.
Freedom's just another word for nothing left Zulus
However, if VA would draw up a "letter" which would be useable through this channel, that would take care of that probability problem as well.
One way to do this would be to send out paper letters (maybe only on request, in order not to waste postage to people who are not interested anyways), or to communicate names to their "lead underwriter" (i.e. the equivalent of Goldman Sachs).
Advantage for the investor: he would deal with a bank of his own countries, with a bank that already knows him well enough, so there would be no silly questionnaire, nor any place of residence restrictions.
I hope VA explores this possibility, as indeed the E*Trade solution has been less than satisfactory for most of us.
I would just like to say that the International Crackmonkey Syndicate is not going to go IPO any time soon, either.
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I noticed
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I noticed
It's getting about time to leave everywhere
Is Hemos going insane? You decide.
wow. Looks like somebody discovered the "yes" command.
VA is such a stock fraud. Larry is doing the IPO because he feels bad for not being at the Yahoo! IPO, so he feels he has to do it before time
runs out. Frankly, the fact that they have taken so long to go IPO says volumes about them:
When a company takes too long to go IPO with the exposure that VA has received, it says that they have a hard time getting their shit together. IPOs are a means to raise cash, not get rich.
Why did it take them so long to do this? Because they lack the credibility as a professional organization! These people go around yelling at one another, they yell about their customers, and give their employees only cheap soda to drink. I bet when Sequoia Capital went to see them, Larry's wife was throwing the baby at him and calling him names. VA, for those who don't know better, has a high turnover rate. People just hear figures like 400% monthly revenue growth rate, Linux this and that, VA as "the next Dell", and then you have these English-major magazines calling them "the coolest place to work".
So, if an IPO is meant to raise cash, why didn't they do it last year, when Linux was already a big thing? Why ride a wave of hype and allow competitors to take root? Why did Penguin Computing take root and is now a big name? Why are the likes of IBM, Dell, HP, and SGI of all people announcing Linux servers while VA has its balls tied? Because VA does not have its shit together, that's why. They lost a CFO in one year, needed a second round of funding, and still are raising hype about an IPO?! Common people, it does not take a genius to take a company public! It takes determination, and Larry lacks that because he sorrounds himself with the likes of Chris DiBona, Doug Bone, Alice Kitsuta, and who knows who else.
VA may make it to the pros, but not for long. It is a great idea, business model, and great ambitions. However, with the kind of people working there, it will end up getting bought out or pushed aside by someone else because it can't execute for market domination. After all, it was founded and is run by Amazon Jr. geeks, not business-minded people.
Penguin Computing has a better chance of getting somewhere because it is run by an entrepreneur, and they eat better food in SF, not Taco Bell and coke in Silicon Valley.
Hiya. Does Sam still say he has 40 employees in that little 4 room office suite of his? Folks with glass houses should not throw stones (grin).
Anyhow: I have my own reservations about VA's management, but it's nothing to do with their professionalism and everything to do with where they're coming from (the Apple and Sun "proprietary" worlds rather than from the commodity PC industry). I'm not sure they understand what made Dell so successful (which is not their technology, but, rather, their advanced manufacturing systems, that can get you the machine you want custom-built, tested, and shipped within three days in most cases). But those are my own personal opinions, and are a far cry from the warrantless slander that you just engaged in.
I think if you read a prior posting of mine about the minefields of the personal computing industry and what VA has to do in order to be successful, you'll see that this isn't a matter of "get lots of money from an IPO and you'll be successful." VA is going to need salesmen golfing with CEO's and service teams showing up at customers' sites in order to be successful in the Big Leagues, and you don't put together that sort of organization in an afternoon. Putting together an IPO prior to getting all your ducks in a row is NOT a Good Thing!
Like it or not, folks like Penguin are always going to be small fry. I've been there, remember, albeit on a different coast -- no matter how good your reputation, when the time comes for the big 1,000 computer orders, someone like Penguin is NOT going to get those orders. They're going to get someone who can have field engineers actually come and fix any problems with the machines, they're not going to get machines from some guy with a web site and a 1-800 number.
I wish Sam well, and think he is going to make a very good living from what he is doing -- his proximity to the Silicon Valley alone is enough to insure that, even if his machines weren't so solid (and they are, for the most part -- I have my reservations about some of his parts choices, but those are my own personal opinions about the best way rather than any flaw in his hardware). But let's not confuse the small frey with the big leagues that VA is trying for. VA is trying to build themselves into a company that the Fortune 500 is comfortable ordering a thousand computers at a time from. Will they succeed? I don't know. I think there's enough doubt that I wouldn't put any of my own money into a VA Linux IPO. But there's no denying that this is an order of magnitude different from doing onesies and twosies on a custom basis from a walk-up office suite in San Francisco.
-E
Send mail here if you want to reach me.
The major difference between Red Hat 6.0 vs VA Linux 6.0.x . Is that it installs on our own hardware. If Redhat 6.0 installed correctly on 4-ways, DAC960's, or with 2 gigs of RAM we might not have created the cdrom. We could of created an addition cdrom with just a bunch of rpms, and a post installation script.
The main advantage is it allows our customers to reinstall and have some thing that is very close to what came out of our factory. In addition we get to fix all of our favorite bugs, and add our favorite programs like xemacs. (I don't look at me I use vi.)
VA is a hardware company. It's simply not in our best interest to be a distribution vendor. It's a reinstall cdrom with a few added extras. Nothing different than what Dell or as one else does with win9x. Of course we have the source so we can do a lot more;-)
IANALBIPOOGL (I am not a Lawyer, but I play one on GrokLaw.)
I don't think Chris (or anyone else at VA) has any paranoid delusions about Penguin. Truth be told, VA seems to spend most of its time working on Linux, and not with any paranoid preoccupations.
Chris DiBona
VA Linux Systems
--
Grant Chair, Linux Int.
VP, SVLUG
Co-Editor, Open Sources
Open Source Program Manager, Google, Inc.
I get it: this is one of Allison's friend's e-mail account. Have to start getting sneaky, don't you guys?
Geez, when is she going to figure him out--he's just stringing that poor girl along. . . .
Penguin spends far too much time writing dated garbage about VA to be doing any serious work on Linux hardware. Sam Ockman or Allison do not strike me as being the kind of people who know how to turn a screwdriver or to put together a driver.
Penguin does not need a "VA nemisis" to do them in--they can do that on their own without any competition at all. They shoot themselves in the foot so many documented times that they are downright comical.
I think it's amazing that anyone would be foolish enough to invest in these two liars.
According to sites such as The Steet.com. Redhat has one of the most intelligent and effective managment teams of any fast growing company.
IBM ORACLE INTEL NOVELL SAP COMPAQ DELL AOL thought enough of REDHAT to invest. Other than intel name a major company that has invested in VA. Once the majors start playing the Linux game VA will got the way of many extinct companies.
According to sites such as The Steet.com. Redhat has one of the most intelligent and effective managment teams of any fast growing company.
IBM ORACLE INTEL NOVELL SAP COMPAQ DELL AOL thought enough of REDHAT to invest. Other than intel name a major company that has invested in VA. Once the majors start playing the Linux game VA will go the way of many extinct companies.
Um, get a clue: $25 million can buy a lot better executives than a 23 year-old college grad.
Or executive vice presidents who obviously have nothing to do over there. Maybe "girlfriend" is the best title for her.