The IPO is slated for Aug. 9, but that's subject to change *wildly*... which is probably why they don't pubilsh an expected launch date.
Typically they set a target week -- Aug. 9, in this case -- and tweak it depending on how things are going. In the interim, they're meeting with BIG investors to take orders for shares. If those meetings go badly, the IPO can be postponed or canceled.
To get the exact day of the IPO, you have to bug the underwriting bank pretty much daily. Or... there are IPO news sites around the Web that report on expected launch dates.
Analysts have almost the same job as reporters, except they sell their findings to companies rather than print them for the world. So if you're Intel, say, and you want to find out how big cable-modem sales will be in the future, you buy a cable-modem report from some analyst.
Or, if you're a Wall Street investment firm, you hire someone to watch an industry segment for you -- these people also count as analysts.
Analysts come in good and bad flavors, like anyone else, so you have to put their words in context, like anyone else. Usually they know their stuff, because a lot of them come from the industry. But they're less successful talking about things they're unfamiliar with. In the case of guys like Card, they just might not know much about Linux yet, so they make guesses based on what they've heard, usually kicking around lots of buzzwords in the process.
The best ones, when confronted with unfamiliar areas, will tell the reporter "I don't know - call someone else."
So yeah, the analysts don't sound too sharp in this article, but don't discount them as a group. They're often quite knowledgeable, and they sometimes have advance/inside info from the companies they cover.
Usually, companies like Microsoft give out transcriptions of the keynotes. The whole thing's written ahead of time anyway (Bill just reads it off the teleprompter), so this is quite easily done. Plus, it helps MS get press coverage even from reporters who didn't attend.
So, my guess is that ZD just copied the transcription provided by MS and didn't have a similar document from Linus.
I wasn't at the speech, but i agree that the press quotes of Linus seem exaggerated and out of context. I think a lot of reporters don't get his sense of humor; they're also anxious to include the anti-Microsoft angle for added tension.
Slashdot Mirror
Typically they set a target week -- Aug. 9, in this case -- and tweak it depending on how things are going. In the interim, they're meeting with BIG investors to take orders for shares. If those meetings go badly, the IPO can be postponed or canceled.
To get the exact day of the IPO, you have to bug the underwriting bank pretty much daily. Or... there are IPO news sites around the Web that report on expected launch dates.
Analysts have almost the same job as reporters, except they sell their findings to companies rather than print them for the world. So if you're Intel, say, and you want to find out how big cable-modem sales will be in the future, you buy a cable-modem report from some analyst.
Or, if you're a Wall Street investment firm, you hire someone to watch an industry segment for you -- these people also count as analysts.
Analysts come in good and bad flavors, like anyone else, so you have to put their words in context, like anyone else. Usually they know their stuff, because a lot of them come from the industry. But they're less successful talking about things they're unfamiliar with. In the case of guys like Card, they just might not know much about Linux yet, so they make guesses based on what they've heard, usually kicking around lots of buzzwords in the process.
The best ones, when confronted with unfamiliar areas, will tell the reporter "I don't know - call someone else."
So yeah, the analysts don't sound too sharp in this article, but don't discount them as a group. They're often quite knowledgeable, and they sometimes have advance/inside info from the companies they cover.
- cm
Usually, companies like Microsoft give out transcriptions of the keynotes. The whole thing's written ahead of time anyway (Bill just reads it off the teleprompter), so this is quite easily done. Plus, it helps MS get press coverage even from reporters who didn't attend.
So, my guess is that ZD just copied the transcription provided by MS and didn't have a similar document from Linus.
I wasn't at the speech, but i agree that the press quotes of Linus seem exaggerated and out of context. I think a lot of reporters don't get his sense of humor; they're also anxious to include the anti-Microsoft angle for added tension.