RedHat business (was: Re: [vox] OT: Contemplating the unthinkable...)

[vox@lists.lugod.org]

On Thu, 13 Nov 2003 donw@examen.com wrote:

> On Thu, Nov 13, 2003 at 01:19:21PM -0800, Peter Jay Salzman wrote:
> If they drop the ball, I think IBM could find enough spare change in the
> breakroom sofa to pay for kernel development for the next two millenia.

True, but they can only get invloved so far before people start 
scrutiunizing them too much too...so they have a ceratin place they are 
wedged into strangely enough.
 
> > i sure hope they know what they're doing!
> 
> I think they do -- Matthew J. Szulik, the CEO of Red Hat, has been
> dumping stock like mad over the past few months.  Not a good reason for
> me, as an investor, to stick around.  The guys who founded RedHat aren't
> really calling the shots anymore, and it's pretty clear to me that the
> executive board now has very little interest in either long term
> profitability or community involvement.

I am sure they are very interested in long term profitablity and they know 
they are fucked if they dont have community involvement, but its a weird 
edge they tread.  They more they do to appease the community the more the 
business community blaks and vice versa.  Its a tenuous balancing act (I 
have first hand experience with this with 4 years of VA) and is constantly 
having to be recalibrated.  Its messy and in the case of people like 
Szulick (IMHO) he only cares about the bottum line (which arguably is the 
only thing he *should* be worried about), but knows to throw in the 
community towel fully is a death knell.

z

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