> sounds like they've been spending cash in linuxcarelike volumes, and their > IPO obviously didn't work out as expected (why the hell did they float in > France instead of siting it somewhere more useful like the US or UK ...) > > If I were them, I'd be hunting for a buyer or some VC instead of > asking for > handouts - I'd say issuing more shares and in a method more conducive to > larger userbases (e.g. in UK or US) would be a "better" method too.
Yeah, couldn't agree more. I love LM 8.1. I even paid smth like 60 quid for the powerpack boxed set from PC world a couple of months back. I like to do this as it encourages PC world to keep stocking the stuff, and of course it gets some profit back to LM themselves. And, of course, I get 6 shiny CDs and a couple of manuals. But they are (now) a commercial organisation, out to make a profit and the LM Club appears to offer very little to me so I am not going to be signing up. If, OTOH, they had a decent subscription service (like Ximian are trying to do, but I prefer KDE), for maybe 7-10 quid pcm I could be tempted. Commercial Linuxes are still struggling to find a viable model for profit. RH appear to be succeeding, but Suse were struggling last year and now LM are in a similar postion. The big 2 are concentrating on enterprise and server support (RH, Suse) but LM, which does a good desktop version, has not quite got revenue sussed. I am a user of Linux (not a tech, and sometimes a luser) , the kind who would likes to do stuff on it rather than spend 3 days getting it working. LM desktop is excellent, but their upgrade service is very poor. I want a 'click here to update your LM system' icon, like (dare I say it) M$ Windows Update. Hope they make it, but there are going to be big casualties in commercial Linux so I am not holding my breath. Charity is not the way to save them, though. BTW, keep SLUG informal please. Paul Paul Mill_E_r :) Glasgow (rutherglen) -------------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.lug.org.uk http://www.linuxportal.co.uk http://www.linuxjob.co.uk http://www.linuxshop.co.uk --------------------------------------------------------------------
