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Linux and business


LinuxOne's IPO has been in the news this week, as a result of its amended S-1 filing. The filing has a number of interesting tidbits in it, including the fact that the project price has been increased (slightly) to $8.25/share. Unlike the previous filing, this one also lists an underwriter: Capital West Securities.

Other tidbits from the filing:

  • The financials are updated through October 31, and still show a revenue of all of $0 since the company began (last March).

  • The risk factors include "Our reliance on the support of Linux [sic] Torvalds and other prominent Linux developers." In fact, Linus is referred to as "Linux" in a number of places.

  • "LinuxOne OS, in compressed form, consists of approximately 570 megabytes (MB) of code and in uncompressed form, consists of approximately 1400 MB of code. A small portion of the core source and applications are written and developed by independent third parties; however, the majority are written and will be maintained by our in-house engineers." In other words, LinuxOne says it wrote most of its distribution, which it copied from Red Hat. This is an outright falsehood, to say the least.

    In the same paragraph: "We believe our engineers can compile the code, test it with a high degree of accuracy and detect the majority of compilation errors; however, we have no guarantee that we will find all errors." Some of those compilation errors are pretty elusive, it's true...

Much of the press surrounding the LinuxOne IPO has been speculating that the stock could go public by the end of the year. We called up Capital West Securities to ask, and were told that the due diligence process is continuing and that the IPO is currently targeted for February. Reports that it is happening this year are incorrect.

Capital West also seems to be somewhat surprised by the response the LinuxOne IPO is getting from the Linux community. They had as many questions for LWN as we had for them. While they wouldn't say that they were reconsidering this offering, there was enough talk of "continued due diligence" to give that impression. After all, to get caught up in a bad IPO would not do them any good either.

(See also: Paul Rusty Russell's take on LinuxOne, and articles in News.com, the Wall Street Journal, the Red Herring, Reuters, and NewsTrackers).

The sourceXchange needs peer reviewers and spec writers. The sourceXchange has issued a call for peer reviewers and spec writers to help with their process. These are paid positions, and could well be a good way to pick up a little cash while helping the free software process.

Folks interested in the Itanium processor may want to check out this paper on porting kernels to the IA-64 architecture in the Intel Technology Journal. It gives some good coverage of the difficulties that an Intel porting encountered. (Thanks to Steven Rosenblum).

The beta version of the long-awaited Opera browser is available for download; it can be found on Metalab. A quick test shows it to be quick, but buggy - not quite ready for prime time yet. (Thanks to Manfred Scheible).

Section Editor: Jon Corbet.

Press Releases:

    Commercial Products for Linux:

  • Access Co. Ltd. announced the release of a demo version of "NetFront 2.5 for Linux/GTK", a browser aimed at the embedded market.

  • Best Data announced Linux-branded products, including the Smart One Linux modem.

  • Core Networks Inc. announced that Version 3.0 of it's CoreOS Broadband Provisioning and Management System supports the Linux operating system.

  • Although we've seen no official announcment to this effect, Dell has added its Inspiron laptops to its list of hardware officially supported running Linux, in this case, the version of Linux being Red Hat Linux 6.0. (Thanks to Charlie Zender.)

  • DigitalThink announced the availability of a four-part, web-based course in Linux/Unix system administration. The courses are on the web, but not free.

  • Gentia Software announced that it has completed development of the Linux-compatible version of its Enterprise Performance Management applications.

  • Maximum Linux (a new print magazine) has put out this press release saying that its big launch will be in April, 2000. It will be a bimonthy publication for the first year.

  • MSC announced the availability of its Nastran simulation software for Linux; they have also thrown in a different sort of bundling deal: "Customers who purchase a license of MSC.Nastran for Linux 2 Go directly from MSC.Software will receive a Dell Precision Workstation 410 Pentium III Class computer."

  • NEON Systems, Inc. announced that their Enterprise Access and Integration product, Shadow Direct now supports the Linux platform.

  • PCTEL announced a software modem for BeOS.

  • Pervasive Software announced its "Tango 2000" application server for Linux. They will be supporting Red Hat, Caldera, and SuSE.

  • Progress announced that its embedded database product is shipping for Linux.

    Products Using Linux:

  • PacketPort.com, Inc. announced that it will be unveiling two new Linux-based Voice-over-DSL devices: an Integrated Access Device internet appliance for the home and office and, a Applications Server located remotely.

  • PalmWorks, Inc. announced that it has selected Red Hat Linux and Penguin Computing to provide the Internet server platforms that will power PalmWorks online services and applications.

  • Vovida Networks announced its Linux-based Voice over IP (VoIP) softswitch software was awarded the "Best of Show" award at the recent CTI Expo.

    Products with Linux Versions:

  • ActiveWorlds.com announced that its 3D server product will be available for (Red Hat) Linux.

  • IFS announced it will port IFS Applications to Linux, beginning with Red Hat Linux.

  • Beijing based Forlink Software Corporation Inc. announced that it has absorbed Beijing Creative Century Milestone Software Co. Ltd., labeling BCCM's search engine For-Search.

  • FreeDiskSpace.com announced that computer users worldwide can safely and securely back-up their important files on the company's first free, secure 300 megabyte virtual hard drive.

  • Poker.com, Inc. announced the release of the Linux version of its gaming software, a complete suite of JAVA-based Internet games.

  • soberbia.com announced their web-site selling T-shirts for Geeks.

    Partnerships, Investments and Acquisitions:

  • Caldera Systems Inc. announced the selection of Computer Superstore retailer, CompUSA Inc., as an Authorized Linux Education Center (ALEC).

  • GraphOn Corporation announced it has expanded its distribution into Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand through an agreement with Adroit Systems.

  • M&A West, Inc. announced plans to put together a fund to invest in Linux companies.

  • Urbana.ca, Eagle Wireless, and USA Video Interactive announced their intentions to produce a set-top box that incorporates both the Linux operating system and USA Video Interactive's Wavelet Video-on-Demand system.

  • Wave Technologies announced a deal with Linuxcare. Wave will start offering courses from Linuxcare at a number of its facilities. These courses include basic administration, as well as three-day "Extreme Samba" and "Extreme Apache" classes.

    Other:

  • For those of you who aren't satisfied with regular day trading, the Chicago Board of Exchange has announced that trading in options on Red Hat stock will begin on January 18.

  • Cortelco Systems, Inc. announced it has changed its name to eOn Communications Corporation (eOn). eOn designs, develops, and markets Linux-based communications servers and software.

  • EBIZ Enterprises Inc., owner of TheLinuxStore.com, announced that the company has been relisted on the OTC Bulletin Board effective as of the opening of trading Dec. 27.

  • Enhanced Software Technologies, Inc. announced that its BRU Backup & Restore Utility was awarded the Linux Journal Reader's Choice Award for Favorite Backup Utility for the fourth consecutive year.

  • The Electric Mail Company Inc. and Steel Wave Enterprises Inc. announced plans to support the Linux operating system.

  • TheLinuxStore.com and The Linux Show have announced that they will be doing a live broadcast from the LinuxWorld Expo in February.

Section Editor: Rebecca Sobol.


December 30, 1999

 

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