From: Jerry Kreps
I agree. I used to get a bit miffed at the frequency of SuSE releases as I always felt pressurised to upgrade. Then 2 realisations hit me. 1) I don't have to upgrade every time. 2) this is the price I pay for SuSE to remain a private company.
Now I have to evidence to back this up, but I strongly suspect that SuSE is better oriented to Customers & Quality than their IPO counter parts [because] they have the more of a luxury to focus their attention where they want ; rather than where shareholder profits force them. Redhats rash decision to move to gcc 2.96 being a classic example of this.
We love you the way you are SuSE :)
-----Original Message----- From: Corvin Russell [mailto:corvinr@sympatico.ca] Sent: 21 December 2000 04:39 To: Gary; suse-linux-e@suse.com Subject: [SLE] SuSE IPO (was: Red Hat Revenues Up 112% In Q3)
Hi Gary and others,
Rant over :-). I wonder how SuSE is doing financially?
I think they still have plans to go public soon ..
Oh really? In that case we at least know how SuSE insiders will be doing financially in short measure. However, I think this is terrible news for SuSE customers. I think one of the reasons SuSE has been able to focus on quality is that it hasn't had to pander to "shareholder interest" at the expense of all else. I expect some marketing bromides in response to that, but they'll find me unmoved. Look at most publicly owned software firms aimed at similar market segments. The quality is *not* impressive. Perhaps SuSE's German links will help it retain that focus. But the "Americanization" of business in Europe has largely involved flushing employee interest and quality concerns down the toilet, and focusing exclusively on the bottom line to the detriment of much else. They don't call it "crapitalism" for nothing.
I hope SuSE stays private. I don't mind helping its owners to make a profit, if they retain their focus on quality and community spirit. That's why I fork out bucks for them, even when this is extravagant in light of my needs.
Rationality involves forming opinions based on available evidence, critically examined, and the available evidence is that massive capital boosts at other linux companies have only resulted in shoddier products for many customers as marketing hype and a focus on cornering big contracts has taken over the central concern of product development. If SuSE goes down that road -- and the last split release whiffed of incipient marketing narcosis --I suppose it'll have to be Debian and FreeBSD for me... which in the last analysis is not an unhappy fate.
Best,
Corvin
-- Corvin Russell
Merry Christmas!
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