From: David A Boller (dab@organicmachines.com)
Date: Fri Feb 04 2000 - 20:20:41 PST
Fringes of the open source culture march into the exploitation complex
machine.....
DAB
Blinded by Dollar Signs in the VA Linux-Andover.Net Deal
The media was heavy on conflicting numbers but short on analysis when VA
Linux announced a deal to purchase Andover.Net, operator of a suite of
Web sites for the open source community. VA Linux will now own the news
site Slashdot and the software site Freshmeat, as well as Andover.Net's
other properties.
Most articles focused on the terms of the deal. CBS MarketWatch reported
that VA Linux Systems said it would exchange 0.425 shares for all 15
million outstanding shares of Andover.Net. MarketWatch's Steve Gelsi
reported that the deal was valued at about $813 million, "with a
reduction of $60 million in cash payments to Andover.Net stockholders."
But an article from NYTimes.com/TheStreet.com put the deal's value at
$872.5 million, and Reuters reported that the deal had an "initial net
value" of $975 million.
Whatever the exact price, few bothered with the deal's substance. The
Reuters story didn't even mention Slashdot until the last paragraph, and
the NYT/TSC article didn't mention the news site at all. Perhaps
concentrated media ownership has simply become too common to remark
upon, but Salon.com's Andrew Leonard and Wired News' Joanna Glasner
noted that Slashdot is now owned by one of the companies it frequently
covers. "[A] linkup between a major systems distributor and a content
hub looks like a dangerous combination" to some in the open source
community, wrote Glasner, although VA Linux said it wouldn't try to
control content on Andover sites.
Salon's Leonard recalled a conversation in which Slashdot founder Rob
Malda explained why he didn't want to be acquired by VA Linux. "One of
his main concerns in choosing who Slashdot would be acquired by was that
it not be a Linux company," wrote Leonard. "The potential for
compromising Slashdot's editorial integrity would be too great." Leonard
concluded that no matter how scrupulously Slashdot maintains its
editorial independence, the appearance of compromise is inevitable, and
that "the world of free software is all the poorer for it." As is the
world of tech journalism. - Michelle Goldberg
The Billion-Dollar Linux Deal
http://www.thestandard.com/article/display/0,1151,9481,00.html?nl=mg
The Shape of Open Source to Come
http://www.salon.com/tech/log/2000/02/03/slashdot/index.html
VA Linux Snaps Up Andover (Reuters)
http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,34076,00.html
VA Linux Buys Andover.Net (NYTimes.com/TheStreet.com)
http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/00/02/biztech/articles/04linux-andov
er.html
[Registration required.]
VA Linux Systems Buying Andover.Net
http://cbs.marketwatch.com/news/current/lnux.htx?source=htx/http2_mw
About the VA Linux-Andover Deal
http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,34082,00.html
VA Linux Systems Agrees to Buy Andover.net in $900 Million Deal
http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB949585431371615272.htm
[Paid subscription required.]
Linux Love: VA Linux Buys Andover.net
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/news/0,4586,2432284,00.html
David Alan Boller
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Organic Machines LLC
9419 Flicker Ave
Fountain Valley, CA 92708
714-964-1395
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