Re: [UUG/MLUG] VA Linux Hits New IPO Record Amid Linux Euphoria

["Jason McIntosh" <EMAIL:PROTECTED>]

Another note here - there usually comes a time when stock prices drop
dramatically, for a short period of time, a sorta re-balancing of things.
There's a lot of emphasis on developing new technologies, and I suspect a
lot of worry over what the result of this MS case could be.  Unfortunately,
MS is still the biggest desktop OS provider, as well as other technologies.
The breakup of such a company figures pretty heavily into worries and
concerns.  But, I suspect that if people really had sense, they'd invest in
something more profitable and pay more attention.  I personally think there
is way too much bloat right now, and that the money flowing in could be
better spent elsewhere.  I'm not complaining that Linux is getting all this
attention, but I think that in reality, as of right now there is this huge
focus on it, but people need to realize that it is still early in the phase
of development for a general, million idiot user release, imho that is.
But, without a business major who watches this stuff much more heavily than
I do, not to mention someone who could look on unbiased when it comes to
computers and os's, it's a little hard to say what will happen, or what is
accurate and not.  Right now it seems to be all speculative guesses, with
little or no real idea as to what's going to happen.  But, maybe I'm wrong.
Jason McIntosh

----- Original Message -----
From: "Christopher J. Kaiser" <EMAIL:PROTECTED>
To: <EMAIL:PROTECTED>
Sent: Friday, December 10, 1999 1:58 PM
Subject: Re: [UUG/MLUG] VA Linux Hits New IPO Record Amid Linux Euphoria


> Mike Miller wrote:
> >
> > On Fri, 10 Dec 1999, Christopher J. Kaiser wrote:
> >
> > > You might want to look at today's nytimes article
> > >
http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/99/12/biztech/articles/10linux.html
> > >
> > > It's a lot less glowing.
> >
> > It sure is!  Thanks for passing that on.  I don't know why my search of
> > the N.Y. Times didn't turn up their own article.
> >
> > I liked this paragraph:
> >
> >     As the company's prospectus points out: "We do not expect to
generate
> >     sufficient revenues to achieve profitability and, therefore, we
expect
> >     to continue to incur net losses for at least the foreseeable future.
> >     If we do achieve profitability, we may not be able to sustain it."
> >
> > It's amazing to me that such a statement would be a prelude to a massive
> > increase in stock value.
> >
> > Mike
>
> >From what I've seen of other companies' prospectuses (prospecti?), this
> is pretty much standard form.  If you go to this article via linuxtoday
> one of the commentors points out that the company was profitable before
> they started raising venture capital.  The way things seem to work is
> that once you get a huge cash infusion your expected to go out and spend
> the money to build your business.  Some of the money goes towards
> capital goods that you have to depreciate out.  Most of it goes to added
> expenses.
>
> Jonathan's right, though.  VALinux probably isn't worth $200+ a share,
> but I'd bet the $30 the investment bankers and lucky hackers paid is
> more realistic than a lot of other companies out there.  There's a lot
> of money flowing into the market and people are looking for somewhere to
> put it.
>
> In general it's funny how you can spin these articles.  I've seen
> several over the last few weeks talking about how the rise of anything
> associated with Linux is assinine (at least partially true).  These same
> people turn around and talk about how Microsoft is a good buy despite
> the FoF because it's within $10 of its all time high.  Of course all of
> the broad market indices are up how much over the last four months,
> despite MS?
>
> Chris
> --
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> Christopher J. Kaiser
> Assistant Professor
> Animal Sciences Unit
> University of Missouri
> Columbia, MO 65211
> EMAIL:PROTECTED
> phone: 573.882.5479
> fax: 573.884.4606
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>