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Linux Software

VA Linux Systems a Fortune "Cool Company" 28

Posted by Hemos from the recognize-the-good dept.
VA Linux Systems has been selected as a Fortune Magazine "Cool Company". You can get the whole scoop on the Fortune site. The article talks about some of the people that have been been hired in by VA recently for the Linux Labs as well - with Jon "Mad Dog" Hall being one of them.
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VA Linux Systmes a Fortune "Cool Company" More

VA Linux Systmes a Fortune "Cool Company"

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  • This is great news. Hopefully they recognize that there's a lot of good talent in Canada, and will do some of their R&D up here. Corel has always hired a lot of University co-ops, and VA could find some great talent by tapping into the Waterloo co-op program. I know a lot of people (like me :) ) would love to work for a Linux company. My idea of a dream workterm used to be working as a programmer at a place like RHAD Labs. My aspirations have changed a little since then -- I'm more interested in large scale OO software design -- but still, it's nice to know that something along those lines might soon be possible. Also, the prospect of full-time employment in the Valley after graduation is very enticing for a lot of people.
  • Here's the rest [pathfinder.com] of the list.

    Alex Bischoff
    ---

  • The author should have looked at VA's website.

    a) VA is a hardware company, RH is software. 2 different markets.

    b) VA is a customer of RedHat - All of their systems that I've looked at so far come with RH 5.2 (What happened to the SuSE partnership that VA touts in some of their LJ ads? And what about RH6?)
  • OK, that sounds good.

    I wonder why they don't put up such an explanation on their site...
  • When did this happen? Is he a consultant for them, or did they actually pull him away from Compaq?
  • No, he is not a consultant, he is a full time employee.

    Chris DiBona
    VA Linux Systems

    --
    Grant Chair, Linux Int.
    VP, SVLUG

  • Yep, it's a really bitchin digital storage scope, so it's got a pc backend to handle the data work. I don't know how far he has gotten on interfacing the hardware.

    The probes on the thing are un-freaking believeable, really things of beauty, they each come with accessories in their own little leatherette case.

    Chris DiBona
    VA Linux Systems


    --
    Grant Chair, Linux Int.
    VP, SVLUG

  • Both have come from Corel and have great backgrounds, Jason was a Marketing Manager for the Netwinder and I seem to recall that Zack helped port Strong Arm to the Netwinder as well? (correct me if I'm wrong)

    I'd have to say you're wrong.
    Strong Arm is the processor used in the Netwinder. That would be like saying someone ported Pentium to the Compaq Presario.

    Maybe he helped port Linux to the Strongarm for the Netwinder.
  • Not to nit-pick, but VA is a system vendor -- not a linux contributor.

    This story has nothing to do with Linux. Might I suggest VA have their own section?
  • Good article. I did not know that the VA folks were former pals with the Yahoo fellas. I wonder if Yoohoo has made any financial investment in VA.

    I think that VA is a good company, and a great alternative to traditional hardware vendors. Even though Dell etc. are selling Linux systems, I would feel better buying from VA simply because they have been 100% linux from the get-go.

    Does anyone know an approximate date for the IPO? Is it just in the planning phase?

    Favourite quote from the article: "...and Geoff "Mandrake" Harrison, a user-interface expert who wants to make the Linux interface "suck less."

  • Here is the complete list of cool companies, not in any particular order.

    Cool Companies:
    Intro
    Third Voice
    nterTrust
    Frequency Technology
    Financial Engines
    myCFO
    boo.com
    VA Linux Systems
    Bidcom
    HomeGrocer
    InfoRay
    Sycamore Networks
    Rhythms NetConnections
  • i never realized how hip fortune was.. is that better or worse than wired "hot/not" list?

    *smile*

  • How about Ted T'so? can you say ext2?
    maybe HJ Lu? Libc5, NFS, etc.
    there surely aren't 25 people working in the labs, but there are about 10. plus we've got 5+ people working on the merced port (direct kernel work)

    just a quick note...
    --
    Geoff Harrison (http://mandrake.net)
    Senior Software Engineer - VA Linux Labs (http://www.valinux.com)

  • VA & RH6 (Score:1)

    by luge ( 4808 )
    I spoke to them yesterday (I think i'm going to order a box from them today) and asked about that. Apparently, "their" 6 is not yet stable enough for their taste- they add a variety of mods and stuff that they want to make sure are perfectly integrated with their boxes before they ship. Also, "their" 5.2 ships with KDE and a 2.2 kernel (for SMP) so they don't feel all that pressed to upgrade immediately. I'm going to strip it and put Debian on it immediately anyway, but hey... more power to them for waiting until they get it right.
    ~luge
    (P.S.- the sales guy who told me all this was pissed at the delay too- he says he is sick of answering 6.0 questions :)
  • Beats me...
  • Umm, actually, they have several employees dedicated full-time to coding.
  • I'm not too surprised. Being a hardware vendor who offers preconfigured server/workstation systems with support and maintenance packages has got to be a 'mini - IBM' business model that traditionally-minded market analysts can readily translate their models to.

    Companies like RedHat break this mould a little further - by having a service and support business based around a software product that they don't own and can't really control in a market they can't readily predict.

    A little harder for the aforementioned traditionilists to digest perhaps ?

  • "Maybe he helped port Linux to the Strongarm for the Netwinder"

    Yep that's it!
    All in all the guy's a star.

    I kinda had the emfasis on the wrong salable :)
  • About a week ago I got the chance to speak with Jason A. Straw, Canadian Marketing Manager and his teckie, Zack.

    Both have come from Corel and have great backgrounds, Jason was a Marketing Manager for the Netwinder and I seem to recall that Zack helped port Strong Arm to the Netwinder as well? (correct me if I'm wrong)

    But the point is that VA is now in Canada and will soon be located in the Toronto area! They are taking the community seriously, They are listening to us.

    That's news for Canadain nerds, stuff that matters eh?

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