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Linuxcare Businesses

More On Linuxcare Business Shuffle 31

Posted by Hemos from the getting-to-the-bottom-of-it dept.
syrah_shiraz writes: "This article from G2 News gives very in-depth information on why Fernand Sarrat left Linuxcare and future prospects for Linuxcare and its plans to IPO. Definitely the first interview I've seen with Fernand Sarrat since he officially resigned. Apparently the problems weren't really financial after all--the article alludes to a number of different reasons for his departure. (Even 'sexual indiscretion'?) " Check out our original story on this.
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More On Linuxcare Business Shuffle More

More On Linuxcare Business Shuffle

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  • Doug Nassaur (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward
    I think that the real reason for Mr Sarrat leaving LinuxCare is caused by Doug Nassaur. I've worked with him in the past, and it sounds like he is trying the same thing at LinuxCare that he did here. Not only is this guy a walking ego but has a hard time not exagerating his achivements and talents. If anyone ever lookes into these it turns out he is really a pathological liar. Worse is the cronies that he has brought in from the old masonic lodge. They have very little skill and will do anything to keep their $500k salaries. My old company learnd it's lesson. I hope LinuxCare does the same.
  • Last May, when Fernand was new on the job, he DID fire the then-reigning IT manager in part for allegations of discrimination (including racist and sexist remarks). So I know Fernand can do what's best for the company despite any human, personal failings. I was brought on by that IT manager. And he was not fired. He wasn't even asked to leave. Fernand wanted him to stay on board. He wanted a good manager, and that was SM was. He left on his own accord. He was not accused of being discriminatory or racist by Fernaind.
    Cheers,
    WFE
    ===========
  • So somebody is sleeping with someone they shouldnt sleep with. It happens... My first real job as a mighty FORTRAN printout-stacking, xerox-fetching, laserprinter-unjamming boy at the College of DuPage gave me a good idea of how it works. Some women sleep their way to the top. Some men let women think theyre sleeping their way to the top.

    Had this guy I worked with (We'll call him Chris, because that was the guys name.. Heh) who I saw enter a darkened classroom with a female coworker of mine once, they stayed in there a good half an hour or so before attempting to sneak back out without seeming suspicious. And wouldnt you know it, I got passed up for hours like a week later, by this very girl. Wonder why. :)

    Something tells me this guy in the article got passed up for an important spot by the woman now taking over for him. Arent rumors fun? :)

    Bowie J. Poag
    Project Founder, PROPAGANDA For Linux (http://metalab.unc.edu/propaganda [unc.edu])
  • Let's not stereotype all technical people as autistic nerds, either. We've also all seen managers with no skills whatsoever, who move up in the company by flattering the right people, and giving the appearance of knowledge. Not all managers are like that, but some are.

    Statistically, the biggest predictor of intelligence (or aptitude, or whatever you want to call it) in one area is intelligence in another. For example, people who score high in math tests are more likely to have a high score in verbal tests than people with low math scores. Of course, aptitude doesn't make up for experience, and lots of technical people don't have managerial experience. But, it's not true to say that good technical people make bad managers in general. (Not that I'm saying you said that!) Where I work, the managers are a mix of MBA types and former techinical types. In general, the technical types make better managers -- because they're smarter!
  • Hrmmm. If anything happened 'round the office that could constitute a "hostile environment" (in the eyes of the beholder, ugh...), or otherwise open up the company to a possible lawsuit (say, involving an employee or competitor) then there might definitely be grounds for removal. At least in this legal climate, there would be.
  • You moron, you're talking about LinuxOne.
  • Put the Linux people in charge

    Who are these mystical "Linux people" that you speak of who know Linux and know how to run a business? You don't want a "Windows person" in charge of a company that makes a Windows product, so why do you think getting a "Linux person" to run a Linux company would be a good idea?


    ====
  • Too bad he didnt stay long enough to see this off the ground. I really Think it hurt a possibly huge successful program.

    -Foxxz

  • there is much more to this story and meets the eye.
    The charges are much too vague. Something else
    went on behind the scenes. Wait about a year,
    and we'll hear all about it.

    tcd004
    LostBrain [lostbrain.com]

  • We do have legal prostitution. It's called sleeping with the boss to get a better position in the company.
  • LINUXCARE CEO FERNAND SARRAT IMPEACHED!

    "SEXUAL INDISCRETION" SUSPECTED

    Rather than face a trial by the public media, Sarrat resigns (or so he claims).

    This could be a bad thing for Linuxcare's IPO, since investors are usually uneasy about a sudden change in a company's personnel.

  • Looks like Monica found a new job. Gives a new meaning to "open source."
  • Go down to the courthouse in their jurisdiction and look for lawsuits against them.
  • Kinda like Athens, who used tyrannical methods outside the city to create the perfect democracy within, Linuxcare uses proprietary stuff internally so it can focus on open source projects externally. My gut tells me that as Linuxcare grows it will replace Outlook, etc. with better tools. Does it currently have the resources to develop these tools in house? I doubt it. Maybe someday though. And then it can release them to the community.

    I don't know of any successful LC open source projects either, but it is a new company that is strugling to show it has a business plan that generates revenue. Once Linuxcare is running on all 4 wheels I hope it would focus more time on open source.

    If you had to pick some useful open source projects for Linuxcare to pick up, what would they be?
  • We have money in the bank. We didn't ask for too much.

    Bruce

  • They [managers] don't need to know a *thing* about Linux from a technical point of view. What they do need to do is understand the market and what kind of business model a product like Linux calls for and implement that. If the business model is quite different, as you seem to be saying it is, then there's going to be the tendency of many managers to force a square peg in a round hole and that will have to be compensated for.

    What has thus far been missed at Linuxcare is the unique fragility of employer-employee relationships for open source developers. Normally, programmers don't want to leave cool projects because they're fun to work on. In open source, the projects go with them -- witness the migration of Raster and Mandrake last year.

    Therefore, a company saying "we can pay you to do Cool Stuff" doesn't have the same hold. They can do the SAME Cool Stuff in any of several companies. Thus, if one has politics that suck, well, there's other fish in the sea. And they may well get better pay and meaningful stock options elsewhere too.

    And, given that the various Linux companies' stock prices are depressed, it's a great time to move (stock options will be cheaper...). Better to spend time vesting at an already successful company than a wannabe that is spending itself into oblivion.

    Of course, what's true for the open source developers is also true for others in the company, but with different skill sets, one expects they might land in different directions and have greater, not fewer, job prospects.

    Speaking of which: to the more than dozen of you who have offered me jobs as a result of my recent /. posts, deepest thanks.

    _Deirdre

  • As a past-and-future journalist, I can say this: Sometimes you just get bored with quote after quote. Sometimes you paraphrase because what the source said was really garbled. Sometimes a journalist (not me) really MIGHT be misrepresenting a source.

    I would appreciate the actual transcript of the interview, maybe as an appendix or some such. More trustworthy.

  • You know, it's been very obvious to me for a while that LinuxCare was in a world of hurt... Everyone I know that worked there (but one person) has quit in the past six months. And some of these people have been the Linux elite.

    To add insult to injury, I received no less than 3 at each of my email addresses, this morning from LinuxCare. Not only were they spamming, but they did such a bad job of it that they repeated themselves. I'm not sure if the repetition was intentional or accidental. Either way, it doesn't speak well for LinuxCare's understanding of the Linux Community. Spamming is a great way to sign your death warrant in the Linux world. Apparently, they've signed a marketing department who has failed to get to know their audience.

    It's very disappointing. I had a lot of hope for LinuxCare a year ago. I still hope they'll manage to pull out of this rut. Unfortunately, there are only a few Linux companies. The behavior of one effects the reputations of all of them.
  • I shouldn't need to but I feel I have to ask. Does anyone really believe that he wasn't kicked out? I know a lot of the time it's a bit sugar coated (Board: We are about to fire you if you don't resign, CEO: erm, I resign) but you have to wake up and smell the ipo.

    Yes I know we all hate linuxcare (and your little dog Sarrat too) but for one I think they did the right thing.
  • If by putting a Linux person in charge, you mean someone who knows the business and knows Linux (or in general, actually understands the product the company is trying to sell), then there's no arguing with that.

    But such people are rare. Given a choice between a passionate Linux advocate and someone with experience running a company, I'd pick the latter any day.

    ====
  • You wrote: "The only chance is a real leap of faith by the VCs, and I fear they are too large for that. Put the Linux people in charge."

    Sorry, I disagree. Put the managers in charge. By managers I mean the people who have demonstrated the ability to help foster sales (or foster whatever income model you have for the company); the ability to recruit, motivate, and retain staff; and the ability to understand and implement the vision. (Note that I said the vision, not the technology.)

    I'll go further. They don't need to know a *thing* about Linux from a technical point of view. What they do need to do is understand the market and what kind of business model a product like Linux calls for and implement that. If the business model is quite different, as you seem to be saying it is, then there's going to be the tendency of many managers to force a square peg in a round hole and that will have to be compensated for.

    We've all worked for brilliant technical people who suck as managers-- who micromanage, who drive people away, who overspend while tilting at windmills. It's very rare that someone is brilliant in more than one direction (look how rare it is that they're skilled in even one!), and management is a skill just as real as being really good at coding.

  • What is up with all the people in businesses sexually abusing people and other things like this? I mean .. what is the point?

    Maybe we need to legalize prostitution.. we need red light districts in the US ;)

    -meff

  • I'm Disapointed and I Don't Buy It (Score:3)

    by Seumas ( 6865 ) on Sunday April 09, 2000 @04:28PM (#1142600)
    To say the least, I'm disapointed that so much is being thrown around about this guy as if he were some sleezy Hollywood star. I don't see what sexual indiscretions have to do with his departure from the company and the rampant speculation we've heard in the last twelve or so hours seems to impune him without reasonable cause -- just for a juicy tidbit here or there around the water-cooler or a little fodder for an online site.

    This is also pure speculation on my part, but I'm starting to wonder who inside of LinuxCare suddenly turned into a shark and decided to pull all the punches to dump this Sarrat out on his rear-end. This smacks of foul play if you ask me and I doubt Sarrat truly deserves the bum wrap he's getting.

    I hope this doesn't tarnish him in any way and his record stands on its own enough to enable him to do greater and grander things in the near future.
    ---
    icq:2057699
    seumas.com

  • Re:doug and his crew (Score:3)

    by deeny ( 10239 ) on Monday April 10, 2000 @07:44AM (#1142601) Homepage
    Unfortunately, I must be an anonymous coward as I have worked under Doug and in a position where if I went public, could make my life a difficult one. Doug's crew (not necessarily himself, but I wouldn't doubt it) has a history of sexual harassment cases. I find it interesting that Doug's former boss is now also getting similar accusations. If you want to work with a bunch of "good old boys", work for Linuxcare!

    Last May, when Fernand was new on the job, he DID fire the then-reigning IT manager in part for allegations of discrimination (including racist and sexist remarks). So I know Fernand can do what's best for the company despite any human, personal failings.

    Also, just because someone has an affair doesn't mean that they are creating a hostile working environment for others. To me, they're much different kettles of fish and the hostile working environment is much worse on the scale of things.

    That said, I've heard numerous reports of a hostile working environment for women under the current CIO and staff. Stuff like:

    • Standing behind a woman while she was leaning over a phone and plugging and unplugging the connection behind her, ridiculing her in front of other staff;
    • Creating code words for women's body parts to discuss them in meetings (yep, not all those buzzwords are technical).

    However, I think we've seen enough posts from ACs who have worked at Linuxcare or who are still working there stating that the current working environment in IT is hostile to anyone, not just women. But the AC's last line is quite true. I hate to say I told them so last fall, but I did. It's just worse than even I surmised.

    And, all this is known about and there are NO intentions to fix it. That much is very clear from the Linuxcare press release the other day.

    _Deirdre

  • What kind of interview is this? (Score:3)

    by Duxup ( 72775 ) on Monday April 10, 2000 @12:50AM (#1142602) Homepage
    Did anyone find the way the article was written a little curious?

    My Example:
    " "He described his "main value" as "teamwork" - which was how he tried to cure the "friction" - and alleged there was a "group within a group with a heavy vested interest in painting me in an unfavorable light." "

    Couldn't they just quote him in complete sentences? The only reason I can see to chop it up word by word would seem to be to make the comment more concise. However I wonder what exactly we lose when someone is quoted small bit by bit like that?

    I don't mind the writer conceding the interview. After all, I'd rather not hear the chitchat about Fernand Sarrat's dog was barking in the background. However, I think the readers at least deserve to get at least whole phrases (god forbid a whole sentence) so we can judge for ourselves.

    I could note that in this interview Fernand Sarrat spoke about "young men" and "pornography" but that really doesn't say much. In fact it may infer a different meaning than Fernand Sarrat meant.

  • Politics (Score:3)

    by technos ( 73414 ) on Sunday April 09, 2000 @04:32PM (#1142603) Homepage Journal
    I think this spectacle had more to do with money-grubbing corporate politics than anything else. Now that the hired sharks have jumped ship with far more than they were worth, I can only hope that Linuxcare can survive the restructuring throes.

    Gimme some support, damn it! Don't die yet!

  • Re:Sexual Indescrecion? (Score:3)

    by fastpage ( 125435 ) on Sunday April 09, 2000 @06:13PM (#1142604)
    This is off topic but US has legal prostitution in Nevada. Here's a FAQ about it. [sexuality.org]

  • bibles? (Score:4)

    by redmist ( 51090 ) on Sunday April 09, 2000 @06:11PM (#1142605) Homepage
    "He said on a ?stack of bibles? that?s the ?arrangement? he and the board came to."
    I'd rather he swear on Programming Perl.

    .{redmist}.
    -------------------------------------------------
  • I know lot's of people are nervous about Linuxcare. The have a mixed reputation of employing open source in their own shop and have often seemed more hype than substance. I, for one, question the business model of being able to provide high quality support services for Linux, Apache, PHP, Perl, etc. without actively participating in the development of the technologies.

    Other people clearly do, too (including at Linuxcare). That's why Redhat employs kernel developers. That's why Linuxcare have hired Andrew Tridgell and Rasmus Lerdorf and other developers of open source projects.

    They have a fantastic idea for how to do this stuff (execution is a different story): hire good developers, project managers, trainers and techical writers; get them to produce new products using open source technologies; give the products away (open source, remember?); sell support. This model is a good one and can work, but in order to work, Linuxcare needs the credibility of several high-profile, really useful open source projects. I have heard about one or two failed projects so far, but haven't seen anything concrete yet.

    I wish them well but It's wait-and-see for now.
  • I was thinking of Art Tyde and Dave Sifry, but I hear there are some additional people there, with whom I have not become acquainted, who have the Linux background and management experience necessary. It won't be easy for them, but I think it's the only way to get the company to actually work.

    Would we not really want a Windows person in charge of a company that makes a Windows product? Linux has so different a paradigm in the way we do business that it's important, I suppose that is less of an issue for Windows, but I am a big fan of getting a manager who is clued in technically, as well as having the business and human skills necessary to be a good manager.

    Thanks

    Bruce

  • Ignore the smoke and mirrors.

    We're seeing a lot of smoke and mirrors, aren't we?

    The problem is that they needed management with reputations to match their tremendous funding. Because of the "let's be huge right away" mentality, the people who actually knew how to run a Linux business weren't allowed to do so. They probably didn't even trust themselves to do so, and that blinded them to the fact that the usual way of doing IT business just isn't going to work for Linux. The people who know how most likely won't be allowed to run the company now. And the business is going to fail, I have no doubt, if that's what happens.

    The only chance is a real leap of faith by the VCs, and I fear they are too large for that. Put the Linux people in charge.

    Thanks

    Bruce

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