Internet.com Acquires Linuxcentral

mulan writes "The E-Business and Internet Technology Network has acquired linuxcentral.com. This comes shortly after the recent aquisition of LinuxToday.com in a move to further Linux support for the Internet community. The article appears in today's Business Wire or you can read the official press release here. "

..Good To See...

[BradyB]

It's good to see major companies and the such backing and supporting and wanting to further the promote Linux. I just recently got into Linux and using it daily. I appreciate sites likes this that help others gain some extra knowledge about Linux and the community that surrounds it.

Re:And the benefit for Linux is what?

[Sensei^]

linuxcentral is not a portal they are a linux store.

Wow,

[JeffI]

Well, I guess now is a good time for those running Linux sites, or Linux news related sites. I am looking back at the article about too much media attention hurting Linux, and really beginning to wonder about that.

Re:Small business, big business?

[Anonymous Coward]

Internet.com Aquires Canadian Linux User Groups

Ottawa (AP) - In an effort to consolidate it's control on structured Linux information in North America, Internet.com aquired all Candian Linux User Groups early today. Though this represents a massive scaling back of its initial plans. Government sources indicated that talks to aquire all Canadian citizens broke down late Friday and might have led to this scaled-back approach. Though none would go on record, some hinted that Quebec's refusal to sign a document written in English led to the talk's break-down.

In retaliation, Andover.net aquired the U.S. territory of the Virgin Islands and is in talks with both Russia and Japan to gain control over the disputed northern islands.

Is publicity always in the best interest of Linux?

[dr]

I agree that it is good that Linux continues to get more publicity, causing more people to open their eyes and take a look at this "Linux thing". However, if that publicity is at the expense of something else, I think you have to weigh the options. If we get some publicity but lose a site which was a valuable resource, was it worth it? I'd say no. If we get publicity and the site becomes twice as good as it now has money behind it, well that's probably a good thing.

Can we determine if something will be better afterwards? Not for sure until someone completes the building of a time machine, but we can look at the buying company's track record... with internet.com's not so good record, I'd say that too many people see that money stuff and throw in the towel hastily without considering the ramifications of doing so.

Long live the greater good of Linux.

Be fair

[Foogle]

Not all large companies are bulky, unmaneuverable beasts. Well, most HUGE companies are, but I don't think these guys cut it as "huge", in the MS sense :)

Look at Corel and their response to Bruce Perens dealings with them over the past GPL fiasco. They managed to nip that problem in the bud pretty quickly. No "Oh, we need to check with Legal on that one, do I have your number?"

-----------

"You can't shake the Devil's hand and say you're only kidding."

Maybe good, maybe not

[jd]

I am wary of too many takeovers. An owned online site, or an owned journal, tends to have less editorial control. Not even necessarily because the owners directly instruct them what to print, but because the editors have to keep an eye on the paycheque.

On the other hand, anything that brings money and resources to Linux is good, and media attention is no bad thing, either. (There's a maxim that all publicity is good publicity.)

I'll have to wait and see whether this trend helps or hinders Linux. I hope it helps, but I'd be a fool to blindly trust that.

Small business, big business?

[Christopher B. Brown]

My local Linux Users Group has been doing considerable business (relatively speaking to any individual, at least) with LinuxCentral; I rather hope that the change in organization doesn't have any substantial impact on the way they operate their business.

One of the merits of dealing with a small company is that they don't feel the need to, before saying "yes" to things, say:

• Sorry, we're going to have to ask the legal department for sign-off before we can proceed.
• I'm not sure this goes along with the Marketing Department's sales strategy.

If extra levels of management get in the way of getting things done, this might not be such a good thing.

Linux Central

[Anonymous Coward]

That's great since it creates support for Linux, but if any of you have ever actually worked with Linux Central, I have a feeling you probably have a nasty taste in your mouth. They waited over a month to ship my Matrix Orbital display, lost one in shipping, and then never responded to a single email. Poor support like this reflects badly on all linux users.

internet.com is Evil incarnate

[h2odragon]

Well, OK, maybe they're not as bad as some, but from what I've seen they're not good. Anybody remeber what BoardWatch [boardwatch.com] was like back in the day? The magazine was full of informed people saying what they thought, the site was a little graphics heavy but balanced by informed and informative content, and they were just a hell of a resource.

Then they got bought by internet.com.

I won't forget the first print issue I picked up after the buyout (and the last I've bought, BTW). The editorial tone had changed from "I'm a guy like you, who has interest in this stuff" to "I've forgotten more about this than you'll ever know"; their politics did a complete 180, and though the magazine was thicker, the content was less.

The really painful thing was what happened to the site. Go look at their back issues there. Articles used to be one file per, with no more graphics than were necessary, and certainly no Javascript. After the buyout, the site became a poor parody of what it was. Javascript, a minimum of 3 ads per page (most animated), and the thing that really cheesed me off: Articles seem to get paginated at around 300 words. Which means that what used to be a simple matter of just finding and reading an article became Yet Another mousehunt for the links that'll take you to the next page, which has it's own 3 to 5 ads, etc.

They still seem to make all their print content available via the web as they did in the old days, for which I'd thank 'em if I still read their stuff. I understand the reasons internet.com pissed all over what BoardWatch was, I just don't think it was needed. I really, really hope they can restrain their tendancies with their new acquistions.

And the benefit for Linux is what?

[Rob the Roadie]

Personally I have found that the sort of sites that internet.com offer do not give me anything extra. I am a member of several of their discussion lists but i usually delete them as they are full of trolls adding "me too" to the bottom of long in-line threads.

All I can hope for is that Linuxcentral doesn't go the same way as it would be a waste of a good portal.

A small concern

[rips]

Without trying to encourage a conspiricy theorist kind of mentality, does anyone feel that internet.com obtaining the major linux sites is a threat to the stability of these sites and the communities that rely on these sites on the internet?

If internet.com were now bought out by microsoft, that would be a rather large blow to the linux community. When the support and community foundation for linux is distributed (just like the development), the possibility of this happening decreases.

I'm not greatly concerned however... Yet.

Re:And the benefit for Linux is what?

[Rob the Roadie]

Apologies - I got myself a little too confused in my previous comment, please ignore me.

Not all publicity is good

[Christopher B. Brown]

There are some forms of publicity that are not good.

• Not long ago, a senior officer of one of the "web tools" companies was arrested as a result of a sting operation that essentially ascertained that he was a pedophile.

  That was decidedly not good news for the company.

• Last year, there was a story going around about one of the managers at Red Hat "spending quality time" with what would probably be termed a "Linux groupie."

  This caused mud to be thrown in all sorts of directions, making both he, RHAT, and the woman, all look bad.

  I don't know the truth of the matter; regaling the world with tales of sexual escapades that are distinctly Not Politically Correct is decidedly Not Good Publicity.

• Considering that the vast majority of the visible portions of the Linux community is made up of white males, not only is some "Male Dominance" likely, but also some "White Dominance."

  If a story comes out this year about, assortedly, such things as:

  • Linux-related businesses that are making racist hiring decisions;
  • Lists of racist jokes going around at some Linux business;
  This will again represent something that would not be reasonably seen as "good publicity."

  I don't think that the Linux community is rife with "Neo-Nazi Militias," but I'm reasonably sure that there's enough of this to cause distress.

nitpick

[turg]

The "article" in Business Wire is identical to the press release -- Business Wire is a distrubutor of press releases, not a source of original content (NB: Not intended to be derogatory towards Business Wire)
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<SIG>
"I am not trying to prove that I am right... I am only trying to find out whether." -Bertolt Brecht

The Canadian Scenario

[Christopher B. Brown]

Vancouver Quadra, BC (AP) - Former Prime Minister Kim Campbell returns from retirement to announce a new protest movement against the continued attacks against western sovereignty.

In a surprise move, both First Nations and Inuit representatives came to agreement that they should share tax funding from receipts from gambling-related Internet sites.

Linux Central and the local LUGs

[Christopher Bibbs]

As president of the Metro Detroit Linux User Group I've had lots of contact with LinuxCentral (They are local and the former owner used to attend our meetings).
Linux Central had always been a big supporter of local events and did a lot to help us with Installfests and the like. I only hope that the new owners are half as supportive of the community. For that matter, I hope they continue to host our Website!! No one has let me know yet what's to come of it.

At least one reason why this is a Bad Thing

[phypor]

An employee of internet.com, Kevin Reichard ([e-mail])
posted on Linux Today (http://linuxtoday.com/story.php3?sn=11259) in regards
to concerns that were voiced about Linux Today's site changing due to the takeover.

This is one of his postings:

> If Java appeared on linuxplanet.com, it's because it was initiated by an
> advertiser or to solicit feedback on how we're doing.
>
> If someone is irritated at our solicitation of opinions about how we're doing,
> then I'm sorry -- but I think that we should be given some credit for soliciting
> the specific feelings of our reades.
>
> If it's an advertiser, then I'm sorry and powerless. It's akin to fragrance ads in a magazine.
>
> --Kevin


Is this not terribly disconcerting for the future of sites aquired by internet.com?

"We are not responsible for the content our advertisers bring into the page...
if it's obnoxious, if it's offensive, whatever it is, it's beyond our control"

The worst of it?....
At least one employee of internet.com, who has been with the company for over 2 years now,
is sorry... and powerless to do anything about the content of the advertisment of the site.

Is there anyone at internet.com that is not sorry and powerless against their advertisers?

Re:Who knows

[IRNI]

Are you kidding? Off topic? It illustrates an example of the bad effects of a buyout. Its very on topic. And look how someone who was offended decided to become less than professional. Thats sad guys. Really sad. This is what buyouts produce.