04.15.08
Kevin Carmony Says Microsoft Deal Brought Linspire Millions in Revenue
[Headline was corrected from: "Kevin Carmony Admits Microsoft Paid Linspire Millions"]
The best extortion money can buy
A few days ago we mentioned the beans-spilling from Kevin Carmony, but it’s an ongoing discussion and here is some of the latest.
We have known this for a while, but verifiable sums were needed. It was stated in various high-profile Web sites, but admission is always more credible. Linspire’s former CEO has just posted a very telling comment. We highlight a response from FSDaily which quotes a followup (comment) from Kevin Carmony:
[Kevin Carmony:] “Many disagreed with the MS partnership, but it brought us millions in new sources of revenue, all without having any of the negative effects on the desktop Linux space that some predicted the MS/Linux deals would. I reduced our losses by millions in my first year as CEO, and made millions in profits my second year.”
[Comment:] He made millions in profit in the short term, by destroying a GNU/Linux company’s reputation. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to sell out to Microsoft. Any GNU/Linux distro which has a significant community could pull millions or more by selling out to Microsoft.
One has to wonder just how much was paid. We quoted some estimates before, but none could be confirmed. Additionally, how much was paid when it comes to Xandros and TurboLinux? And how much do they pay Microsoft in return, over time? Novell was paid over $300,000,000. In return, it gives a variety of things including OOXML support and software patent royalties, based on sales volume. It’s despicable. █
Madcaluna said,
April 15, 2008 at 1:27 am
Slander! You make it sound like he admitted to having received cash from M$, and all he actually said was the company generated solid profits on the market.
NOWHERE did he say M$ PAID Linspire anything! Correct that, you treacherous gutter-journalist!
Roy Schestowitz said,
April 15, 2008 at 1:39 am
What do you think brought millions to Linspire? Was it the MSN/Live search bars in Freespire and Linspire? Or was it the ‘love’ Linspire earned from the Linux community, which you could argue brought it some more users?
From linux.com:
“What is transparent is the message coming out of one side of Microsoft’s mouth which tries to convince customers there is a threat of legal action against them should they dare to use Linux and/or open source software without paying Microsoft for the privilege. The biggest unknowns in the Xandros and Linspire deals is how much money Microsoft paid them to bolster that message.” (emphasis mine)
Madcaluna said,
April 15, 2008 at 1:58 am
WHERE does “Kevin Carmony Admit Microsoft Paid Linspire Millions”???
You are only twisting words and lying, that’s what you do. Shame upon you! Don’t you have ANY integrity left?!?
Roy Schestowitz said,
April 15, 2008 at 4:36 am
I’ve just changed the headline. It still remains likely that Microsoft made incentives available to Linspire in order to persuade them. We saw plenty of those tactics in the OOXML saga. It’s sometimes referred to as “soft bribery”.