04.13.08
Former Linspire CEO Predicts Damaging Truths After His Microsoft Deal
Hug a stranger, get slapped, blame others … profit!
As you may recall, we are still running boycottlinspire.com, but how long for? How long can the company survive?
There are isolated reports that break the company’s deafening silence. Now, now; what have we here? The very same man who sidled with Microsoft to spew GNU/Linux and GPL FUD is now bemoaning the state (fate rather) of the company which he trashed. Watch out for the more recent developments at Linspire and prepare.
Truth is Treason in the Empire of Lies: Linspire ‘Fact Sheet’ Coming Soon
[…]
When I resigned from Linspire, my intentions were, of course, given my large number of Linspire shares, to do everything I could to help Linspire succeed. Unfortunately, in the eight months following my resignation, I have witnessed some of the worst management decisions I have seen in my 25+ years as a business professional. Actions taken by Linspire’s Chairman, Michael Robertson, and their CEO, Larry Kettler, are, in my opinion, destroying the company. Not only do I feel that Linspire’s current management is squandering the Linspire asset, but soon after my resignation, Michael Robertson as Chairman, and Larry Kettler as CEO, levied criminal allegations against six past Linspire employees: the CEO (Kevin Carmony), CFO (Chad Olson), Controller (Bill Long), two Vice Presidents (Theresa Brennan and Randy Linnell), and the OS Team Lead (Clifford Beshers). This group constituted two thirds of Linspire’s then management team.
I resigned from Linspire, but the other five employees were laid off in good standing, with four to twelve months of severance for their many years of committed, quality work, culminating in a profitable year.
What will it be next? Ron Hovsepian slamming the deal with Microsoft, just like Deputy de Icaza recently did? Will blame be thrown from one person to another? More on Novell in the next post. █
Highlight: Novell was the first to acknowledge that Microsoft FUD tactics had substance. Novell then used anti-Linux FUD to market itself. 
Highlight: Xandros let Microsoft make patent claims and brag about (paid-for) OOXML support. 
Highlight: Linspire's CEO not only fell into Microsoft arms, but he also assisted the company's attack on GNU/Linux. 
Highlight: Microsoft craves pseudo (proprietary) standards and gets its way using proxies and influence which it buys. 
Highlight: The invasion into the open source world is intended to leave Linux companies neglected, due to financial incentives from Microsoft. 
Analysis: Xen, an open source hypervisor, possibly fell victim to Microsoft's aggressive (and stealthy) acquisition-by-proxy strategy.
Logan said,
April 13, 2008 at 2:04 pm
I love how talks of himself:
“Kevin Carmony, named as one of the Top 100 Most Influential People in IT, is the former CEO of the Linspire corporation. He is a strong supporter of Open Source software interoperating with legacy proprietary codecs, drivers and applications.”
hahahaha!