● 04.15.08

●● Kevin Carmony Says Microsoft Deal Brought Linspire Millions in Revenue

Posted in GNU/Linux, Linspire, Microsoft, Novell, Turbolinux, Xandros at 1:12 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

[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:

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[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.”

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[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.

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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. █

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