Ask thinks so. More than a few times, I've heard both speculation and suggestions that someone should just buy what's left of VA Linux^H^H^H^H^HSoftware. "Someone" generally means IBM or Sun.
VA might make sense as part of a larger organization, but as it stands now things are very shaky. I remember a month or two ago, hearing that they just had another round of layoffs. That was something like the 5th or 6th.
Heck, VA is worth about $44 million today. They have at least that much in assets, So the real cost of buying that company would be very low--virtually nothing for a company like IBM, HPaq, or Sun.
The real question, of course, is what does buying VA really do? What the real product or knowledge that's left? Most of the folks who were VA are long gone.
No, that's not a typo. Just to make sure you read it the first time, I'll repeat it here.
Fuck Silicon Valley Power and Santa Clara Municipal Utilities
Yes, fuck them. Hard. No lubricant.
(Can you tell? I'm a little pissed right now.)
I came home tonight to find that my power was off and my UPSes were beeping at me. Puzzled, I checked my neighbors. They all had power. So I figured my breakers had tripped for some reason. I grabbed a flashlight and went to investigate. They were fine.
I sat down and ate my dinner (Chinese to go) by candle light. Of course, I had to find the candles first. Then I grabbed the phone book to call my local power monopoly. I explained the problem and the conversation went something like this.
Me: Hi. I just came home and found that my power is off.
Moron: Did you pay your bill?
Me: Yes, I'm pretty sure I did. But I can't tell you for sure. I use an on-line bill payment service and have for about a year and a half. And, well, my power is off--as you know. (I've since confirmed with BillPay that the payment went out as normal.)
Moron: What's your address.
(I tell him my address and he puts me on hold.)
Moron: Your service was turned off for non-payment.
Me: (Quite surprised.) What?! Well, can you turn it back on? I certainly have the money to pay whatever it is you think that I owe.
Moron: No, you'll need to take this up with billing in the morning.
Me: I called for emergency service and you're refusing to re-activate my power? Would you like to pay for the $100 of food that's going to spoil in my refrigerator?
Moron: Sir, you'll need to talk to billing at 8am tomorrow. (It was 7:30pm when I called.)
Me: Can you at least tell me when my power was shut off? I want to know if I should risk opening the refrigerator.
Moron: I have no idea.
Needless to say, I'm very pissed off. According to my records, they got their payment on-time. Did I get a threatening letter in the mail?
No.
Did I get a threatening phone call?
No.
Where do these assholes get off doing this?
I ended up driving up to Fry's to buy a 50 foot extension cord. I plugged it into the shared laundry room and used to power my refrigerator, one light, my DSL modem, and a laptop.
Grrrrrrrrr.
<rant>
I'm really starting to wonder why I bother living here at all. I pay $1,400 a month (twice the monthly payments on my old house) and for what? To deal with really bad traffic, moronic utility companies, and countless other bullshit.
Oh, that's right. I came out here to work at a company that has since forgotten how to innovate and take risks. Yippie.
Maybe I should start looking for a job somewhere that I can actually afford to live. It's not like I get paid enough to make up for the fact that a house here would cost me at least $500,000. Not even close.
At least somewhere else I'd have some room and maybe more of a life outside of work.
</rant>