[LINK] Technology in Retail

[Con Zymaris]

On Wed, Jun 15, 2005 at 10:54:37AM +1000, Robert Hart wrote:
> It's hard but not too hard. We did this at Red Hat until mid 2000. 
> However, it does require significant effort to make sure that the retail 
> channel is run correctly and stocked correctly. One misstep can result 
> in significant problems.

For local Linux players, the value just isn't there. Red Hat had real 
financial resources and couldn't make it fly. We need a niche or a hook. 
Safe computing or zero-admin computing is such a hook.

> 
> It became clear in 2000 that Red Hat could do better in margin and 
> revenue terms with its resources by pushing harder in the services 
> (including training) sector - and when you are publicly traded, that's a 
> major issue.
> 
> Believe me, there was a great deal of soul searching and internal 
> screaming when that decision was being made!

The decion makes sense. Red Hat could and did do better moving up the food 
chain.

-- 
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Con Zymaris <conz at cyber.com.au> Level 4, 10 Queen St, Melbourne, Australia 
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