[ Thanks to beopen
for this link. ]
“Volker Wiegand is no accidental tourist. As president of SuSE,
Inc., the Oakland, Calif.-based subsidiary of SuSE GmBH, it’s his
assignment to make sure the U.S. side of the SuSE empire runs as
smoothly as the German side. No ifs, ands or buts. Still, when it
comes to running a German-led company on the outskirts of one of
America’s most famous high tech regions, Wiegand is mindful of the
baggage that accompanied him on his Trans-Atlantic journey. Taking
great pains to distance himself from the traditional Hollywood
stereotype, Wiegand paints himself as less of a commander and more
of a student traveling abroad, learning as much as he can about
American business culture before returning to the old country.”
“I think a company like ours will be even more successful in
the future, because we try to understand the differences [between
cultures], and we try to get the best out of all worlds,” he says.
“This is far from believing that the German way is superior. It was
before my time, but I believe this is a lesson we Germans have
learned over the last century.”
“A Linux user since the days of the 0.11 kernel, Wiegand seems
to have a jump start on the lessons of the next century. Although
he and his company seemed to be sleeping during last year’s IPO
rush, they also missed out on the resulting letdown as investors
grew quickly frustrated with Linux-related companies. Now, with a
solid customer base and a development team that truly merits the
description “international,” his company is poised to graduate as
one of the Linux community’s first truly profitable companies.”