[ Thanks to Robert
McMillan for this link. ]
“In a month when the pundits have been taking swipes at open
source, Landmark Communications — the Weather Channel people —
surprised everyone yesterday by launching a company they hope will
become the Red Hat of the database world: Great Bridge, LLC.
Despite their low-tech background, Landmark does know a thing or
two about open source. The media company’s Chairman, Frank Batten,
Jr. was an early angel investor in Red Hat. His 1996 investment of
$2 million in Red Hat was worth well over $1 billion when the
company’s stock peaked last fall.”
“According to Great Bridge’s CEO (and former Landmark Chief
Financial Officer) Al Ritter, the Red Hat experience prompted his
company to look into other areas where open source could have an
impact. Their answer: the Postgres database. Great Bridge is
hoping to hire a number of the lead Postgres developers and build a
still-to-be-defined business around this piece of the open source
infrastructure.”
“Linux Magazine: When Red Hat first approached Landmark for
funding in 1996, the company turned them down. Did you personally
take a pass on the Red Hat investment?”
“Al Ritter: Yes. This was in 1996. The only person who really
got it was Frank Batten, Jr.”