Upside: SuSE performs mind-share control

“I believe that the German mentality is always to look for
perfect solutions,” says Wiegand, a former Unix engineer who jumped
from Deutsche Bank to SuSE last year. “I only have to look into a
mirror, to see my own attitudes, to know what that means.”

“Although SuSE’s Linux market leadership in Europe remains
unquestioned, a March report by market intelligence firm PC Data
rated the company a distant fourth behind U.S. market leader Red
Hat (RHAT), Linux-Mandrake distributor Macmillan and Corel (CORL)
in terms of retail revenue share.”

“Then there’s the fact that SuSE avoided the recent Linux
IPO frenzy and has had to build its market share with less money
and less attention from the wealth-obsessed tech media
machine.”

“We haven’t been quiet,” says Wiegand, bristling slightly at the
notion that his company has slacked on the marketing front
recently. “It’s just that others have been louder than us. It’s a
matter of relative quietness.”

Complete
Story