LinuxCare and TurboLinux have called off their anticipated
merger. TurboLinux says it didn’t make good financial sense, and
LinuxCare, while saying it has “more than enough cash” to last it
to profitability, also notes that more layoffs are probably on the
way. LinuxCare may, according to some reports, be laying off an
additional 25-30% of its workforce.
The end of the merger isn’t the only change. According to this
article, LinuxCare is throwing in the towel on technical support
and moving to developer support:
“Technical support is just not a winning proposition in this
market,” [Tyde] said. “It’s expensive to do. You’re not getting a
lot of customers.”
This change, more than the failure of the merger, is a mark of
the changing Linux market. LinuxCare rose to prominence on the
notion that Free Software would make money based on support needs,
which was a notion echoed by several Linux distributors as
well.
The story has more detail, including quotes from the omnipresent
Stacy Quandt.