Well, he tells some, anyhow. By now, you’ve probably heard the news that Xandros has purchased Linspire. Moments ago, I was sent the following Q&A with Xandros CEO, Andreas Typaldos. Enjoy . . .
Q: What are you announcing today?
A: Xandros’ acquisition of Linspire, a pioneer in the commercial desktop Linux marketplace with its easy-to-use commercial Linspire operating system and innovative Linux software delivery service CNR.
Q: How did this deal come about?
A: Xandros and Linspire have had talks at the CEO level over the years about the possibility of a combination given their historically similar Debian-based roots and complementary product lines. Such talks accelerated in late 2007 and culminated in the current agreement.
Q: What are the financial terms of the deal?
A: Like many private commercial transactions, the financial terms of the agreement are not being disclosed.
Q: Is this an acquisition or a merger?
A: An acquisition.
Q: How many Linspire employees are coming to Xandros?
A: All of the engineering, support, and key sales staff have been retained, apart from a small number of administrative and related resources, given redundancy with Xandros in a number of such areas.
Q: Will Linspire CEO Larry Kettler and other Linspire managers be joining the Xandros management team?
A: Yes, Larry Kettler will be joining our executive management team as VP of Business Development.
Q: How many employees are on the combined payroll?
A: Xandros has been on a fast growth path for the last couple of years; has an aggressive headcount and revenue growth plan at this time; and is currently in heavy hiring mode. We believe that at this point Xandros is already the third largest Linux Company in the world, and that we may already be the largest private Linux Company in the world.
Q: Will Linspire’s San Diego office remain opened?
A: Yes.
Q: Will Freespire continue to be maintained as an open source project?
A: Yes.
Q: Will Xandros maintain separate Xandros and Linspire/Freespire lines of desktop products?
A: Pending further planning, at this point both product lines will be maintained.
Q: What will happen to existing Linspire/Freespire users?
A: No changes are planned
Q: What, if any, desktop technologies from the two companies will be combined?
A: No plans are developed yet in that regard.
Q: What are the total sales and profits for the combined company?
A: Since Xandros is privately held, these figures are not publicly disclosed.
Q: What are the benefits to Xandros from this deal?
A: It provides Xandros with advanced CNR technologies and Linux expertise. It also enlarges the Xandros customer base and support network.
Q: Is this part of the Xandros expansion into enterprise markets?
A: Yes. This is part of Xandros’ larger plan and vision for being a full product company to service both the consumer/OEM and enterprise markets.
Q: How is this deal related to last year’s agreement between Xandros and Microsoft?
A: It is not
Q: How is this affect your Microsoft relationship … were they consulted on the deal?
A: It will not affect our Microsoft relationship. Xandros has always planned to continue increasing its product portfolio, and Microsoft understands and respects our strategy in that regard. On whether Microsoft was consulted, Xandros is an independent company and consults internally with its board,
management, and advisors, and not with outside parties in making decisions.
Q: What is the organizational structure of the combined organization?
A: Linspire is an independent company, even though it’s a wholly owned subsidiary of Xandros. At this time Andreas Typaldos, the CEO of Xandros, is also President of Linspire. Also, the VP of Engineering of Linspire will have a reporting relationship to Ming Poon, the VP of Engineering of
Xandros.
Q: How does this acquisition affect existing Linspire and Freespire
customers and brands?
A: We believe that it will help them, by making them part of a larger community of Xandros users, and by providing them with the support of a large, global, full-product Linux solutions company, with larger product and technology footprint, and greater development, support, and financial resources.
Q: Will this result in new/changed product offerings?
A: No plans have been developed yet in that regard.
Q: Will this deal result in tighter integration between Xandros and Linspire
products?
A: Yes.
Q: When can we expect to see re-launched products combining the benefits of both company’s technologies?
A: Integration of CNR and the Xandros Networks on Xandros and other platforms will be launched shortly. Additional products to follow.
Q: How will this affect Xandros’ and Linspire’s open source strategies and
plans?
A: It will not.
Q: What will happen to CNR customers using Ubuntu, Red Hat, SUSE, and other
Linux operating systems?
A: No changes planned at this time.
Q: When will CNR provide Xandros support?
A: In July 2008.