Brian Ristuccia <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Then imagine the potential shareholder lawsuits against Corel for not > excercising due-diligence in preventing the losses incurred by the delayed > release, wasted CD's and other materials, and civil suits by copyright > holders because they failed to listen to the copyright holders when they > complained about the incorrect license in the first place...
Absolutely right. This is the only language that's understood in boardrooms, which, given the structure of publicly traded for-profit corporations (one might argue) is only as it should be. Those in control of Corel have two priorities, and they are intertwined: increasing shareholder value, and increasing the value of their own compensation packages, which are (one can safely guess) in significant measure made up of options to buy Corel stock. Any notion that Corel is playing anything other than hardball is wishful thinking. On October 19 CORL closed at $4.69; yesterday it stood at $14.13! The stock has not seen this level since 1996! This 300% surge in share price has been *precisely* coincident with Comdex and the debut of Corel Linux. (In the same time frame RHAT has similarly gone from $77.50 to $213.50; it has doubled its value in the last nine trading sessions alone!) With dollars like this in contention it's clear that in said boardroom the attorneys will hold sway, not even taking a second place behind the accountants! My experience with these outfits is that *if* anyone is going to listen, it *may* be the lawyers who oversee investor relations. They understand the intimate connection between share price and public image. Contact information for IR at Corel is at: http://www.corel.com/investor/other411.htm Email is: [EMAIL PROTECTED], where one David Hladkowicz holds forth. The experience of the kde developers will prove useful in this context. Corel has "promised" that it will - in so many words - do things differently when it comes to implementing version 2.0 of kde. Corel claims it will mend its ways. Would anyone wish to wager a few bucks on that claim? My father, who knew a lot about both, never tired of warning me that: "Money changes people." My fear is not that money will change Corel; they are already all about money. My fear is that money will change Linux, and not to its improvement. It's already started. -- Bob Bernstein http://members.home.net/ruptured-duck at [EMAIL PROTECTED] Esmond, R.I., USA Learning......OpenBSD 2.5!
