From owner-freebsd-chat Fri Dec 31 12:27: 5 1999 Delivered-To: freebsd-chat@freebsd.org Received: from lariat.lariat.org (lariat.lariat.org [206.100.185.2]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id BE46B15657 for ; Fri, 31 Dec 1999 12:27:02 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from brett@lariat.org) Received: from workhorse (IDENT:ppp0.lariat.org@lariat.lariat.org [206.100.185.2]) by lariat.lariat.org (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id NAA28141; Fri, 31 Dec 1999 13:25:21 -0700 (MST) Message-Id: <4.2.0.58.19991231132328.0187cc50@localhost> X-Sender: brett@localhost X-Mailer: QUALCOMM Windows Eudora Pro Version 4.2.0.58 Date: Fri, 31 Dec 1999 13:25:17 -0700 To: "Jesse Tilly" , "Will Andrews" , "Gorden Fischer" From: Brett Glass Subject: Re: If FreeBSD goes public (Was: Will FreeBSD ever goes public?) Cc: In-Reply-To: <01dc01bf53da$e2340860$0301a8c0@lothlorien.com> References: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Sender: owner-freebsd-chat@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk X-Loop: FreeBSD.org At 03:03 PM 12/31/99 , Jesse Tilly wrote: >-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- >Hash: SHA1 > >Everyone needs to remember that "going public" entails more than just >offer stock. Your books are open to the world and your business >focus must always take into account shareholders. Case in point, had >UPS been public during its strike, it is unlikely it would have >lasted long as its stock would've plummetted while FedEX and others >would gain the financial support. Public is rarely a good thing for >a business with a philosophy. It's actually even worse than that. By LAW, a publicly traded company has one and only one legitimate goal: to make money for its stockholders. That's it. Period. If this goal can be better served via the production of lower quality software, or by shipping too quick, so be it; the directors and executives are liable if they don't do it. --Brett Glass To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-chat" in the body of the message