Re: Steering committee responce to Great Bridge LLC - Mailing list pgsql-general

Hi Ed,

Hmm... viewed through that prism, whether it's "jaded and cynical" or not, I can
see your concern.

Our chairman, Frank Batten, Jr. understood the power of open source software
development when the Red Hat guys came calling several years ago - few other people
at Landmark did, and so the company passed, and Frank made a personal investment.
Over the past few years, both through his involvement with Red Hat and our own IT
experience in our various operating businesses, we've become big institutional
believers in (and users of) open source as well.  That's what Frank's dad was
referring to.

Who knows if Red Hat will be a successful business in the long haul?  But I'd
submit that they've done a pretty good job at getting Linux and other open source
products in front of more people, and that's a good thing.

Look, the press likes to write about crazy stock market stuff.  They're less
interested in long tuples and query tree redesign.  We (Great Bridge) don't care
about the stock market.  We do care about building a business that will advance the
adoption of open source and PostgreSQL in particular in the business world, by
providing excellent service and support to customers that are willing to pay for
it.  After six months of homework, we came to the conclusion that there is in fact
a business here- and four guys from Landmark corporate believed in the business
enough to jump out of the executive suite to build a startup business.  That's
exactly how The Weather Channel got started 18 years ago.

If you're curious about Landmark, I'd encourage you to check us out
(www.landmarkcom.com).  As I mentioned, the company remains privately held -
including well-known national properties like The Weather Channel, weather.com, and
Trader Publishing (Auto Trader, Boat Trader, etc.)  We've published the newspaper
in my home town, Norfolk, Virginia, for 100 years.  We build businesses to last -
but don't take my word for it, we've got a record to prove it.

Regards,
Ned Lilly


Ed Loehr wrote:

> It is interesting to note the CNet article's comments regarding Landmark
> Frank Batten, Jr.'s Redhat jackpot winnings.  A more palatable and
> consistent response to this one, IMO:  Some saavy Landmark investors see a
> major opportunity to harvest pgsql value on the open market for huge
> near-term profits via IPO/sale ala Redhat, and that all this may well
> result in significant benefits to the OSS postgresql project and certain
> postgresql core developers.  Am I being jaded and cynical?
>
>         "Great Bridge, though consisting of only four employees
>         today, has grand ambitions, including a planned expansion
>         to 120 employees and the ultimate possibility of going
>         public, Ritter said."
>                 - CNet, siting Al Ritter, Great Bridge CEO
> (http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1003-200-1841316.html?tag=st.ne.ron.lthd.ni)
>
> Note the "ultimate possibility."  That's not about Landmark "needing public
> money or short-sighted shareholders and day traders"; it's about an
> opportunity for very large near-term profits.  Absolutely nothing wrong
> with that, but let's call a spade a spade here.  It might be instructive to
> note that Mr. Batten, Jr., has reportedly already personally harvested tens
> of millions of dollars from his Redhat investment and resigned his position
> from Redhat as chairman.
>
>         "He was way ahead of us," Ritter said.
>         His father, Frank Batten, quipped, "Frank Jr. has a
>         red hat, and I have a red face," Ritter recalled. The
>         upshot was that Landmark began searching for a new
>         open-source software package to capitalize on.
>                 - (same CNet article)
>
> That's not really what comes to mind when someone says they are "in it for
> the long haul".
>
> Regards,
> Ed Loehr