One of the survivors of the early days of Linux has changed its name and folded its software division in favour of doing business entirely on the Web.
VA Software Thursday said it has changed its name to Sourceforge and will focus the company exclusively on its Web properties, such as the SourceForge.net site that hosts open-source projects and the Slashdot news aggregation site, which is popular with technology enthusiasts.
The company said the moves are in response to the dynamics of Web 2.0, the new business model in which traditional software is beginning to give way to advertising-funded Web-based services.
VA Software last month quietly sold its enterprise software business to CollabNet Inc., a company that offers development software for geographically distributed teams, in consideration for an equity ownership in that company. The newly branded Sourceforge will make its revenue from advertising sales and product sales from its geek merchandise e-commerce site, ThinkGeek .
Other properties that are part of Sourceforge include another open-source project site, Freshmeat, and enterprise Linux resource site Linux.com.
VA Software began its life as VA Research in 1993 and later and more notoriously as VA Linux Systems, one of the early distributors of Linux whose stock jumped to $US299 on the day of its December 1999 IPO. But its Linux business soon flagged and the company had more success in software development and acquiring the Web properties that still operate today.
SourceForge.net in particular is a successful site for the company, and one of company's the most recognizable brand names. The site hosts more than 100,000 open-source projects and has more than 1 million registered users.
Sourceforge also reported is third quarter fiscal 2007 financial results Thursday. Revenue was $US10.3 million for its third quarter of fiscal 2007, a 30 percent increase from the $US7.9 million the company reported for the same period last year.
The company reported net income of $US6.5 million mostly from the sale of its software business. After years of not turning a profit, VA Software recorded its first quarter of profitability in its second fiscal quarter of 2006, which ended Jan. 31, 2007.
Read up on the latest ideas and technologies from companies that sell hardware, software and services. The state of Middleware
Mimosa™ NearPoint™ for Microsoft® Exchange Server: Email Archiving 101
Best Practice in Building an Integrated Information Management Strategy
Achieving the impossible: Unlimited application scalability
IT Service Management Needs and Adoption Trends: An Analysis of a Global Survey of IT Executives
Discover the advantages of an open architecture multi-vendor network solution
Delivering the Power of Choice with Microsoft Dynamics CRM
Making the Business Case for IT Consolidation
Zones provide focussed content from Computerworld and leading technology partners.
Discover how SOA can create smarter outcomes for your business.
Attend and learn:
- How SOA is helping leading companies to become more agile
- Where you should be applying SOA processes in your company
- The top SOA implementation mistakes to avoid
Click here for more information.
- +
Computerworld Live Podcast #97: The Future of Enterprise Networking 25/07/2008 09:45:36
This week CW Live chats with Mark Thompson, global sales and marketing manager for HP ProCurve, on the future of the enterprise networking. Mark discusses the trends we can expect to see in the near future and how the right infrastructure can ensure your enterprise network is secure. - +
Computerworld Live Podcast #96: Security at the Edge 11/06/2008 09:22:22
CW Live speaks with Amol Mitra, HP ProCurve Director of Marketing for Asia Pacific and Japan. Today's topic: how enterprises are starting to shift away from simply controlling security via server logins, firewalls and moving to more adaptive security frameworks. - +
Data Management Edition #10: Multi-Petascale Systems 02/05/2008 09:12:33
This week we look at sustainability and the development of multicore technologies to build multi-petascale systems. - +
IT Security Edition #11: How to poison the Storm botnet 01/05/2008 08:51:55
This week CW Live presents a case study on how to poison the notorious Storm botnet . Plus we take a look at Cisco's plans for Ironport. - +
IT Security Edition #10: Cyber-battles fought and won 24/04/2008 11:09:47
Vendors bow to end user pressure to improve product security, and we take a look at the latest concepts shaping the cyber-battlefield of the future.
Fortinet November Threatscape Report Shows Calm Before Holiday Storm 2008-12-05 16:00:00+11
Epicor® Cited as an Order Management Solutions Leader by Independent Research Firm 2008-12-05 15:52:00+11
F-Secure: Growth In Internet Crime Calls For Growth In Punishment 2008-12-05 13:00:00+11
International researchers gather in Sydney to preview the clever web 2008-12-05 09:48:00+11
Borderless corporate networks to shift focus to secure content management in Australia in 2009 2008-12-04 16:06:00+11
Making the Business Case for IT Consolidation
IT executives face the need to improve service delivery with limited resource increases. Two common strategies for achieving this are network and systems management tools and datacenter consolidation. Read on to discover how you can make a strong business case for IT Consolidation.
Buying Guides
Latest Products
Buying Guides
