| By Linux News Desk |
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| August 19, 2004 12:00 AM EDT |
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In April, San Diego-based Lindows, Inc., publicity-conscious developer and vendor of Linux-based operating systems, announced that it has filed a registration statement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for the initial public offering of its common stock.
Yesterday it called a halt to the IPO, although its registration statement remains on file with the SEC. Rather than withdraw it completely, Lindows "may proceed with a public offering at a later date," it said.
The stock market isn't the only "fickle" element in the decision. As we reported earlier in the week, w
ithin the industry, it is thought that Lindows is finding that selling companies on the idea of desktop Linux harder than initially thought.
At the recent LinuxWorld Conference & Expo, for example, Prudential described Linux desktops as "most suited to organizations not tied to heavy external client document interaction that do not rely on Microsoft products and file formats, or who predominantly use Web-based or Java apps."
"For enterprises to adopt desktop Linux," Prudential noted, "they need their common applications to be supported on Linux. Support must be technical enough for an organization’s IT department and basic enough for end users. For an enterprise, it’s not enough to simply get an application to run on Linux."
Although Lindows Inc. is just 3 years old, and still makes a loss - $4.1 million last year - CEO Michael Robertson was nonetheless expecting as recently as July to raise as much as $48.4 million from thr planned IPO. Earlier this month he lowered the bar somewhat, and the maximum Robertson he could have expected was $39.6 million - 18% less. But now he has apparently decided even that new price range - $7-$9 compared to Google's range of $85 -$95 - probably wouldn't be achieved.
Lindows, Inc. won't be forced into a "cut-rate IPO," Robertson now says.
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