OSNews

Note : I am not a Fan of Linspire or Kevin Carmony.

Mr Carmony ,

I find it intriguing that your company is running at a loss and have been for so many years ( since its creation ) and that you still find the time to browse the news website.I think your time would be better spent analyzing the failure of your sales teams and of your products sales.

I also like to point out that your showing your incompetence by saying things like : "(we have around 15,000 Insiders)" , I find it really strange that a President of any company dont know the exact number of suscriber at a given date of any of there program.

I will point out that with 15 000 suscriber at 99$ each , you would bring in 1,5 milion ( rounded number ) of revenues which are beside the normal product sales , thats not chump changes , but I seriously doubt your numbers as they have been proven in the past to be innacurate and/or over exagerated to make your company look better. On a side note Linspire is based of San Diego wich is a city of 1,264,600 habitants ( http://www.sandiego.gov/publicmediaaffairs/facts/fast.shtml )

15k users out of a possibility of 1,2 million , in the same city ... you need to go to the nearest mall and show your product a bit ... Or distribute more free CD like AOL does ... and get income from CNR subscription , you might get a couple thousand , tens of thousand or hundred of thousand and maybe who knows millions of users and this year pull a profit.

Of course your not going to get everyone with a price entry worldwide of 99$ USD , 99$ USD might seem cheap for you but in some country its 1/2 there yearly salary.

In the other end your cutting yourself from some the best of the brightest who go on and work for the other distribution , this may not mean much to you but in reality , your going to have to face there idea and advancement that could have been yours in the futur , if you dont know the saying 2 head are better then one , you have never seen 10 thousand able body and minds vs 1 or 2 insider and developpers, there is not one real distribution who as not more paying users then yours, not going to even discuss free developper and free contributors.

" We actually give lots of perks, discounts, free services, etc. to our Insiders"

Strange that you fail to validate your comment with an actual example , but I think you have learned that most people would analyze your word for what they are and make comparaison with whats availaible from others, and that would make your offers and advantage look ridiculous.

" we WANT a small barrier to entry for our Insiders program to keep it exclusive to those who really want to join us and help. "

Actually what you whant to do is make a small profit from the sales of your development. If you where after getting the best and brightest and hardest working there would be a note beside the Linspire Insider BUY NOW saying : "we whant you , if you whant to participate but cant afford 99$ , press here and write us a short note what would be your contribution and why we would be interested to having you."

I have seen first hand , and many time and in many project, what it means to get the help from free developper , when 100 + people show up and come to your help and contribute , you have things like KDE that gets created.

"As for the rate of new products, services and announcements, if you visit http://www.linspire.com/lindows_news_pressreleases_archives.php you'll see Linspire moves quickly and does more announcements than just about any Linux company."

Lets see :

- Linspire Launches World's Easiest Desktop Linux, Linspire Five-0

- MP3beamer Makes Personal Music Catalog Available From Any Device

- New Products, Services and Software to be Featured at Desktop Linux and Open Source Conference

- Lphoto 2.0 Improves Photo Management on Desktop Linux with DVD and Flash Options

- AMD and RealNetworks Sign on as Key Sponsors At Premier Linux and Open Source Conference

- Wal-Mart breaks price barrier with $498 Linux laptop running Linspire

all I can see is your company make a lot of noise about nothings ... I am really sure you would not like me explaining what I mean by noise.

"we have a money back guarantee on everything we sell"

1) Interesting point you make , more on that below , too bad its not replacing one of your noise annoncement nobody cares about. Its a great sales argument, it could , ho , I dont know win you some sales from people who are afraid of trying your product ...

2) Its certainly not showing or advertised on the most important place :

http://www.linspire.com/lindows_storefront.php?own=no

3) Remember , I said "interesting" , that because I have the old habit to verify fact of people who in the past who have add there words and action proven wrong and false :

http://www.linspire.com/termsconditions.php

"All fees and charges are nonrefundable. Linspire will not provide refunds or credits for any partial subscription periods."

"Linspire wouldn't be the company it is, nor have nearly as good of products, if it were not for our dedicated Insiders. "

Linspire would not exist if it where not for GNU/Linux and the free developpers , your insiders have little to do with most of your products , yes some are among the brightest I have seen, but they cant compensate for people like you who dont do there jobs and who employ proven loosing strategy for GNU/Linux.

http://www.linspire.com/featured_partner/featured_partner.php?sent=...

I must say I am really impressed by your Canadian Division , I bet it dont even exist at Linspire , 2 company , one dont even sale hardware and both dont sale your insider program.