Does anybody know what is happening with Netraverse the company who makes Win4Lin? They appear to have closed down, their offices are shut down and phones disconnected. Their internal user newsgroup is saying most of their developers have been fired. Their Web site (www.netraverse.com) looks like business for ususal. I wonder what happens if you try to buy anything from them - I'll let somebody else find out that one :( I guess it is welcome back to Wine for me... Sarah
Laurence P. Toenjes
2001-Aug-17 15:44 UTC
Netraverse Win4Lin in trouble or out of busienss?
sarahegbert00@yahoo.com (Sarah Egbert) wrote in message news:<d267d1c5.0108160824.75aec072@posting.google.com>...> Does anybody know what is happening with Netraverse the company who > makes Win4Lin? They appear to have closed down, their offices are shut > down and phones disconnected. Their internal user newsgroup is saying > most of their developers have been fired. > > Their Web site (www.netraverse.com) looks like business for ususal. I > wonder what happens if you try to buy anything from them - I'll let > somebody else find out that one :( > > I guess it is welcome back to Wine for me... > > SarahFalse alarm ? I just called a phone number on their (NeTraverse) web site, it did work. The lady I spoke with told me they had just moved into a different building.
sarahegbert00@yahoo.com (Sarah Egbert) wrote in message news:<d267d1c5.0108160824.75aec072@posting.google.com>...> Does anybody know what is happening with Netraverse the company who > makes Win4Lin? They appear to have closed down, their offices are shut > down and phones disconnected. Their internal user newsgroup is saying > most of their developers have been fired. > > Their Web site (www.netraverse.com) looks like business for ususal. I > wonder what happens if you try to buy anything from them - I'll let > somebody else find out that one :( > > I guess it is welcome back to Wine for me... > > SarahYes they having some sort of problem this is what their CEO just posted to their user group email list. Sort of sucks they have not owned up to this publically - From: "James Curtin" <jcurtin@netraverse.com> Subject: [Win4Lin-users]Re: Netraverse out of business? Date: Fri, 17 Aug 2001 13:19:38 -0500 Dear Users, Thank you for your support and your concern. Rumors running rampant are in no one's interest - so in the interest of putting these at ease, let me explain what is happening. We are not unaffected by the current drought in capital spending and capital investing. Like most companies, we are doing our best to manage in this environment. We have scaled back our headcount and have retained, by internal consensus, the key engineering resources and support resources(and management and marketing and business development) to preserve the value of our company and product. No, we have not cut all our development staff. We have 18 people on payroll and 3 others on commission. The majority of the 18 are development and support. We did lose some folks that were active on the user lists and in supporting customers, but we have retained our best and most motivated engineers. Our imperative is to get in the black as quickly as possible - we are almost there. The founders and original investors in the company have been carrying the shortfall, but revenue growth and/or new investment is needed to keep things going over the long run. Fortunately, our web sales are picking up, our retail sales in the US are starting to grow, we have just added distribution in 10 new countries, we have signed on (in the past month) 25 VARs in the US and Canada and new customers continue to fill the direct sales pipeline. We also continue to have a number of active investor prospects. The good news is that Linux, and our products, are geared towards weathering down markets. We believe that we offer users a compelling opportunity to increase reliability and security while lowering costs with respect to Desktop Total Cost of Ownership. Of course, you folks, as our customers know this. (BTW, our marketing department could always use your testimonials and anecdotal benefits - always, love to hear them). Of course, the scaling back has not been easy - some good people have moved on - but, we are continuing to add new functionality and are continuing to work on new releases (some exciting features will be coming over the next weeks and months). We are also maintaining our customer support. We continue to provide email support as usual. Our telephone support for partners and large customers is also still in place. We have never offered phone support for retail and consumer customers, though we are happy to provide whatever support we can as needed. Our situation with Computer Associates is not exactly as rumored. We have a worldwide, perpetual, exclusive, irrevocable, etc, etc, etc... license from Computer Associates. When we finish paying off a certain royalty amount, the copyright transfers to us and we then 'own' the technology. What we have today is the equivalency of ownership as Computer Associates themselves have no right to sell the product. This is a non-issue and whoever started the rumor did not understand the issue. We maintain the highest respect and appreciation for our customers. We have tremendous pride in our product. We are confident the current downsizing measures will achieve the desired results. We appreciate - and need - your continued support. This is a great product and your help in getting the word out, and generating new sales, is the most fundamental ingredient to our success. I hope that this note answers your questions. We are not going out of business. We are taking appropriate measures to ensure that. We are taking these measures with a view to continue the development of the product and the support of our customers. Thanks, again, for your support. Jim James P. Curtin President and CEO NeTraverse, Inc.