Foreign currency hedges

Google blames, yet IBM credits foreign currency hedges, for losses and profits, respectively:

The results were much sunnier than those posted by Google Inc and Microsoft Corp, which both missed analysts’ targets, with the software maker citing a tough U.S. economy and Google blaming expenses for foreign currency hedges.

IBM Chief Financial Officer Mark Loughridge told a conference call U.S. business grew in the quarter, the weak dollar helped IBM and that currency hedges would help it mitigate any strengthening of the dollar next year. It was difficult not to say IBM was ahead on reaching its 2010 profit target, he concluded.

… IBM gets about two-thirds of its revenue from outside the United States.

Source: “IBM profit tops targets, forecast up” from Reuters, Jul 17 2008, emphasis added.

Why I love Perl

Why I love Perl: Brought to you by gVim

Cheers!

Motivations driving embedded Linux

LinuxDevices.com ran a poll on corporate embedded Linux use; 812 people responded.  Highlights below.

Top 10 motives to develop embedded FLOSS

9. Which factor(s) will have the greatest influence on your choice of an embedded Linux source?
Cost	11.3 %
Documentation	9.5 %
Technical support	6.8 %
Ease of installation	4.9 %
Completeness of distribution	7.4 %
Development tools	12.1 %
Availability of device drivers	9.9 %
Minimized footprint	5.8 %
Real-time responsiveness	6.1 %
Availability of free, modifiable source code	13.7 %

Source: “2008 Embedded Linux Market Survey”, linuxdevices.com

Questions on cost structure:

12. Would you consider paying per-unit royalties to your embedded Linux OS vendor?
Yes	11.5 %
Undecided	16.5 %
No	66.5 %
Question does not apply	5.4 %
13. Would you consider paying for Linux development/support services?
Yes	60.8 %
Undecided	15.5 %
No	19.8 %
Question does not apply	3.8 %

Source: ibid.

Company size

20. How many people work at your company?
1-25	33.2 %
25-49	13.5 %
50-99	9.9 %
100-499	14.1 %
500-999	4 %
1000+	19.3 %
Question does not apply	5.6 %

In conclusion, while the ininitial reasons vary greatly, very small and rather large companies comprise the majority of embedded Linux developers.  What’s more, most companies are willing to pay for development (NRE) and support costs, but unwilling to pay per-unit royalties.