>They were bought in '98 by the former state-owned KPN
As if they couldn't avoid it. The owners of XS4ALL sold the business to KPN. They knew what KPN was going to do with it (dismantle all the "cool" stuff) and didn't care, they just wanted their cash.
They were bought in 1998 and managed to keep their unique way of doing things for 20 years afterwards? Sounds like the founders negotiated a seriously good outcome.
I really don't understand how you can call anyone a sellout with a spectacular outcome like that. Most acquisitions go like "nothing will change, pinky promise!" and then 6 weeks later "oh btw we're discontinuing $WHY_YOU_LOVED_US".
>They were bought in '98 by the former state-owned KPN
As if they couldn't avoid it. The owners of XS4ALL sold the business to KPN. They knew what KPN was going to do with it (dismantle all the "cool" stuff) and didn't care, they just wanted their cash.