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Interview With Gaël Duval of Mandrake Linux
jukal writes "Open for Business's Timothy R. Butler talked with Mandrake co-founder Gaël Duval about the company's past, present, and future. Worth a read, clip: "GD: For one year, we had a so-called "World Class Management" team that left us in a very bad financial situation, and engaged the company in ventures (such as e-learning) that we should never have been involved with. But that's all part of our history now, so I'd prefer to not dwell too much on that. ""
is it that the saying at the bottom of the /. page was:
"All problems are the fault of the last person who quit, until some else quits"?
"problems? why, there the fault of world class managment, hrumph. hurumph. eveythings fine now though."
I don't know there situation, and this isn't a comment about Mandrake per se, but I founf the coincidence very funny.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
Plan v1.0
1. Employ "World-class Management"
2. ???
3. Profit!
Oops, that didn't work, let's try v2.0
1. ???
2. ???
3. Profit!
Considering that Mandrake has a much stronger policy regarding Free Software than Red Hat, I find that interesting.
Either that, or IHBT.
Yep
Why is it unethical? I remember as a newbie I had lots of problems getting X up and running in slackware, and just generally having how I want. So I tried RedHat, that was a lot easier. Then I gave KDE a shot, and woah!! Wasn't that a breeze!!
I fail to see why just because it was easier, it was "unethical". Things shouldn't have to be difficult just because they can be.
I think many other newbies are the same as me, and maybe it's a sad reflection of my generation, but slackware (and at times redhat) took too long to do what I wanted when I was learning. I want to make some changes, compile, see the difference. I dont want hours upon hours of trawling config files when I'm learning, I want immediate reflection of my actions so I can learn it quicker.
Once I'm learning it, and starting to actually understand what I'm doing... then I'm willing to spend hours understanding it in more depth.
More power to KDE, if it wasn't for them I probably would have walked away altogether, and I'm sure many others are the same.
Glenn
The Smrt way to trade CFDs on the ASX
to me Mandrake is still RedHat+KDE ... Am I the only one?
I used to think the same thing.
I'm a pretty die-hard Debian fan (100% of my server installations have been Debian for the last year). However, when Woody came out, officially, I tore my desktop apart (time for a backup of critical and wipe of the garbage I'd been collecting). I tried Woody.. liked it just as much as any debian I'd tried (started with slink)... I I also decided to try Mandrake9.0beta (since my machine was in a "confused" state, anyway).
I've used Mandrake before (7.1+). It was always "decent", but had its problems.. I must say I'm impressed with 9.0, and I'm running GNOME on top of it right now, as my primary (home) desktop, as I type.
It's no longer just Redhat + KDE. RedHat can do that on its own.
With 9.0, my opinion is that Mandrake is finally holding its own. It's actually decent to work with, and while I miss apt-get (and can't find a decent MDK-9 apt-rpm repository) greatly, I honestly can't be bothered trying to get all my stuff working on Debian, where with Mandrake, it all works nearly out of the box. And it's no longer impossible to find config files (they're starting to be, for the most part, where you'd expect them).
I'm not bashing Debian, by any means.. just praising Mandrake (9).
S
Uou. That is to me some pretty cool idea. I am not sure this is the way to go, but it sounds promising. The other viable model for Mandrake would be to sell solutions (customized desktop environments plus support) to big companies, which is what redhat seems to be trying to do with their upcoming "corporate desktop" thing. Mandrake should go ahead in the same direction. They have a much more polished desktop product.
The above quote is the answer to one question out of about a dozen. 3 lines out of a 150 line article. And is misrepresenative of the article. Duval answers the question and moves on. He tries not to bitch, he tries not to complain. What's this "I love X distro, Mandrake sucks!" crap?
I mod this Slashdot story -1 Troll. Despite the fact it was a decent interview.
If you don't use Mandrake that's fine. Is it kind of a Newbie-Linux distro? You could argue that. It was the first distro I used.
There is place in the Linux-world for as many distros as anyone wants to put out. Deal with it.
"Am I the only one?"
In a word, yes. You may have been around for awhile but you obviously haven't tried Mandrake for years. They ceased being Redhat+KDE about 2 years ago.
Mandrake has steadily built a strong foundation over the years of opensource tools it readily shares with others. Rpmdrake, harddrake, drakgw (the gateway/internet sharing frontend), there are dozens of good tools.
Mandrake also tries to stay as free as possible, as in speech and as in beer. The only cash they care about now is the cash that feeds their developers. Reading the article pretty much reveals this point better than I can express it though.
Bottom line: Mandrake != Redhat+KDE.
Mandrake is still RedHat+KDE
Amendment to your statement sir: Mandrake is RedHat+KDE+more flexible installation+insane internationalization support+excellent config tools+an upgrade procedure that *actually* works! (at least for me, it did)
Not only am I using Mandrake on the desktop, I'm beginning to get friends into it w/ dual booting and jut today I used their minimum installation option for a server and I was *highly* pleased at how compact and easy it was. Last RedHat ver I tried was 7.1 and the same config would have probably forced me to install 500+ meg of software, vs. only 150 for mandrake and I splurged on documentation packages and some other niceties I wouldn't have otherwise! (this box will be doing mac&windows file sharing, as well as doubling as a mysql+php test server. Don't ask me why, ask the client.)
I'm done with sigs. Sigs are lame.
You might already know this by now, but the Mandrake version of apt-get is 'urpmi'. So long as you have sources set up in MandrakeUpdate/rpmdrake, you can launch urpmi at any time to update any package.
FYI...not preaching or anything. If you'd like more info on urpmi, feel free to contact me (taking a look at my spam-free email address first of course).
This wasn't just plain terrible, this was fancy terrible. This was terrible with raisins in it. - Dorothy Parker
I think poster didn't mean ease-of-use being unethical, but more the idea of starting not from scratch but by using somebody else's distribution as the starting point (in this case, Red Hat)? That is, attitude along the lines "but isn't it just a RedHat rip-off with KDE"?
I like paying taxes. With them I buy civilization -- Oliver Wendell Holmes
Perhaps there was no money to be made from e-learning related products/services? Or is there something fundamentally profitable in e-learning that I haven't heard of?
I like paying taxes. With them I buy civilization -- Oliver Wendell Holmes
ahhh... the sweet sweet juice of a fresh debian server. how i love thee...
:)
seriously tho - setting up a debian server as I post (apt-getting apache-ssl right now). making $70/hr to do it from my livingroom couch...
recession? i know no stinkin' recession! LIFE IS GOOD!
<dawning-flame-retardent-3-piece-suit/>
<watch-karma-drop-like-rock/>
http://kered.org
Press Release
Andre M. Boisvert to Join VA Software's Board of Directors
FREMONT, Calif. -- March 20, 2002 -- VA Software Corporation (Nasdaq:LNUX), provider of the Source Forge(TM) collaborative software development platform, today announced that Andre M. Boisvert, former President of SAS Institute Inc. and software industry veteran, has joined the VA Software Board of Directors. [after being fired from everywhere else]
Napster-to-go says "Fill and refill your compatible MP3 player", which is a lie. It's not MP3. It's WMA with DRM.
You're not the only one but you need to look harder because you are prejudiced. The Mandrake team had done some fine work and it's not just a desktop distro anymore. I suspect that I'll get flamed by a number of other people who refuse to even try Mandrake but oh well. Mandrake has put together an up to date, secure, easy to install, easy to upgrade, feature rich distribution. That takes a lot of work regardless of the fact that they forked off RedHat some years ago. They have a strong support community as well. Their business model is a bit odd... I don't really think that a company that's based on a "street performer philosophy" should focus much on stock prices. Anyway, although I'm a big fan of Debian, Gentoo and some of the micro disros I still enjoy my Mandrake boxes and I look forward to 9.0.
The months have passed and I have discovered that the "benefits" were only marketing "painting"
the extra rpms were in their vast majority obtainable from their vendors
StarOffice 6.0 - well, you actually pay for it. Only 120$+ members can get it, not the 60$ ones
the unsupported rpms, made by volunteers, sometimes cause more trouble than .tar.gz source compiling
direct trading ? yeah sure, what a benefit. Even if I were investing with my heart, I would still prefer a regular stock market.
not to mention that we, mandrake club members, don't even have a priority ftp!
Overall, I don't consider I was ripped off. The quality of Mandrake is reasonably good. And because the distro is so user-friendly I'm actually migrating my girlfriend to Linux as well (with some Codeweavers help). But there's no real advantage in MDK Club, and I fear the worst for Mandrake in the next year, when the 2001 March memberships will expire.
The Raven
The Raven
Yeah but how does that give them a much stronger policy regarding Free Software than Red Hat who have also always made their tools GPL and AFAIK distribute no non-free software at all?
Australian? Join EFA
Sure enough, the new CEO gets into some hot water in about a year and decides he has to open the first letter. Inside it says "Blame everything on me." He goes out and blames everything on his predecessor and the problem goes away.
Some more time passes and the CEO gets into some more hot water. He opens the second letter. Inside it says "Sit down and write two letters..."
All movements for social change begin as missions, evolve into businesses, and end up as rackets.
Malcom Gladwell of the New Yorker recently wrote an article about some of the problems with "World Class" management teams, and in general, certain myths revolving around the concept of "talent". It's an excellent read.
Libertarianism is rich wolves and poor sheep playing gambler's ruin for dinner.
I kinda thought that was part of the point of open source. I know I've heard "if you don't like it, fork & do what you want with it (provide the source if you distribute)" before.
jred
I'm not a mechanic but I play one in my garage...
Eventually put in 120 bucks . . .
.
-The extra downloads are "extra" (consist of commercial packages) and only attainable from the Mandrake packaged distro not the mirrors. I don't think other vendors let you download Star Office.
-Star Office is like $72 . . . you wanted it for $60 and were considering this charity?(for who?)
-unsupported rpms are "unsupported," but I haven't had any trouble (are you using urpmi?). Plus, I found Mplayer that way, which has been worth the $120 (since I don't have enought time to find such software on my own)
-direct trading only applies if you wanna own their stock, but this really is a revolution in the trading of equity (all they did is put up a little system that allows you to trade stock at volumes as low as 50 shares, without having to pay a 3rd party commission. Nothing special EXCEPT no other company seems to be doing this . . . ). So let me get this straight . . . if you had the choice, you would prefer to pay a 3rd party commission just to buy a stock that you have already decided to buy?
- As far as the priority ftp goes . . . it is unfortunate. However, if you spent some time reading posts at mandrakeclub you would know that something of that nature appears to be in the works . .
I'm sorry the club isn't what you expected but calling it charity seems a bit of an extreme. I wish you could be more specific about what you want out of the club instead of what you don't like.
". . . I fear the worst for Mandrake in the next year, when the 2001 March memberships will expire."
Mandrake 9.0 seems like it will bring in a lot of new members and another 13 new members joined in the last 24 hours so it doesn't seem as bad as you think. Of course, spreading your discontent here, instead of at Mandrakeclub really isn't helping the situation much (though I am sure a lot of mandrake folks visit slashdot on a regular basis).
In conclusion, I really just joined at first to help insure that the distro would continue. The "services" (call them what you like) were really just extra treats. Since I graduated college, I really don't have time to fool around with Linux the way I used to. My job, though it pays well, treats me like a drone and does not allow me to implement most of what I learned during my days in college (both from classes and from playing with Linux). Mandrake is easy enough for me to still play with during my short breaks and the mandrakeclub allows me to give something back since I don't have enough time to learn how to code. Oddly, I don't consider either side of the realationship to be "charity."
Sdelat' Ameriku velikoy Snova!
I don't know how long it may have taken a genius like you, but it took all of two seconds to figure out that, yes I can download, and no, I don't have to pay for it.
What do you think that Mandrake is supposed to let you download without knowing that people's livelihoods rely on your payment? Do you think they should take you out to dinner too?
For someone who wants to USE their computer, Mandrake has the best distribution out there. There's a small learning curve compared to your other "high performance" Linux distros. They should get paid for that, or at least you should acknowledge that yes, you do want to take from the mouths of the people that put it together.
Mandrake sells Free software. They've held up to their end of the bargain. Schmucks like you who'd prefer to i-opener Mandrake and then bitch when they make you think about it should just go back to downloading your Warezed OS of choice and leave the good-guys alone.
I for one appreciate the value added by Mandrake. I appreciate that they are trying to protect the interests of the company by letting freeloaders^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H downloaders know that they are, in fact, abusing the system upon which they rely.
You schmucks should go back to Warez; give the little guys a chance before you i-opener them into oblivion.
Notes From Under *nix: blas.phemo.us
Well you have never worked on enterprise class systems. I work in a Sun and Windows shop and both systems have a place. For large enterprise databases you aren't going to run Intel servers they don't scale. Intel really only scales to four processers, with briding componets eight. But the eight-way server have a performance hit for the bridging. Yes, there are the datacenter servers but they are a even bigger kludge. Sun hardware is designed from the CPU up to scale from one CPU up. Plus dynamic reconfiguration. Try replacing memory or a CPU in a Intel server without shutting it down. Then the bus design on Sun, and ability to split servers into multiple domains. Then clustering the Windows clustering is weak only handling two nodes and four in some case. In fact on Windows I use Veritas clustering for up to 32 nodes and multiple heartbeat support. Intel hardware is good for small to medium systems, not large and enterprise class servers.
If downloaders are freeloaders, doesn't that make Mandrake a freeloader, too? After all, they do have LOTS of open source software. They even built upon another distro themselves. Plus, its not really ethical to force people to lie (click here if you're a member) is it? Especially when they're obligated by the GPL to offer the software for free, and they've got lots of nonprofit orgs providing them with free mirrors.
I have a solution that would allow Mandrake to avoid what you would consider their current hipocracy.
They can post a link which says:
"We got most of our software for free and then tweaked it, mostly with the help of a large group of volunteers. However, we packaged it, and while we can't legally require you to pay for it, you should anyway. Click now here to see the list of mirrors."
I give out my code for free. Other coders give theirs out for free. That's how the system works. Mandrake is just using the system to make money. Abusing the system would mean charging money for things you're not allowed to charge for, that is, not giving out your code for free.
The little guys of open-source aren't in it for the money. They do it because they like it. I speak as one who uses one of the little distros which made it into the top 10 less than a month after it went beta, and which still doesn't make money (and doesn't plan to). And I have contributed a couple of improvements of my own to my disto.
Mod me down and I will become more powerful than you can possibly imagine!
We were interested until the moment we realized that, although possessing a good distro with a significant user base, MandrakeSoft would never be a successful company because it never had a business plan. (Pause here for a chuckle at the thought of "world class management team")
I have all the respect in the world for people who code/invent/create for the pleasure of that moment of coding/invention/creation and do not say that all such moments need be related to an eventual profitmaking plan. However, I do ask that from a company who asks us for millions with the promise of return in the (not so far) future.
This is where you will ask about the ingenious subscription/donation plan of MandrakeSoft. In my humble opinion as a financial investor, this revenue model will probably keep the company afloat, but will never make it a very profitable company, because the subscribers/donators are only agreeing to this because they wish to see MandrakeSoft survive, not to see it thrive! Once the company starts making a little profit, these revenues will stop. In short, with its current "business model" based on subscriptions/donations MandrakeSoft can and will probably be a non-profit organization that can cover its costs... maybe with tiny little profits if its supporters are feeling particularly generous that quarter.
RedHat entering the business desktop market is not good news for MandrakeSoft either - that is one market they could have earned real money from and now that chance is going... going... gone. How can they possibly compete? I have a company that already runs RedHat, who also provides me the service I need. Who am I going to choose for the desktops - RedHat or MandrakeSoft?
I hope MandrakeSoft survives. They do cool software. However, their story would make a brilliant Harvard Business Review and should be taught in schools to show the perils of going ahead with an idea without a thought of how you intend to eventually make money with it.
In case that wasn't clear enough: I can't stand beggars, and they stand no chance to get any money from me. On the other hand, I'm handing out a lot of money to street musicians. So, what's the difference?
BEGGAR: this guy attempts to get money from me by showing how miserable he is. For many of them, begging is a profession of choice. Others really end up being beggars out of misery, but I live in supposedly "social state", pay high taxes, and demand from my goverment to take care of people who can't take care of themselves. Begging is a shame.
MUSICIAN (anod other street performers): These guys entertain me, make my kid happy, and generally "make my day". I WANT to give them some money, because I WANT to see them again. Beeing a street performer is not very lucrative job (they can only reach very small public), but there is no shame in doing it. On the contrary, a town withouth street performers would IMO be a very sad place.
MandrakeLinux will remain free as a bird if and only if we can afford it. No money no show, so we have following possible scenarios:
.-)
.-)
1) Enough MandrakeLinux users understand the fact that producing the distribution costs, and join the Club/buy products form us so that MandrakeSoft can be a profitable and triving business.
The more $$ we get this way, the more important Club will become, and eventually we come to a point where MandrakeSoft primarly produces a distribution for Club members (i.e. collects requests of all types from Club members, and fullfills them as good as possible).
That's the one I would like to see.
2) MandrakeSoft gets much more money from B2B type of deals (OEM, professional training, high level services for companies, custom-made distributions) than it does from end users, and decides to "forget" about end-users. You can still download the distro, but nobody really cares about you anymore...
This may sound good at first (it saves you some money, no?), but in the end YOU will have to use the distribution which was made for busines customers - for better or for worse, and have no influence on its development anymore.
RedHat built their busines on this model. Nothing bad with it (I've used RH for years), but I prefer a distribution which is built to fit my needs...
3) Someone with a different vision takes over MandrakeSoft, and we put a special non-free licence on all the software which has been produced by MandrakeSoft. No more free downloads, no more Mandrake CDs from cheapbytes either...
SuSE managed to build their busines on this model, Caldera and TurboLinux failed. Personally i simply don't like it, even when it works.
4) Finally, there is also a possibility that MandrakeSoft may go bancrupt and disapear. This is definitively NOT the scenario I'm interested in.
They made a strong statement that this patent would be freely usable in any GPL-based code (and other approved licenses, like the IBM Public License, The Qt Public License. This also covers sale and other redistribution of free software.
They will probably require a patent-license for proprietary code, which is fine by me. This patent is mostly for leverage against other companies that have software patents.
"...we put a special non-free licence on all software which has been produced..."
More fine FUD from deno the Mandrakian.
Deno when are you going to stop lying out of your ass about other distros? I guess this would be the same time you stop deleting ever post from MandrakeForums that is slightly critical of Mandrake.
Wrong deno. SuSE doesn't put a special non-free license on all the software that they produce.
Of course Redhat went out and wrote everything from scratch. Wait a minute, they "stole" software from everywhere.
Mandrake was the result of someone loving a product but wanting to add something to it. Mandrake gained popularity because many other people wanted the same things(mainly KDE in beginning). Mandrake has done a lot of good things and given a lot of software, patches, etc. back to the community.
It's not like a lot of other people. "I'm going to take my ball and you can't play". This is all about making things better. Use what you want.
Get a life. GNU licence doesn't say "you have to put all your work on public FTP servers, in a most convenient form for downloaders, send a letter to every citizen with a list of these FTP servers, and kiss their asses."
As far as GNU licence goes, it would be perfectly OK to send CDs with sources of everything which is in the distribution
Sec 1:
You may copy and distribute verbatim copies of the Program's source code as you receive it, in any medium, provided that you conspicuously and appropriately publish on each copy an
appropriate copyright notice and disclaimer of warranty; keep intact all the notices that refer to this License and to the absence of any warranty; and give any other recipients of the Program a copy of this License along with the Program.
You may charge a fee for the physical act of transferring a copy, and you may at your option offer warranty protection in exchange for a fee
Got it? No need to make ANYTHING available for download on public servers, no need to provide ANY binaries to freeloaders, and a nominal fee for all the folks who ask for sources. Btw, sending these sources on 5 1/2` floppies by camel-post is (legaly) perfectly acceptable too.
It's even legally acceptable to put a proprietary licence for installer and configuration tools if you feel so...
It isn't NICE to do so, and MandrakeSoft is a nice company, but folks like you make me wonder...
Oh, sorry - I haven't noticed that Yast licence has been abandoned...
If downloaders are freeloaders, doesn't that make Mandrake a freeloader, too? After all, they do have LOTS of open source software. They even built upon another distro themselves. Plus, its not really ethical to force people to lie (click here if you're a member) is it? Especially when they're obligated by the GPL to offer the software for free, and they've got lots of nonprofit orgs providing them with free mirrors.
No, Mandrake is not a freeloader. The people at MandrakeSoft have created all-new software (most notably the Mandrake Installer) and have written a good chunk of code. They have worked to create an entirely new product which, while based on the products of others, does contain the fruit of their labour.
The labour was not provided without cost. In the article, two points are clearly made: 1) there are a substantial number of developers working daily at MandrakeSoft and 2) the result of these costs is that MandrakeSoft is not profitable, i.e. they are NOT making money because they are working too hard to make a better product for you who wish to download it for free. The GPL, contrary to your belief, does not preclude charging money for software. In fact, the idea that those who work should not receive any form of compensation is in itself absurd. If you are giving the fruit of your labour out under the GPL and did not want people making money from it, you chose the WRONG license. Perhaps a license such as that used for the Diku MUD code would better suit you.
The little guys of open-source aren't in it for the money. They do it because they like it. I speak as one who uses one of the little distros [gentoo.org] which made it into the top 10 less than a month after it went beta, and which still doesn't make money (and doesn't plan to). And I have contributed a couple of improvements of my own to my disto.
Let's face it. Right now any group producing a Linux distribution is a "little guy" in the Open Source world, with the possible exception of the NSA. And I don't know that any of them are currently profitable entities, though several are corporate entities. It would have been a better deal for all of them to be nonprofit orgs perhaps, and indeed this is the direction, again stated in the article, that Mandrake seems to be going. Of course the problem with this model is it makes it tougher to get the money which has driven all of this. I think you are forgetting there are costs involved no matter what, for servers and bandwidth and people to work on this stuff. This is why these groups who are providing the software you want are trying to find services people will pay money for to fund that work. And don't think just because you are firmly esconsced in some random distro of the month that hasn't figured out it might have a big bill from its provider yet you are not profiting from this work. People all over on different distros, including lots of coders working for corporations working often on employers paid time are making improvements to tools you care about as we type. It is good that you contribute code. I applaud that effort. I want to encourage it. But it is unfair for you to discourage people from contributing monetarily, or distros from asking for such contributions. In fact if you one day wish to be employed as a professional coder you will find it is helpful if the company you work for has money to pay you with.
The pursuit of money is a necessary evil in a Capitalist society. Money pays the rent and the electric and the help. Money makes this stuff possible. To deny this is folly. But then this is /. ...
AFAIK, RH has been a very good citizen as far as their policy towards free software goes.
One can easily argue that they don't care as much about "small users" as we do, but that's a completely different thing. Besides, one can't blame a company for maximizing the profits, as long as they adher to the letter and spirit of Free software movement.
In short, RH is a positive player in my book...
OK, my apologise.
I thought you simply want to troll/FUD, but it seems now you may be really concerned. No need: Mandrake distro including sources is on public servers all over the place (as soon as the distro is done), so we have absolutely no means to do anything along the lines you are worried about.
MandrakeSoft managment doesn't have the will to do anything of that type either (on the contrary), and the same is true to developers. If you want to look for some examples of the company which hesitate to publish the source code of the "derivare works", you are looking in a wrong direction.
Ever heard the phrase "don't shoot the messenger"? I'm well aware of Mandrake having been branched a while ago, and personally don't have problem with their approach. I was merely pointing out what the poster seemed to imply.
I like paying taxes. With them I buy civilization -- Oliver Wendell Holmes
Indeed. But keep in mind I didn't claim there's something unethical, just that the original poster said he did... and even he thought it's just this nagging feeling of something being wrong (instead of being something de jure wrong)
I like paying taxes. With them I buy civilization -- Oliver Wendell Holmes
> The Mandrake download page [linux-mandrake.com]
> requires you to either:
> A. Have previously *paid* them a minimum of $60
> OR
> B. *State* you *will* pay them a minimum of $60
> in future
> There is no other option that allows you to
> download their software.
Bear in mind, they're not required by the GPL to
provide a public anonymous ftp server. What they
_are_ required to do is to allow anyone who does
acquire their software to also acquire the source
code in similar fashion and with all the rights
that the license grants. Translation: they can
stop offering a public download and only sell the
boxed set (with sources included), but they can't
stop CheapBytes from purchasing one copy of the
boxed set and burning copies of all the freely-
licensed software in the distro and selling them
at a reduced price. The public download is a
service they choose to provide. Bear in mind that
bandwidth costs money. They would be completely
within their rights to shut down anonymous access
to their ftp server and supply accounts to paid
subscribers. Alternately, they could provide
accounts only to mirrors, and make everyone use
the mirrors instead of downloading from their own
server directly. That would save them a lot of
bandwidth and thus money. (Some of the mirrors
might not care for it, though...)
> What's to stop them hiking this 'download
> price' from $60 to $1000000?
Nobody is likely to pay that much.
Cut that out, or I will ship you to Norilsk in a box.