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First Mandrake 9.1 Review Out
icantblvitsnotbutter writes "With Mandrake Linux 9.1 right around the corner, it's OSNews first out of the gates with a review of this desktop-oriented distro's latest release. The review is actually pretty bland, skimming the surface to linger on some of Eugenia's pet peeves. Having used 9.1 in a production environment since beta 3, I can say that the improvements to the installation and the signature Mandrake tools are much-appreciated. Don't forget that Mandrake Club members get their own set of mirrors, as well as being eligible for extras like the voting process that selected the packages for the 9.1 release." Update: 03/25 18:29 GMT by T : anyweb also points out a review of Red Hat Linux 9 on the same site, writing "an informative article -- well I had to say that, I wrote it ;-)"
They are going through the French equivalent of bankruptcy IIRC. They are restructuring themselves and ridding themselves of unprofitable ventures. I can't remember if they have emerged from bankruptcy or not, but development on Mandrake Linux never really stopped.
Why, o why must the sky fall when I've learned to fly?
Too many people are distro-biggots so they assume everybody is, thanks for the comment..
You use betas in your production environment and we're supposed to listen to you? :)
The design of X11, and its current implementation, allows for too many different dialog styles and interfaces - it's not standardized
What in the world does this have to do with X? That's the job of the various Desktop Enviroments / Window Managers, not X.
If you're complaining that there are several different ways of doing things *and have the choice between them* and are also finding that freedom a problem, go back to Windows. BillyG will be glad to have you back.
I'm not a prophet or a stone-age man,
I'm just a mortal with potential of a super man.
Mandrake was the first distro I ran, and I got no end of shit for that from some hardcore linux people. That stigma seems to have moderated. I have tried Mandrake versions 7.1, 7.2, 8.0, and I might futz around with 9.1. The thing is that I see RedHat as being around for the long haul, and I am not so sure about Mandrake. I'm using RedHat in production servers as I write this, but I don't think I'd be comfortable doing the same with Mandrake.
To some extent, I realize that I am falling victim to "everyone goes where everyone is" thinking rather than looking at underlying technical issues, but it really sucks when a vendor that you rely on for critical stuff goes belly-up on you. I am not trying to flame Mandrake -- I have used and I like their stuff. I am just concerned about their finances and whether they will be there for me in five or ten years.
GF.
Lots of petrified grits
That's the equivalent of "If it compiled, it must be good code."
The spell checker and grammar checker are never an excuse for releasing articles with errors!
Yes, I realize he put a smiley at the end, but I've seen this kind of attitude all too often. If there are errors, it is always the fault of the author and not the spell checker!
(I'm sure someone will point out some error I made in this comment, but I'm not shirking responsibility! All errors are the fault of the author and not Office, OpenOffice, Slashcode or anything else!)
Never confuse feeling with thinking.
What site does a better job in terms of covering Operating System related News? This site doesn't have nearly as many articles. ENews is vastly more surface oriented. Most other sites only focus on a particular OS, and are terrible in terms of comparison.
.... Biases of the reviews come through quickly. Cars are probably the easiest things to compare in that they are:
Comparing products is very difficult. How many good comparisons do you see of: Oracle, SQL Server, DB2 vs. Postgres
a) Fairly static
b) Very similar to one another
c) Functionality is understood by almost everyone
d) Expensive enough that people are willing to do a detailed comparison
Yet people still need "test drive" because they can't get good information.
I think the quality of article on OSNews, especially Eugena's stuff is very good. Personally I don't care about UI nearly as much as she does, but at least she does detailed comparative work in a broad area of interest which is far more than I can say for virtually every other internet site.
Funny enough I don't like the UI on her board but...
I always figured the irrational hatred toward Eugenia resulted from the fact that she isn't afraid to point out all the goofy UI problems and less-than-perfect features of Linux distros. Devotees of that particular distribution get uppity and defensive and make excuses while criticizing her spelling or something, when she's actually right. I guess people are too used to reading Linux reviews from Linux sites, instead of Linux reviews from a site that's not immediately pro-anything-running-Linux.
By the way, she's criticized BeOS before; for instance, 5's poor font rendering.
How are you going to learn how to use Debian if you can't get it installed? Most Linux users don't have any friends, never mind friends that can come over to their place and teach them how to install a distro.
That said, it is worth noting that you CAN learn a hell of a lot using Mandrake. I used it for just under a year as my primary OS before ditching Windows, and just over a year before switching to Debian. The install was fine, but trying to get my devices working, bootloader booting, and things like that would have forced me to reinstall Windows had I not learned such things under Mandrake.
If you think that Mandrake is without problems, then you surely haven't used it. And even if it did everything perfectly, it wouldn't matter since most people would rather install their OS and be using it an hour later, not recompiling crap or trying to make their mouse work.
It is a sad day when people put down an operating system because it "just works."