Slashdot Mirror
MandrakeSoft's Status Update
joestar writes "MandrakeSoft today posted an update letter from its CEO about the company's health. Among other things, it's interesting to learn that the company seems to be on the good track to go out of the "chapter-11 protection" before the end of the year, that it's taking part to several publicly-funded research projects, and that Mandrake 9.1 is having a good success. They also thank for the warm support they received from the community. Worth a read for all Mandrake fans, like myself. Viva la Mandrake!"
If they go out of Chapter 11, does that mean that my 175 shares of mandrake stock will be worth anything? It was doing okay, until they went bankrupt.
- tom -
Linux Weekly News just released (today) an interesting interview with Gaël Duval, the creator of Mandrake Linux. He covers topics such as the Mandrake Club business model, Linux on the desktop and the SCO lawsuit, and others. It's on: http://lwn.net/Articles/38405/
I agree completely. Mandrake 9.1 is a really great desktop Linux. I tried RH9. Didn't detect my SB Audigy, still hate RPM, even with up2date. Mandrake 9.1 detected everything, including my crappy Epson USB printer, configured everything, DrakRPM is a wonderful tool.
If I continue to use this, I'll probably buy the 9.2 pack to support Mandrake. If you're looking for a desktop to try, Mandrake 9.1 is fabulous.
</happy rant>
Overrated / Underrated : Moderation
The figures are available at MandrakeClub.com:e rs_List
http://www.mandrakeclub.com/modules.php?name=Memb
The page states: "We have 15883 registered users so far."
MandrakeSoft CEO: We're not quite dead!
SCO: Since the near fatal wounding of MandrakeSoft--
CEO: We're getting better!
SCO: For, since MandrakeSoft... who, when they seemed about to recover, suddenly felt the icy hand of lawsuits upon them,...[ugh]
CEO: Oh, we're bankrupt!
SCO: And I want MandrakeClub to look upon me... as their own CEO -- in a very real, and legally binding sense.
At the risk of repeating myself...
One of the biggest stumbling blocks to the adoption of Linux on the desktop has been the nerdish nature of the whole installation, configuration and user experience
Ok, I'll bite. I've never installed Windows or Linux. It's always, like, just there (or not). Anyway, as a joint owner of a mainly Open Source based company I thought it was time I tried installing Linux on my home PC (my sysadm's already taken care of my work PC for me, I never touch the config stuff).
So I take three Mandrake 9.1 disks home. Whack them in my CDRom. I had to worry about how much disk space to leave poor old Windows and ignore the "warning, warning, make sure you have backups" prompts. Phew. Spin spin spin everything is installed, even sorted out that it was my external modem that is really used to connect to the internet. When the PC powers on I can chose Windows or Linux - sorry I still need to test our software for Windows users.
Who am I? A user of desktop tools, email, office the internet. A typical office worker who gets techies to help out whenever anything goes wrong. If any one can suggest a replacement for MSProject (clients like the pictures) I'll be off MS completely.
So, its official, as of last week I can confirm that Linux *is* ready for the desktop - go Mandrake and all those Gnome, KDE, OpenOffice, Gimp, Evolution etc etc developers.
-- Free software on every PC on every desk
I have bought Mandrake , not because i had to but because i chose to. Even thought we all accept that Free Software mainly refers to freedom of speach , we always use the "free as in beer" part. .. i have paid a truckload of money for MS and thought it reasonable in the past. Now that i found something that i actually enjoy, will i let it die?
I bought Mandrake because i believe i should support a company that contributes to Linux.
I could have copied or downloaded it, but i thought that if everyone did that then there would be no Mandrake (and indeed they were close). Can anyone guess how the Linux world would be without the Large Distros? No. Linux would not disappear but much less people would make the step of trying it and less people would use it as a platform , consequently less people would write software for it.
So buying you Linux is not a curse. You don't have to. But when possible, support your vendor.
I mean
Slashdot Sig. version 0.1alpha. Use at your own risk.
I've been progressively educating my parents about using Linux, and a few months ago swapped one of their 2 PCs over to Lycoris. My parents didn't really see it as significantly different to Windows, but kept having problems at approximately the same rate as they did under Windows. I knew I wouldn't be faced with the regular 6-9 month full rebuild of the box any more, but the trivial end-user problems kept going at about the same rate.
Two weeks ago, I swapped that same PC over to Mandrake 9.1. It's now become mum's full-time PC, meaning that she doesn't work on the other, Windows PC at all. Dad's now starting to play with Gimp on Mandrake; his most common app is Photoshop on Windows. Dad's now asked me to let him dual boot the Windows PC, so he can run both Windows and Mandrake on it.
As far as I'm concerned, this is the most ringing endorsement possible for Mandrake's useability. While my parents are smart people, they're from a non-PC generation and sometimes struggle with concepts like folders and filenames. For whatever reason, Mandrake, even though it still uses folders and filenames, has let them get beyond the point they were at with Windows, and now I'm getting asked "can I do gamma transforms with Gimp like I do in Photoshop?" rather than "where's my file gone?"...
Not even any vendors on PriceGrabber.com have 9.1 for sale
So the only people in the US using Mandrake are freeloaders downloading iso's, with a fraction of those joining Mandrake Club.
If Mandrake wants to survive, they have to find a way to revive their US channel sales.
Mandrake is the best distribution for those who want to make a transition to Linux. Even if they're not really profitable, there will always be a niche.
It's just like AOL. It's turned a lot of people on to the 'internet' (or at least something like it). You don't start people who have no idea about the internet out with a shell account. Same goes for Linux -- if someone who is comfortable in Windows who knows enough to know the difference, then give them a copy of Mandrake -- don't start them out with Debian or gentoo. Therefore, I think that Mandrake will be around for a long time -- as long as there are people who want to learn how to use Linux.
So the only way to see how many members are in the Mandrake Club is to actually join?
Yes.
Yeah right, people arent going to join unless they can see how many members have joined before them, they dont want to feel like they are wasting their money.
Except for those 15,000 people. Uhh.. what?
15,000 however is alot of members, I think if Mandrake can double that number they'd be fine. What mandrake needs is to keep a stat on their website which in realtime tells exactly how many members they have. Its important for people to know if they are helping a business which is dying, or if they are helping a business which is thriving.
Why is it important? What difference does this make at all? If it's a good company, with a good product than they deserve to be helped.
Anybody who thinks they can get something for their buck, even if it's just piece of mind, should part with it and join the MandrakeClub. Fuck thinking if it's helping a prosperous or doomed company.
Dacels Jewelers can't be trusted.
I've been a Mandrake user since 7.0 and I must say that Mandrake 9.1 is far and away the best release I have used.
As far as hardware compatibility, let me say that Mandrake 7.1 through 8.1 would not install on my computer; 8.2 installed with difficultly, 9.0 worked fine but the install wasn't painless, but 9.1 installed perfectly the first time.
Plus, 9.1 configured everything right the first time, without asking me any stupid questions. For example, it auto-detected my DCHP server and set up my network connection without needing to ask me. That's not such a huge deal for me as an experienced user, but for a novice that sort of automation could make all the difference. (In case you're interested, it *did* give me an opportunity to change all the settings it had automatically configured, in case I wanted to do anything unusual or special. It's important to have that option too.)
With the professional feel and slick installer, I'm not surprised that Mandrake 9.1 sales are going well.
I'm excited about 9.2 and I plan on buying it too, but wonder how much improvement it can really show. Because for the first time, I have a distribution that does (almost) everything I want.
we are happy to report that since January MandrakeSoft has been 'cash-flow positive'. Our immediate goal is to exit from this status before the end of the current year.
Okay, either there's a small mistake in that statement, or I think I may have found their problem ;)
TPF
There's Group-captain Lionel Mandrake, from the movie "Dr. Strangelove, or how I learned to stop worrying and love the bomb". He's the RAF officer who tries to stop the American General Ripper from launching a full-scale nuclear war. Perhaps it's supposed to signify their relationship to a certain someone?
;)
General Ballmer: Mandrake, do you recall what Stallman once said about code?
Group Capt. Mandrake: No, I don't think I do, sir, no.
General Ballmer: He said code was too important to be left to the corporations. When he said that, 30 years ago, he might have been right. But today, code is too important to be left to hackers. They have neither the time, the training, nor the inclination for strategic thought. I can no longer sit back and allow GNU/Communist infiltration, GNU/Communist indoctrination, GNU/Communist subversion and the international GNU/Communist conspiracy to sap and impurify all of our precious source code.
...
General Ballmer: Mandrake, do you realize that in addition to open-sourcing OSes, why, there are studies underway to open-source web browsers, spreadsheets, mail clients, compilers, drivers, servers... games. Games, Mandrake, children's games.
Group Capt. Mandrake: Lord, Jack.
General Ballmer: You know when open-sourcing first began?
Group Capt. Mandrake: I... no, no. I don't, Jack.
General Ballmer: Nineteen hundred and eighty-four. Nineteen eighty-four, Mandrake. How does that coincide with your post-war GNU/Commie conspiracy, huh? It's incredibly obvious, isn't it? A foreign license is introduced into our precious source codes without the knowledge of the individual. Certainly without any choice. That's the way your hard-core GNU/Commie works.
Group Capt. Mandrake: Uh, Jack, Jack, listen, tell me, tell me, Jack. When did you first... become... well, develop this theory?
General Ballmer: Well, I, uh... I... I... first became aware of it, Mandrake, during the physical act of love.
Group Capt. Mandrake: Hmm.
General Ballmer: Yes, a uh, a profound sense of fatigue... a feeling of emptiness followed. Luckily I... I was able to interpret these feelings correctly. Loss of essence.
Group Capt. Mandrake: Hmm.
General Ballmer: I can assure you it has not recurred, Mandrake. Women uh... women sense my power and they seek the life essence. I, uh... I do not avoid women, Mandrake.
Group Capt. Mandrake: No.
General Ballmer: But I... I do deny them my essence.
It fits perfectly!
They all have good and bad points. It is annoying to install a distro and be missing something that was nicely set up in another. 9.1 has the best combination I have seen. Mandrake seems to be the best mix of not too easy and not too hard. Everything works the way I want it too. There is a wonderful community site Mandrakeusers.org, that is friendly and a great source of info. Texstar provides excellent add-ons through urpmi. If I want eye candy or some helpful command line program (like unrar), it is simple for me to get.
I don't find Mandrake 9.1 makes things too easy for me. I don't feel babied, but I do feel sometimes I save time. I hope the company does well. I find it to be a great distro, and I have tried a lot of them.
Thanks, Rich
I've been using Mandrake 9.1 to finally land some Linux boxes at work, among the throngs of Windows and Sun/Solaris machines.
Half of the machines are for telecom network monitoring purposes and will have 6 to 8 displays apiece (using Xinerama and a combination of Nvidia and Matrox video cards.) These will let us retire Windows NT and the Exceed X server.
The other half of the machines are rack mount servers running LAMP and stand alone perl apps. These will let us retire some Solaris/Sun boxes.
After developing TCP/IP serving applications in perl on Solaris for years, it's nice, real nice, to see them run at previously unheard of speeds on a cheap P4 box with a gig of 533mhz RAM. The performance lays waste to our Solaris servers.
Mandrake 9.1 was an easy way to pull it off. It has detected all hardware we've used and all the built in peripherals on some new Intel motherboards flawlessly.
My only headache so far was trying to run quad-heads off an matrox AGP 550 and a PCI 450. It does not work. Keeping the dual head 550 and adding SIX Nvidia TNT2 cards allowed us to flawlessly run eight monitors. Thats what we'll be doing.