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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!"
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
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.
> You bought shares in a company that tries to sell something you can get for free?
:-}
Evian, Vittel and Perrier are doing quite well actually. Thank you for your great comment
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.
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