Mandrake Linux 9.2, Adware Version

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Mandrake Linux 9.2, Adware Version

Posted by michael on Friday September 12, 2003 @02:42AM from the maybe-microsoft-will-advertise dept.

thedarb writes "Mandrake has decided to sell ads to be seen during installation, web browsing and in screen savers. This all comes in their upcoming 9.2 release. Seven G's and you could put your face in their installer." Update: 09/12 18:07 GMT by M : Mandrake has a page about the ads.

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Interesting by Archangel+Michael · 2003-09-12 02:44 · Score: 5, Insightful

However, I can see the many of Slashdot crowd crying over this intrusion of commercialism, but this seems like a reasonable way to try and recoup the costs of developing and distributing Linux products.

This keeps Linux "Free as in Beer" and "Free as in speech" at the same time. And what is wrong with that?

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1. Re:Interesting by Rinikusu · 2003-09-12 03:50 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  Maybe the reason people aren't buying boxed sets and TShirts is because there's not marketing/advertising. Seriously, how often have you seen a Debian or Mandrake ad anywhere? Sure, there are Mandrake T-Shirts (I think) and various other distro T-Shirts around, but the key is variety and to overhaul your line-up regularly.
  
  Let's compare with the Independent music industry, shall we?
  It's a well known fact that many people who like bands and see bands live tend to wear band-related T-Shirts. Through sales of T-Shirts (and CD's, incidentally), a lot of these bands can afford to tour the country without having to resort to sleeping on lice-infested punk houses. But, what convinces people to buy T-Shirts from the Band rather than from, say Hot Topic?
  1) Price. You can usually get the TShirt at the show for $10-12, usually no tax (cash transaction). The mall will cost you $15-20.
  2) Knowledge that the band will get most of the proceeds drives many of us to buy at the shows.
  3) UNIQUENESS. If the band is selling the same TShirt you can buy at the store, then you won't get nearly as many sales as if you come out with "unique" Tour T-Shirts. Conventions (sci-fi and otherwise) have caught on to this, as well. By buying the "unique" T-Shirt, you now have "bragging" rights. When people say "Did you go see Hatebreed last year" you can point to your T-Shirt and say "You bet your ass I did." It's kinda a reminder of the experience, you know? After all, music sometimes isn't just about the music, live music is also about the experience. A $10 T-Shirt can go a long ways towards bringing back fond memories.
  
  Now, how does this help with distros?
  One thing I see is that Linux people like to give shit away. Sure, free shit is fun and bands give free shit away, too. Stickers, buttons, etc. But, generally, the free shit entices you to buy something later, be it a CD, T-Shirt, or other buttons and stickers. If you go out to live shows enough, you'll find "merch" tables where bands ply their wares. I think the computer world, they're called "Schwag" tables, and the stuff is generally free.
  Linux distros (whether it be a company or a gang of guys doing it in their spare time) who represent themselves at trade-shows, conventions, meetings, or whatever, should be conscious of this. When you setup your table, make sure you have something for the person to take home with them. Have some stickers (make them unique!), TShirts, or whatever. Just because Linux is free doesn't mean your TShirts have to be, but be reasonable. You're cutting out the middlemen, so price accordingly. Have some "official" CD's for sale, stickers for a couple bucks, whatever. The idea is to come up with new designs and get your customers caught up in the "Do you have that cool Debian sticker in blue vinyl with a picture of Daryl McBride getting assfucked by Ron Jeremy?" cycle (take a look at Pokemon and Magic: TG). Sure, they're just trinkets, but they serve to help build a community (nothing warms my heart more than to see a big Debian sticker on the back of a car), gets advertising out there (and every "sale" to linux is a win for the entire linux community, regardless of the distro), and is a great way for developers to meet and greet their users at shows. See Apple when it comes to building fanatical fan-bases, it really works (TM).
  
  I'm sure there's a lot of guys who already do this. I don't know because I've never been to any sort of Linux-Con, so please forgive me if I'm treading familiar ground for some of you. But, if you currently don't do this for your distribution or project, maybe it's time to take a step back and examine what you can do to get more support, users, or even money. :)
  
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as supported free software by fowlerserpent · 2003-09-12 02:46 · Score: 5, Insightful

I worry that opensource software will become advertiser supported. I don't think its likely though. It is however an excellent revenue stream. It is advertising that keeps media of virtually all types so inexpensive to consume. The best thing is, the software is opensource. We can just remove the ads.
Re:WTF!! by ultrabot · 2003-09-12 02:47 · Score: 5, Insightful

One of the reasons I use Linux is to avoid ads and spyware.

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to look elsewhere during installation.

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Re:WTF!! by aaribaud · 2003-09-12 02:50 · Score: 5, Insightful
Ads will appear in three places:
- - install: do you install every day?
- - screensaver: install a non-mdk screensaver.
- - browser: reconfigure browser.
You don't even have to bother doing it yourself; just wait for someone to do it all and then rpm -ivh noads-1.0mdk.rpm. Unless it's a .deb, of course. :)
Re:WTF!! by kmonsen · 2003-09-12 02:50 · Score: 4, Insightful

This is only in the download version. You could (GASP) try to pay for a version and get it ad free. I am quite sure you are exposed to ads in your life anyway, a few more during installation is not going to hurt that much.
Re:WTF!! by perly-king-69 · 2003-09-12 02:54 · Score: 5, Insightful

Really. How far does this 'avoiding ads' fetish affect your life?

Do you close your eyes and put your fingers in your ears when watching the TV, in case any ads get you?
Do you choose routes which avoid all billboards?

MDK are in financial trouble, and need to raise funds. This seems to be a perfectly sensible way of doing it/

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Re:WTF!! by alienw · 2003-09-12 02:54 · Score: 5, Insightful

Come on. Advertising during the frigging install is one thing, spyware is a completely different thing. Don't group the two. I use Mandrake, I like it, I wouldn't mind if they got a few extra bucks. The install is pretty boring, so some ads there would not hurt at all. As for spyware and stuff like that: I know quite a few developers at Mandrake, and they would not tolerate that.

As for Slack: that's a pretty barren distro as compared to Mandrake. Clearly, it does not take as much resources to develop it, since it doesn't have its own graphical installer, nice config tools, etc. They are two different products intended for different audiences.
Re:Where does this end? by Moeses · 2003-09-12 03:01 · Score: 4, Insightful

I am reminded of an old poem, I don't know the author:

I think I shall never see
A billboard as beautiful as a tree
Indeed unless the billboards fall
I'll never see a tree at all
Mandrake 100% free Software by phoxix · 2003-09-12 03:07 · Score: 5, Insightful

In case you didn't know, the 3 disc downloadable edition of mandrake is 100% free software. The guys at mandrake worked very hard to make it so.
I suspect that 9.2 will be 100% free as well. In such an event, "spyware" is simply *NOT* possible on the distro.
As for the ads .... lets just hope MDK comes to its senses :^)
Sunny Dubey
Re:Disgusting precendent... by alienw · 2003-09-12 03:07 · Score: 4, Insightful

First, SuSE is commercial. YaST is NOT open-source or free. You can't download SuSE for free (except for some castrated version). Second, YaST blows. If you actually like it, you haven't worked with it enough. The thing is incredibly buggy. It works great -- 70% of the time.

Also, note that if you actually _buy_ the distro, you won't get advertising.
Mandrake Innovation by Idou · 2003-09-12 07:00 · Score: 4, Insightful

I am constantly impressed by the amount of true innovation that has come from one company:

1. urpmi
2. Mandrakeclub
3. rpm voting (yeah, I know Deb was here before, but this is the first time for a Commercial Company to do this)
4. Open Source Sponsor Ads

I am proud to be a Silver member and will gladly give products of Mandrake sponsors priority when I consume (and will look forward to see who is sponsoring my software next time I update my computers. I though the point of Open Source is great code is great, regardless of who coded it or paid for it to be coded under the GPL).

btw, if you are mad about these ads because now you really wont be getting a 100% free lunch when you download MDK 9.2, it is time to move out of your parent's basement and get a job. Good intentions don't pay for dinner (though, Mandrake is getting damn close to that scenario!)

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