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MandrakeSoft Publishes Support Policy
joestar writes "MandrakeSoft has posted a statement about its product support policy on its website: 'At a time when some of the established Linux companies are turning away from their Open Source roots and progressively abandoning full-time commitment to Open Source Software, many people have asked MandrakeSoft to clarify its position regarding product-lifetimes and its Open Source development model.' As a result, this interesting reading provides 8 Golden Rules that lead Mandrake Linux development and product support lifetime. This certainly makes MandrakeSoft one of the most 'Open Source' Linux companies, and all Linux companies should maybe think about releasing such a statement."
That's nice, but it's still not a Social Contract
It is still early in this companies lifetime - so it remains to be seen if they will keep to their own rules. The fact that they published the rules is indeed a heartening step in the right direction. I hope that other distros follow suit, especially in the category of product lifetime. If Mandrake can follow these rules, they become a more attractive alternative to the jaugernaut that is RedHat, and Suse. This is especially so for corporate rollouts where EOL is important and so is ease of installation. As the "linux market" becomes mor mature each vendor will have to carve out a niche. Mandrakes may be "Easy to install and our support lasts longer than your computer". Refreshing in these days of "rental OS" and forced upgrades.
AngryPeopleRule
"Science is about ego as much as it is about discovery and truth " - I said it, so sue me.
one of the sales pitches for the powerpack version is:
"9. Compatibility: run Windows and Mandrake Linux on the same computer."
and a picture of vmware running is shown. i would buy it in a minute if it came with a copy of vmware.
but, *sigh*, it doesn't.
how can they plug this as a benefit if it can't do it, or in this case, for only a limited time?
Obviously targetted at ideologues angry at Red Hat, this is a lame marketing ploy by Mandrake to rally True Believers in another attempt to sell product.
Nothing new is announced here. Mandrake -- a good distribution -- is simply engaging in a bit of transparent posturing.
Open source entails no obligation by any individual or any company to make their product available gratis. If it does, it will be the death of open source. Mandrake can continue to attempt to make a profit selling the same product it is also giving away, but lot's of people consider that to be an incredibly stupid business decision.
Open source does not obligate a business to provide support for a product any longer than it wants to, regardless of how angry that might make some people. Nothing that Red Hat released as open source has been withdrawn.
Open source is commonly touted as software that can be supported even if the company selling it goes away. So, then, why are different standards applied to the company known as Red Hat? Red Hat users have the source. Support it yourself, OK? Isn't that what open source is all about?
Red Hat has no ethical obligation to support any of its products for any longer than it wishes to, and assertions to the contrary are hypocritical and contradictory.
The primary ethical obligation of a business is to turn a profit. That's what Red Hat chose to do, and that is exactly what Mandrake is doing with this self-serving advertisement.
-- Slashdot: When Public Access TV Says "No"
In some ways, it's better. The Debian social contract makes no time commitments on updates. It could be that Debian's support is so long because it takes them so long to get a new stable release out. On the other hand, Mandrake explicitly commits to 18 months of base updates. That's a solid commitment for those of us who want to put off upgrade hell.