> Ok,
> I can understand the download to avoid royalty fees, but that is a very
> large download for one program.
It's a bloated peice of software... what do you expect?? (still not as
bad as MSFT Office 2000)
> Last time i downloaded SO 5.2B it was around 70M...and of course it was
> not on a mirror so even on a cable modem it took forever.
See, i've got a cable modem for 2 years now, and here in the netherlands
it's slowly turning into a comodity. More and more people are having the
choice of getting on the net this way. For these people (and others at
companies or places where they have high-speed links) this way of
software distribution is becoming a viable option. When you're still
(suffering) with a telco modem, then it's probably better to buy the
boxed kit.
> If I go out and spend 50-100$ for an distribution, I expect it to
> have all
> the latest stable versions, and not have to download programs like SO.
The powerpack edition should have most of this software... or not? (the
last one I got was Mandrake's 6.1 powerpack).
If mandrake decides to make something as I described in my previous
mail,
this could turn out to kill revenue from the powerpack distro.
Stefan
> Bryan
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On
> Behalf Of Stefan van der Eijk
> Sent: Saturday, May 27, 2000 1:18 PM
> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Subject: Re: crypto stuff on 2nd cd ; was: [Cooker] GET READY FOR A
> DISCUSSION- Include the contents ofthe mandrakeusr.org sit on the second
> CD
>
> > > How about including Star office 5.X on it? That is a free program, but
> > > not sure if Sun would agree to it.
>
> > This is not really free [for example, we pay royalties for each printed
> > CD].
> Fair, that's the way it is...
>
> > For the moment our politics are to limit as much as possible the amount of
> > non open-source stuff on main installation CD [which is, now, CD
> > Installation and CD Extension]
> OK, what however could be provided is some kind of "rpm-wrapper" for
> these
> "closed software" programs. Maybe some kind of mechanism can be made
> which
> performs the following tasks:
>
> - An icon show up in a "to be installed closed software menu"
> - When you click the icon, the software will be downloaded from the
> software makers site ($un Micro$y$tem$ in this case) and an RPM
> will be made & installed.
> - Key is that the rpm which is made is "taylored" for mandrake. Which
> means that the menu items are in place, the files are placed in a
> work-able
> place on the disk (according to the FS standards that mandrake lives
> to),
> etc. etc. etc.
>
> Goal of this mechanism will be:
> - Not needing to distribute this software with the CD's (royalties)
> - User performs "task" (one mouse-click) to download & install the
> software.
> - User is provided with the "comfort" of a Mandrake packaged RPM.
> - Updates of new "closed software" packages (acroread, staroffice,
> WP??) can be provided with this mechanism.
>
> I know it goes far...
>
> Stefan van der Eijk
