On Fri, 23 Jun 2000, Roberto Rosselli Del Turco wrote:
> Taras Glek wrote:
> >
> > 7. Why isn't helix-update shipped with Mandrake?
>
> That's an'interesting question: Helix Install and Helix Update are cool
> ways to perform those operations, how is Mandrake going to perform the
> same tasks, especially the GNOME/[other software] update? Are you going
> to include Helix Update in LM 7.2 (or 8.0, or whatever), or are you
> going to write your own Updater, possibly to be used with other software
> packages (KDE, for instance)? or are you trying to keep track of
> GNOME/KDE etc. development simply releasing 3-4 versions of LM Mandrake
> per year?
>
> I think the "release often" policy Mandrake has followed so far should
> be reconsidered: instead of 3-4 releases desperately trying to uphold
> the "state of the art" banner (but look what happened with GNOME 1.2, a
> pity it couldn't go in LM 7.1), introducing incremental improvements and
> a host of little problems, I'd like to see the following:
>
> - 2 releases (say spring and autumn) really *rock* solid, each focusing
> on improving considerably one aspect of the Linux OS (installation,
> system maintenance, voice recognition, you name it);
> - a Mandrake Update program which can take care of the following:
>
> security updates
> single/simple software updates (e.g. gqview, 1 rpm, or Mesa, 3-4
> packets)
> complex software updates (e.g. GNOME: lots of packets, lots of
> dependancies, etc.)
> system software updates (careful here!).
>
> In this way, we could have new versions of LM still twice a year,
> perfect for fresh installs or heavy updates, and the chance to update
> our working system seamlessly during a LM year :)
>
> I can hear a "commercial" objection coming: more releases = more
> PowerPacks sold. This is true, but consider this: your typical buyer
> (small/medium businesses, but also individuals) *won't* buy all of the
> PPs all the times; on the contrary, people are used to Winxx updates
> once every 2-3 years or more. Besides, you could make the update free
> for non-commercial and at a cost for commercial customers, following
> Helix model.
>
> Just my 0.2 Euro here :^)
>
> Ciao
>
Hummmmmmm I agree with a lot of what you're saying and I only wanted to follow
up on your last statement about 'comercial' objection. This would only be a
good comerical stance and here's the very simple reason why.
I talked to a person in canada who's job it was to sale these powerpacks for
a local store I assume. Thet problem came when they purchased a *&%# of
powerpacks for whatever version. Then 2 months later a new version and a brand
new line of powerpacks came out. So they'd buy the new version of the powerpacks
to sale them and what do ya think happened to the other ones ? They simply
collected dust : p, this got so frustrating that this store simply stoped buying
the mdk power packs.
: )
--
Bryan Paxton
"How should I know if it works? That's what beta testers are for. I
only coded it."
-- Linus Torvalds.
Public key can be found at http://speedbros.org/Bryan_Paxton.asc
