-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 Leon Brooks wrote: > FYI; Scott runs a local Linux retail business and consultancy > > ---------- Forward; originally to [EMAIL PROTECTED] ---------- > > Subject: [plug] Mandrake Bug announce warning rant ahead > Date: Tue, 28 Oct 2003 09:58 > From: Scott Middleton <DESPAMMED> > > <rant> > I am pissed off.. > Has anyone seen an official announcement to the Mandrake users that > using their latest and greatest will completely stuff their CDROM?
It's been on the errata page for a few days already. > I don't care that it is not their fault. I don't care that Suse has the > same problem nor do i care if they have found a fix. I was told because > i subscribe to PLUG. I am on the announcements list at Mandrake but it > is usually 2 weeks behind. Maybe i will receive an official notice in > two weeks! If you are subscribed to security-announce, you would have received notice along with the notification about the kernel update that fixes the issue. > I meet people everyday who run Mandrake but are not on any Mailing > List. They are not activists, they just don't want to pay for software > and they don't want to steal it either. How are they supposed to know > when it is not even on the Mandrake Club front page? The MandrakeClub front page is not where you go to read up on issues that may affect you on installation of a new release. That's what the errata page is for. I *always* check the errata page when installing on a client's machine, and usually check it for my own machines too. If you even consider installing a distro on a machine without reading the errata page, you're wasting your time and putting hardware at risk. > I think this is a very important piece of information that should be > well publicised by them at least in an effort to have some credibility. > This just seems typical of M$ worrying about bottom line rather than > the users of the product. I expect a big blazon across their homepage > saying "Please be aware that Mandrake 9.2 can destroy your CDROM". Or > at least; some official notice. - From the errata page: "If you have or use a LG-based CD-ROM drive please read the special Errata specifically for that severe problem!" where "Errata" points to http://www.linux-mandrake.com/en/lgerrata.php3 which has quite comprehensive coverage of the issue. - From the kernel advisory from this morning: " A problem was discovered where the kernel would destroy certain LG- based CD-ROM devices. This problem has been fixed in the kernels provided and MandrakeSoft encourages everyone to upgrade." > > I suppose what really pisses me off is i have now lost one of my major > Linux selling points. "Linux is good because it doesn't hide its > faults, it acknowledges them and then fixes it". ??? > I didn't lose any CDROMs only because i didn't (fortunately) upgrade > all the machines that are running Mandrake. My home machine luckily > doesn't have LG CDROM and is working wonderfully. So for me it wasn't > the cost of membership + 1 or more CDROMs but for many others it was. Subtract the cost of the CDROMs, since LG must replace them if they are under warranty (and I think all of them still should be). > > Even worse for Mandrake it only affects the financial contributors. The > people who are starting to make Mandrake profitable, this really can't > be good business decision for them. I can live with bugs and mistakes > but i can't live with irresponsible behaviour and not informing users > is plainly irresponsible. I will have to reconsider being a financial > member next year. ??? > Maybe i am overreacting about people having to buy a new CDROM, forget > the warranty, who wants to wait weeks/months for a replacement one. I > am just a bit disappointed in Mandrake and their lack of urgency in > informing the public. > > </rant> In the future, please read the errata page *before* installing or ranting. BTW, Mandrakesoft *has* been working extensively on this problem, and not only on this list (we started on the maintainers list on 20 October, as soon as we saw reports from some users on MandrakeClub). The thing is though that it was not totally clear exactly which drives were affected and under which circumstances until a few days later. Anyway, LG is responsible for the problem, if you had destroyed a drive, you could have returned it and had a refund or a replacement unit. I understand your frustration, but it's not possible to conduct every single issue in public, and the errata page exists for a reason, for you to read it *before* installing, *especially* if you are a consultant and install on other people's hardware. Regards, Buchan - -- |--------------Another happy Mandrake Club member--------------| Buchan Milne Mechanical Engineer, Network Manager Cellphone * Work +27 82 472 2231 * +27 21 8828820x202 Stellenbosch Automotive Engineering http://www.cae.co.za GPG Key http://ranger.dnsalias.com/bgmilne.asc 1024D/60D204A7 2919 E232 5610 A038 87B1 72D6 AC92 BA50 60D2 04A7 -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.2.3 (GNU/Linux) Comment: Using GnuPG with Mozilla - http://enigmail.mozdev.org iD8DBQE/njxerJK6UGDSBKcRAquHAKCuizXzQpomX6Lvf5UJdLFCDVmInQCghAIT f0q3AOFN5Y5q95Dyr5HIPMQ= =2ica -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
