-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 Le Vendredi 17 Janvier 2003 12:04, Adam Williamson a �crit : > On Thu, 2003-01-16 at 16:49, Rolf Pedersen wrote: > > > MandrakeSoft is a commercial software company. It ought to be able to > > > be profitable (or at least not burn cash so fast it gets near > > > bankruptcy) through normal business operations. If not, it deserves to > > > fail. This is the logic of capitalism, the system MandrakeSoft decided > > > to exist under. Live by the sword, die by the sword. I'm not about to > > > give my money to a failing business simply to keep it alive, there are > > > charities which are in far more deserving need of it. > > > > Why do I get the impression that all the "deserving charities" are also > > waiting for your support? :P > > Get that impression all you like, but it's entirely wrong. I'm a student > so I probably get a hell of a lot less money than most people on this > list, but I think more of mine goes to charity than most people's. > > > Eh, thanks for playing! As pointed out elsewhere in this thread, the > > appeals to the realities of capitalism, in one breath, then the > > unilateral rejection of the capitalistic bankruptcy protection, in > > Capitalistic bankruptcy protection?! Sorry to burst your bubble, but > there's no such thing. Bankruptcy protection is government interference > in the free operation of free market capitalism (I'm sure Adam Smith > wouldn't have wanted to hear of such a thing). Anyway, your point is > entirely irrelevant, as what I said had bugger all to do with bankruptcy > protection. At the time I wrote it, I wasn't aware Mandrake had actually > filed for the French Chapter 11 equivalent - I hadn't read the news for > that day yet. I was simply pointing out that IN THE EVENT THAT Mandrake > SHOULD go bankrupt (NOT enter bankruptcy protection), it didn't spell > the end for the distro. My other points were general and apply whether > MandrakeSoft is bankrupt, in bankruptcy protection, or stuck up a bloody > tree, so long as it's still begging its users for charity. Re-read what > I'm saying then come back. First its French Law, when a companie lose her capital, companie manager have obligation to do it. Its the rules. It's also a chance to survive and reborn. > > > another, is only typical of the speciousness of your 'argument'. > > Gratuitously appending a 'worst case scenario' rationale after the fact > > changes nothing. (*) > > What do you mean, after the fact? I added a clarification. Nothing in my > original post said that I was talking about MandrakeSoft going into > bankruptcy protection, in fact it clearly stated the opposite. Someone > simply managed to miss this point, so I made it even clearer. > > > Also, airy-fairy concepts of opensource somehow > > seamlessly providing an uninterrupted source of the distro for the > > leechers, when all the flesh-and blood producers of same are looking for > > a new job and the infrastructure (lights, buildings, machines, websites) > > has vanished, fall short of compelling. Sorry, even the most rigorous > > reading at the University of The Register does not qualify as a basis > > for deciding how *I* spend *my* money. Anyone who must work for a > > I didn't tell you how you should spend your money. Spend it how the hell > you like. It's not my decision. MandrakeSoft went into business on the > belief that it could exist as a profitable business while supplying a > freely distributed version of the GNU/Linux operating system. Insult me > all you like, this is an indisputable fact. It was the rationale on > which the company was founded, and if it can't manage to carry on > business in that fashion, I'm not going to shed a tear. By the rationale > of the system in which it lives, if it fails, it was a deserved failure. > > > living and has half a backbone can appreciate that paying for a product > > that takes money to create is only reasonable. Perhaps your education > > would benefit from some light reading on how Mandrake was started and > > how it has supported a panoply of opensource development. (**) > > It all takes cash. > > This argument is irrelevant. Entirely and utterly irrelevant. What is > "reasonable" or "right" has nothing at all to do with the point. You > will also note that, if you read between the lines of recent Mandrake > statements, they completely support my position. What they're saying > isn't that creating Mandrake Linux and supporting opensource development > is taking the cash they can't afford to spend. After all, their survival > depends on the insistence that they can carry out this core activity > profitably. What they're saying is exactly what I'm saying - that their > core operation is sustainable but that the peripheral crap they took on > during the dotcom era is dragging the company down. > > > > This is the line MandrakeSoft has been feeding its customers for a > > > while now - "this is just a temporary problem, the rosy future is just > > > around the corner! No, actually, we lied, it's just around this NEXT > > > corner! Uh, just hold on to the next corner, would you?" It's starting > > > to wear a little thin. > > > > Now, you have the temerity to come to this list and call MandrakeSoft > > liars. What has worn clear through is the alacrity with which those > > whose knowledge and critical thinking are no more developed than yours > > will seize upon the type of FUD you espouse as yet another > > raionalization for leeching the software and bashing the distributor. > > Why don't you go 'support' an endeavor more worthy of your high > > standards? > > Oooh, do you feel big and clever now? Good, I'm glad I've served some > small part in massaging your masculinity. I support the *DISTRIBUTION* > Mandrake Linux by running Cooker and filing bug reports, the same way > everyone on this list does. MandrakeSoft, so far as I'm concerned, can > live or die by the business decisions it made; I don't consider it a > worthwhile usage of my money to bail out their lousy business choices. Pascal LACROIX - -- GPG Public Key available at http://pgp.mit.edu -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.0.7 (GNU/Linux)
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