-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 According to what I understand, Warly is reporting that Mandrake Linux 9.1 will be finalized no later than March 14. In my opinion, this could very well be a death sentence for MandrakeSoft.
Quite frankly, Mandrake 9.1 has a LOT of showstopper/serious bugs still. One long time Linux user I know who I sold on Mandrake 8.2, but couldn't get 9.0 to install on several machines, has already posted on another list that he is resigning himself to not upgrading to 9.1, because of all the problems he had with RC1. He quite resonably realized that nine days just isn't enough to fix problems like his. For instance, since he has an integrated AC97 sound card, Mandrake won't let his SB Live! work properly that has worked in every other GNU/Linux distro he has tried (including 8.2). My own bug list includes: - Bug #2268: Every wheel mouse I try is not detected properly. This includes an IntelliMouse and a Logitech MX 700 (both using PS/2). - Bug #1965: An ultra confusing quirk makes Autologin default during setup, but it doesn't use the autologin method that is built into mdkkdm. Thus, users who choose autologin don't have signout options (such as "Shutdown") when logging out of KDE like they would expect they should. If the proper method was used (using mdkkdm/kdm's autologin feature), this would not be an issue, but as it is, it leaves one of many users favorite features disabled if you autologin. - Bug #2107: Kio_smb/Kio_lan doesn not work, leaving Mandrake/KDE lagging behind Lycoris and Lindows for absolutely no reason. This functionality normally works... so it seems like something that should be investigated. - Bug #2375: There is no removable media links on KDE desktops. This is a feature that has been standard since KDE 1.x days, and everyone expects. Now you have to manually go to /mnt/whatever just to get to your cd-rom. Why was this (very simple) feature removed? - Bug #2383: The PSC 2210 supports usb-storage for accessing the memory card, and using usb-storage makes transferring photos a snap. But Mandrake doesn't load usb-storage by default, and even if you load it, then you need to create a mount point and add the info to fstab. Wasn't all of that suppose to be dynamic as of 9.0? - Bug #2722: Galaxy-KDE makes KDE look really bad in a number of spots. It breaks Konqueror's ability to use forms. It has trouble with color schemes. Konqueror and many other apps also suffer from really attrocious looking drop down boxes. This absolutely must be fixed if Mandrake wants its KDE desktop not to be attacked like Red Hat's has been since last fall. This is the kind of stuff that generates bad press. - Bug #2793: This bug makes it so that if you accidentally type in an incorrect IP address in Scannerdrake's scanner sharing utility, that you can no longer get into scannerdrake. It just hangs waiting for a response from a non-existant IP address. - Bug #1859: For some unexplainable reason MandrakeSoft is not providing users with KDE screensavers beyond its basic one. Why? Why didn't anyone ask Club users? (most probably didn't vote for KDE-Artwork since you weren't suppose to need to vote for basic packages, and it seems pretty basic!) Now, this is what I ask. Mandrake, as I understand it, still has major financial problems (I think that goes without saying since it is still in bankruptcy protection). It may be that things should go better this year, but if Mandrake 9.1 comes out with all kinds of annoying and/or showstopper problems (like an SB Live! card being impossible to install), then it probably won't get good reviews or sell well. I would think a bad sales period for a distribution release right now could make creditors a lot less favorable about Mandrake's situation. Is it worth risking Mandrake's future as a whole to get this distribution out by mid-March? I just don't personally see that as a realistic date when I'm using RC2. Mandrake developers are amazing people, but I still can't believe all of these problems can be fixed in just nine days. To me, RC2 seems more like a beta release and not a release candidate. Just my $0.02... -Tim - -- - ---------------------------------------------------------------- Timothy R. Butler [EMAIL PROTECTED] Universal Networks http://www.uninet.info Christian Portal and Search Tool: http://www.faithtree.com Enterprise Open Source Journal: http://www.ofb.biz ================================================================ -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.0.7 (GNU/Linux) iD8DBQE+ZmcNK37Cns9gJ0gRAkRdAJ0S3tt79H8moEw6eyK45zBBmo1YzACbBxI5 VjuSOGpHrTxQHdwccfY+BX8= =wueh -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
