The full title of this:
The little operating system that could, and the little company that
couldn't.
Meaning of course Linux, and Mandrake.
I'm a newly disgruntled user. Don't mis-read that. I'm not a new user by
any means. I still have my RedHat 3.x disks on the shelf. I'm just newly
disgruntled.
Why?
I'm tired of things that don't work "consistantly".
I'm tired of hostile "help lists" that love nothing more than to flame
anyone who dares to have a contradictory opinion.
I'm tired of the "partially finished" software, and having to argue over
the value of a much needed function, just because the DOD (Developer of
the Day) doesn't want to include it.
I'm tired of seeing an application with possibilities dissapear because
the developer graduated, and got a job.
But mostly, I'm tired of paying more, and more for it all. And having
the distributors constantly stick their hand out for more.
It used to be that Linux was openly free. It was meant to be that way.
But then the companies came in, and saw a way to make money from Linus'
child, and built distributions. Ok, distributions were a good thing.
Rolling your own was a bear!
Even those used to be totally free. You were encouraged to download it.
They still are in a way. But now Mandrake is taking it upon themselves
to make you feel guilty for that, and even worse, making you a second
class citizen.
You can't get the same distributino from download, as you can by buying
a boxed set. You can't get StarOffice 6.0 without "Belonging to the
Club". Can't get this, can't get that. BAH!
Seems to me that Linus' little "free" operating system is now costing as
much as windows, without the benefit of the off the shelf software.
Don't believe me? Add it up.
Average charge per new releass:
$69.00 per release. x 2 realeases per year. $138.00
Shipping: $15.00 per boxed set 30.00
"The Club"
$10 per month x 12
(Remember, you need to belong to the
$10 per month club to get Staroffice 6.0) 120.00
---------
Cost of Mandrake, per year: $288.00
Congratulations. For the home user, the cost of ownership of Mandrake
has exceeded the cost of Win2k. And you can't even go down to the local
software store and buy a game for it. Or a business accounting package,
or a decent CD Label Printing Package. or....
Ok, yep, I'll keep running it, because I like it. I'm just disgruntled.
If you all want to turn on the jets, and flame me for it, fine. I just
felt the need to share a few points that just fry me from time to time.
Thanks for listening.
JMHO-YMMV
Ric
Want to buy your Pack or Services from MandrakeSoft?
Go to http://www.mandrakestore.com
