I've been watching all the threads, and excitement over the upcoming 9.1. As well as the critisizm over the rushed release dates.
Just to add my .02 to it:
From my point of view (and that of co-workers & frieds), it really lloks like Mandrake has spun out of control. I know, it's easy to to play "Armchair Quarterback", and sit outside, and see the "obvious" better way. But what I see happening is:
1) Mandrake is letting RedHat drive the car. They're allowing Redhat to set the release schedule. But Redhat has a very different philosophy to their releases.
The biggest I see there is that Redhat does not do "major" content changes on a point release. They fix what's broken. Major content changes wait until the next major revison roll. As it should be. Thus meeting a 6 month release cycle is much easier. They can have the 8.x team working on bug fixes, and point releases, while having the 9.x (future development) team, working on the next full revision. Thus, neither is stressed.
Mandrake on the other hand, insists on trying to match Redhats release schedule, but they're including major content changes in a point release, and they're beating themselves up trying to keep up.
IMHO - Mandrake needs to settle back, and stop letting Redhat drive. They need to get control of their release cycles, and content policies. Then they can concentrate on putting out a quality release, not a fast one.
2) My biggest complaint about Mandrake: (yup.. gonna get shot at for this one)
STOP BEGGING! I hate that!
It seems that every time I log into their site, or try to download a fix, or get e-Mail from them, they're whining about money. "Oh please subscribe to the club".. "Oh please donate.." .. It's not our fault, it was the evil management we had a while back...
Yeah... It's always easiest to throw darts at the "old management".
But I still see them making the same mistakes. Rushed releases, with too much content change to be controlable in such short cycles. They're doing no better at managing their business practices today, than they were a year ago. In fact, I had more faith in them a year ago. Now I'm just tired of releases that don't run. (I still cannot get 9.1 to run on my systems. And my boxes are not exotic!).
Yup, I understand that they're trying to meet with a competitive market, and meet customer demands. But... The customer is ALWAYS going to want the latest & greatest software, whether it's stable or not. And THEY WANT IT STABLE. Well, it can't always be done. Mandrake needs to learn when to say no.
The general feel about Mandrake around the people, and companies I work around is not good. If a Linux box is built, it's Redhat. Why? Stable releases, Stable company.
JMHO.
Ric
Want to buy your Pack or Services from MandrakeSoft? Go to http://www.mandrakestore.com
