On Tue, 2003-03-04 at 19:52, Jim Hubbard wrote: > I think that now is a really good time for Mandrake to reconsider their "end > of life" policy. Here's how I see it: Redhat has effectively shut out the > very folks who made their distro popular by changing their update system to > a paid service and by saying that they'll only support a release for 1 year. > So now no admin in his right mind would download Redhat and install it on a > server or even purchase the standard box set for a server installation. In > fact, really the only viable Redhat server solution today is the "Advanced > Server" product. It's been a real double barrel slap in the face for many > loyal Redhat users. > > Mandrake right now has the opportunity to gather many of those disillusioned > Redhat users in one fell swoop by announcing that they will provide security > updates for the upcoming 9.1 release for 3 years. Mandrake uses a superior > system for distributing updates (one that doesn't overload their own > servers), so that, coupled with Mandrake's excellent utilities, puts the > equation already in Mandrake's favor as opposed to Suse and other distros. > Now all that is needed is a clearly longer and reasonable support term and > Mandrake will be THE choice for small time admins wanting to leave Redhat. > This should be done before a group forms to build free updates for Redhat > products after EOL, which will happen I think in about a year when dead > versions start piling up. > > I realize that supporting an old distro costs a lot of money and Mandrake is > currently broke. I also realize that Mandrake has already stated their own > EOL policy. However, I believe that if Mandrake can see this opportunity > and capitalize on it, their user base will expand greatly. Otherwise, many > admins will simply bite the bullet and learn how to live with Debian. I > like Mandrake's commitment to open-source, and I think they have the best > distro out there overall. But for now, I have to choose Debian. I hope > Mandrake can give me a reason to do otherwise. > > Oh and one more thing. For God's sake please don't release iso's this time > until AFTER the retail product is on shelves. >
No one point you made is more loudly echo'd by me than the last.... boxes first iso's second. Possible exception... Club Members. They have paid for this so to speak. James > .--. > |o_o | > |:_/ | > // \ \ > (| | ) > /'\_ _/`\ > \___)=(___/ >
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