On Saturday 21 December 2002 11:19 am, you wrote: > > At the risk of offending some, I will give my thoughts, which will > > probably be unpopular (dons flame-retardant suit). > > Yes what you had to say will probably offend some, but honestly a > free-flow of ideas, expressed in a thoughtful manner such as you > presented your ideas, should never offend. > > > 1. This whole situation leaves me with an "unsettled" feeling. I am not > > comfortable with "begging" as a business strategy and this is the second > > time this year. From other comments I have seen, this is already > > starting to get old for many. > > I don't necessarily like begging either, but what makes me even more > uneasy is the though that Mandrake might fold in the not too distant > future, or than Mandrake 9.1 might be held up for lack of money. That > is to say that a release should never go gold for purely monetary > reasons, but rather when it's genuinely ready. > > I was strictly a Redhat user until a few months ago, when I converted to > Mandrake. I absolutely hated Mandrake 8.2, but really liked 9. And now > because I didn't like the path Redhat was taking I have converted my > laptop and two servers to Mandrake linux and would seriously hate to see > their services impacted in any way! > > > 2. Mandrake is one of the most popular distros. See > > http://www.distrowatch.com/ Of all the distros listed, why does > > Mandrake keep begging for cash? It looks to me like they are still > > suffering from some _very bad_ business decisions, mostly unrelated to > > Linux (the "repositioning as an e-learning company" fiasco). Are current > > Mandrake users supposed to bail out the company for the sins of the > > previous managment? Perhaps....if Mandrake is to prosper (which is > > different from survival). > > Well unfortunately we all don't seem to have much of a choice. They are > in the position and it's either sink or swim, and philosophy has nothing > to do with it truly. > > > 3. It appears that current management is under tremendous pressure from > > their venture capital investors to become profitable so their > > investments will pay off. I am not sure that it is my responsibility to > > contribute to this. > > It would probably help us all to understand this a bit better to know > exactly what is drawing down revenue still. Contracts? Would just be > nice to know. > > > 4. I use Mandrake, like it, and have purchased boxed sets. I wish them > > well and hope they develop a viable business plan, but frankly, begging > > is an embarrassment to the entire community. M$ must laughing its ass > > off. > > Well I also purchased, or rather ordered a boxed set of Mandrake 9 > months ago, but never received it and despite many contacts, both by > phone and via email I never found out what happened to my order, until I > received an email from one of their marketing people. I vented on her > and my email quickly got passed to someone up their marketing chain who > promised to cancel my order and refund my credit card... which still > hasn't been done after quite some time. Recent emails to the person who > personally promised me they would refund my credit card have gone > unanswered and I finally wrote a letter to my credit card issuer > refuting the charges. They're now looking into it and can handle this > for me. > > Despite Mandrake's money problems, they blew this whole roll out in a > major fashion. I think too few people are talking about their problems > getting the software they purchased and it's that experience, in my mind > which causes me to now be a little more careful about how I give them my > money. I'll wait from now on until the boxed sets are on store shelves > before I purchase. At least that way I can guarantee I get what I paid > for! > > > 5. If Mandrake dies the torch will be picked up by others and the Linux > > community will survive. Those who support Mandrake now will move to > > another distro and help it become stronger. The future of Linux is > > bright, but there will be shakeouts along the way. Remember, that which > > does not kill us makes us stronger. Will Mandrake still be standing at > > the end of the day? I don't know, but the Linux community will be > > stronger. > > Honestly I think that's terrible, and reeks too much of scavenging. > Mandrake has produced a great product but got itself in a bind by bad > business decisions, unrelated to their product. For them to fail based > on unrelated business matters would be a terrible waste of time and > effort. The object should be to make this thrive and succeed. We > should help where we can, but we should also insist that Mandrake divest > itself of whatever is holding it down. > > Anthony
Curious as a businessman of some experience. Can you say what these "bad business decisions" were? I don't mind shovelling a bit more down the tube, but I would be interested in why it's necessary. And I can't stand the grovelling. Lee -- Registered Linux user #223705 Give me ambiguity or give me something else.
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