On Thu, 2003-01-16 at 21:27, Vahur Lokk wrote:
> On Thursday 16 January 2003 12:14, you wrote:
> 
> > Getting rid of those debts is crucial - make no mistake about it - and
> > cannot therefore be seen as a waste of our money.
> >
> Sure but if Bens financial info is correct, there is no way to do it in few 
> next years. Saving the company is going to hurt distro meanwhile. It already 
> does.
> 
> Wahur

Look - for all that anyone can speculate, and for all that we can
theorise possible tactical business movements, it's not going to mean
squat at all - because it's painfully obvious that the business
administration of Mandrakesoft aren't really listening to what we have
to say at all - although they're willing to take y'alls money and send
you a boxed distro, they're just not going to listen.

>From a business perspective, we barely exist. Of course, we're the ones
that are putting out money left and right to do what we can for
something WE love, but they do not see it like that. They're thinking of
numbers, and accounts, and debts, and everything else aside from the
lowly little geek spending his $40 USD - just meat in the machine.

For all intents and purposes, if anyone wants to get Mandrake back in
line, it would come to a point of "You give us something, and WE'll give
YOU something" (the WE being us - the end user). If they want to truly
make a show of faith, they're going to have to do something quickly -
and do something that completely shows the public that they truly do
believe in a solid end-user focused distribution - and NOT collecting
$100k or more USD in wages.

Sorry I have to go off on a tangent here, but looking at a bigger
picture, they've made some really bad judgements - especially in
thinking that they could move to a business focus of online training and
education - where others are already doing it - they're just putting
themselves in an "Arby's" market - far down the rungs of the ladder from
"McDonald's" - and by not quickly shifting business focus, they're
getting stuck in the rut they've created with those bad business
decisions.

Personally, I'd tell someone to NOT purchase it - at least not now.
Unless you're really a bleeding heart and WANT to chuck your money in
their bin - otherwise, wait. See what happens. If they come out with 9.1
and it's a helluva lot more bug free than 9.0, I'll purchase a boxed set
and purchase a membership. But until they can reproduce the type of
distro they had with 8.2, and until they can stabilise enough to give me
a warm fuzzy thinking they'll be around for a while longer, I'll have to
wait.

-- 
Thu Jan 16 21:30:00 EST 2003
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