:~>Just checking - have I got this right? Macmillan have exclusive
:~>rights?
Exclusive rights to Power Packs and similar. GPL-CD-s ala cheapbytes are
just as free as they used to be. OK, maybe i underestimated the amount of
negative energy in the word "monopoly", I will have to explain this
better.
[disclaimer]
I am writing this out-of-the-head, so maybe some facts are wrong, but
since we actually have a McMillan employee at this list, he will correct
me if I got something wrong. .-) I am also in no means authorised to write
this, but I hope noone will mind.
[past]
In the past, US customers were often confused by having to choose two very
similar packages with MandrakeLinux inside. The worse of all war the gaf
with McMillan-s 6.5 package: If you bought Mandrake 6.1 pack, followed
with McMillans 6.5 "upgrade" you were quite pissed off, right? Well, this
is going to change now. On the other hand, McMillan was extremely
successful in selling our distro, which is something we really liked, for
obvious reasons.
[fact in short]
We have a very good partnership with McMillan, but there were some
problems, so we went and made a new deal with them.
[new deal]
1) McMillan has exclusive rights to distribute MandrakeLinux in USA and
other english-speaking countries.
2) McMillan does not mix in non-english speaking countries
3) McMillan does not sell any other distros
4) All "McMillan" packages will clearly state that they have
"Mandrakesoft" product inside.
5) Package numbering is the same for McMillan and non-McMillan
packages.
Probably i forgot something, but these are the most interesting points, I
suppose. As you can see, this deal is far from beeing one-sided - from my
perspective it sounds like a win-win situation, and if both sides show
good will to solve any future problems in a "fair" way, it may end up as
extremely good deal for both sides. Do not think about it as about
"McMillans monopoly", think about it as about "Mandrake has outsorced
sales to a company which has means to push them very hard.", and you will
understand what I think.
cu
Denis
--
-----------------------------------------------------
Dr. Denis Havlik <http://www.ap.univie.ac.at/users/havlik>
Mandrakesoft ||| e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Quality Assurance (@ @) (private: [EMAIL PROTECTED])
-------------------oOO--(_)--OOo---------------------
Hi! I'm a .signature virus! Copy me into your ~/.signature to help me
spread! ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
