Mandrake's bankruptcy

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Pu-239
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Mandrake's bankruptcy

Post by Pu-239 »

Disclaimer: This is not microsoft, copyright, or DMCA related in any way.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/4/28895.html
Summary: Mandrake files for the frenchie equivelent of Chapter 11 :evil: .
I bet Wong (does he use mandrake?) won't be happy, since he despises Redhat's packaging system.

OSS companies need to stop touting their products as free. I mean they put FTP servers up where anyone can get the distro for free. Why not just sell CDs only, and let users put FTP up themselves. If Evian can sell water which is free Mandrake and other OSS software companies can. The only distribution I can think of that makes a decent amount of money is Red Hat, and I hate their software.

ah.....the path to happiness is revision of dreams and not fulfillment... -SWPIGWANG
Sufficient Googling is indistinguishable from knowledge -somebody
Anything worth the cost of a missile, which can be located on the battlefield, will be shot at with missiles. If the US military is involved, then things, which are not worth the cost if a missile will also be shot at with missiles. -Sea Skimmer


George Bush makes freedom sound like a giant robot that breaks down a lot. -Darth Raptor
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AdmiralKanos
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Post by AdmiralKanos »

Fuck, I don't want to have to switch to RedHat.
For a time, I considered sparing your wretched little planet Cybertron.
But now, you shall witnesss ... its dismemberment!
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Crazy_Vasey
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Post by Crazy_Vasey »

No surprise. Trying to make money off something you give away for free has never seemed like a particularly good idea to me.

Wong, you ever tried Debian? I've heard that has a good packaging system.
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phongn
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Post by phongn »

Does Mandrake sell support like Red Hat does?
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Admiral Valdemar
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Post by Admiral Valdemar »

phongn wrote:Does Mandrake sell support like Red Hat does?
I think most major Linux distributors do, that's the only real way they can make cash much like unlimited ISPs.
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phongn
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Post by phongn »

Admiral Valdemar wrote:
phongn wrote:Does Mandrake sell support like Red Hat does?
I think most major Linux distributors do, that's the only real way they can make cash much like unlimited ISPs.
Well, it seems like Red Hat has been the only Linux distributor with any success in the support area - it didn't seem like they offered the level of support that RH does.
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Pu-239
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Post by Pu-239 »

Crazy_Vasey wrote:No surprise. Trying to make money off something you give away for free has never seemed like a particularly good idea to me.

Wong, you ever tried Debian? I've heard that has a good packaging system.
Yeah for debian you use apt-get, which downloads the program you want and all dependencies.

And yeah Mandrake does sell support but really hasn't attempted to market this as much as RH. :roll:

BTW, why does everyone hate the french?

ah.....the path to happiness is revision of dreams and not fulfillment... -SWPIGWANG
Sufficient Googling is indistinguishable from knowledge -somebody
Anything worth the cost of a missile, which can be located on the battlefield, will be shot at with missiles. If the US military is involved, then things, which are not worth the cost if a missile will also be shot at with missiles. -Sea Skimmer


George Bush makes freedom sound like a giant robot that breaks down a lot. -Darth Raptor
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Pu-239
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Post by Pu-239 »

For Wong: If you are getting Debian, the so-called "unstable" version is the one you want to get. "Stable" is sorely out of date. From what I've heard unstable is actually pretty stable.

Mandrake is trying (too late) to get clever by putting some important stuff on the second CD, increasing download time to encourage people to buy a CD.

ah.....the path to happiness is revision of dreams and not fulfillment... -SWPIGWANG
Sufficient Googling is indistinguishable from knowledge -somebody
Anything worth the cost of a missile, which can be located on the battlefield, will be shot at with missiles. If the US military is involved, then things, which are not worth the cost if a missile will also be shot at with missiles. -Sea Skimmer


George Bush makes freedom sound like a giant robot that breaks down a lot. -Darth Raptor
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phongn
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Post by phongn »

Pu-239 wrote:For Wong: If you are getting Debian, the so-called "unstable" version is the one you want to get. "Stable" is sorely out of date. From what I've heard unstable is actually pretty stable.

Mandrake is trying (too late) to get clever by putting some important stuff on the second CD, increasing download time to encourage people to buy a CD.
They aren't going to save themselves just by getting more people to buy the CD rather than download it, IMO.
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Pu-239
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Post by Pu-239 »

well yeah 40-something percent of their income comes from people pitying them joining the Mandrake club. :roll:

ah.....the path to happiness is revision of dreams and not fulfillment... -SWPIGWANG
Sufficient Googling is indistinguishable from knowledge -somebody
Anything worth the cost of a missile, which can be located on the battlefield, will be shot at with missiles. If the US military is involved, then things, which are not worth the cost if a missile will also be shot at with missiles. -Sea Skimmer


George Bush makes freedom sound like a giant robot that breaks down a lot. -Darth Raptor
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phongn
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Post by phongn »

Pu-239 wrote:well yeah 40-something percent of their income comes from people pitying them joining the Mandrake club. :roll:
And they're still losing money. There will still be people (a lot of people) who'll simply download it for free, and if they revoke the free downloads they'll lose marketshare to competitors that do offer it.

If they could get serious support contracts going they'd be taking in a lot more revenue. Look at IBM, RH, Cisco or Oracle - sure, they make money selling software and hardware, but they make even more with support contracts (which can be a continuous source of revenue).
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