Interview With Gaël Duval of Mandrake Linux 157
jukal writes "Open for Business's Timothy R. Butler talked with Mandrake co-founder Gaël Duval about the company's past, present, and future. Worth a read, clip: "GD: For one year, we had a so-called "World Class Management" team that left us in a very bad financial situation, and engaged the company in ventures (such as e-learning) that we should never have been involved with. But that's all part of our history now, so I'd prefer to not dwell too much on that. ""
AMD, Mandrake, MS and DRM, (Score:1, Informative)
Re:My prejudice (Score:1, Informative)
OK, exactly what is that policy?
I have a box edition of Mandrake, which includes a bunch of closed-source software, including IBM's viavoice.
Re:My prejudice (Score:4, Informative)
In a word, yes. You may have been around for awhile but you obviously haven't tried Mandrake for years. They ceased being Redhat+KDE about 2 years ago.
Mandrake has steadily built a strong foundation over the years of opensource tools it readily shares with others. Rpmdrake, harddrake, drakgw (the gateway/internet sharing frontend), there are dozens of good tools.
Mandrake also tries to stay as free as possible, as in speech and as in beer. The only cash they care about now is the cash that feeds their developers. Reading the article pretty much reveals this point better than I can express it though.
Bottom line: Mandrake != Redhat+KDE.
Re:My prejudice (Score:2, Informative)
FYI...not preaching or anything. If you'd like more info on urpmi, feel free to contact me (taking a look at my spam-free email address first of course).
"World Class Managment Team" (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Mandrake Club is a charity (Score:2, Informative)
I'm not a member, I'm a debhead, but I don't think this is a "bad" business model. It's one way to pay for software.
Re:Mandrake Club is a charity (Score:5, Informative)
I'm the guy who came with idea of the MandrakeClub in the first place, and I'm the one who developed it from "idea" into the status you can see today, and I can tell you one thing: MandrakeClub is NOT a charity. It's a busines model which has been used in various sectors for a long time, with more-or-less success, and which can work well for Linux because of the internet. Let me name a few sectors which have similar financing schemas:
- churches
- public radio stations
- Non-governmental organisations
Last but not the least important, there is a long tradition of "street music", which happens to be very strong in Paris, and which has given a name to this type of busines model ("Street performer").
The fact that this model has not been used in software busines until recently is completely irrelevant, unless you want to apply for a "bussines patent" in US. But, I'm transgressing, let's go back to Club...
You are right in one aspect: benefits one gets with MandrakeClub are peanuts compared to the value of MandrakeLinux distribution - which everyone can download free of charge.
This isn't a secret, nor have we ever tried to hide this fact - In fact, this is clearly written on the front page of MandrakeClub site [mandrakeclub.com]:
As explained in the announcement, your membership in MandrakeClub is, above all, a sign of your financial support. Membership
fees are directly used to cover the costs of developing the distribution and the various services that are offered free of charge to
all Mandrake Linux users. The Club isn't meant as a replacement for paid support or similar services -- you are here because you want to help make Mandrake Linux become even better in the future.
Nevertheless, Club members do receive certain privileges and benefits.
etc.
However, you are also wrong: MandrakeClub is NOT a charity, and even the direct/short term benefits are getting quite interesting with a time. Indirect and long-term benefits (most notably the influence club members have on future of MandrakeLinux) on the other hand are enormous, and yet many people tend to dissmiss them as not interesting, like you did.
Let's take just the example of "RPM-voting" system which you were so quick to dismiss: this system gives you a chance to get new RPMs built because you asked for them. There is a testing stage, in which the folks who asked for a new pack are supposed to report problems, and in the end the system produces higher quality RPMs than what you'll usually find outside of the main distribution. RPM-voting system is now about one month old, and there are still some rough edges to streighten out, but it's quite clear that it's quickly developing in a right direction.
That's a direct/immediate benefit. There is also an indirect benefit, which may be even more important: RPMs Club members ask for will eventually be given higher importance than those noone asks for, and thus the Distribution will change...
The problem is...
Now the problem is: You say that you don't feel ripped off, although you don't find the direct/short-term benefits attractive, so I assume that you actually understood the value of the long-term/indirect benefits, and that you may in fact be ready to remain in the club next year.
At the same time, you discourage others to join the club by writing a comment which will be interpreted as "MandrakeSoft is lying about MadnrakeClub, don't join".
This is sad.
We are not lying to anyone, and Club idea is clearly presented everywhere withouth any exaguration (on the contrary, I'm from Central europe, and can't stand false advertising - therefore Club benefits are rather deemphasised than emphasised), so why do you have this urge to present it in such a bad light?