Interview with Mandrake's Head Honchos

Shipud writes "Newsforge has an interview with MandrakeSoft CEO François Bancilhon, and Mandrakelinux co-founders Jacques Le Marois and Gaël Duval. Among the issues discussed are a the business model for a GPL-based public company, Mandrakesoft's shares, the role of user subscription in funding, the bankruptcy, Xfree 4.4's new non-GPL license, and more."

sc0wned!

[astrokid]

I thought it was funny:

A GPL-based business isn't the easiest model to be successful at; what makes it successful?

FB: A GPL-based business has lots of advantages, such as benefiting from a huge contributor team who help develop and improve our products, and also communicate.

JLM: If you look to the history of Linux distributions, you will see that the fastest growing are the ones which follow the Open Source rules. Most of the proprietary ones have completely failed. Caldera/SCO is a good example.

Pitfall of VC

[wombatmobile]

GD: Besides not having cut costs enough and early enough, I think that the core of the problem was certainly to consider venture cash as revenues, and thus growing the MandrakeSoft structure artificially.

Yes. Worth remembering, that one.

MandrakeSoft

[xenostar]

It seems that an OSS-based company has to struggle for survival at all times. They are doing a great job, though, and eventhough I personally don't use Mandrake, I respect all the work they've done with it. Hope they come up with a solid business model and start making real money.

I ordred the box set....

[gfxguy]

Over two weeks ago and still haven't received it. So ask me to support them, but now two weekends (the time I have to play with linux) are gone for good while I could have ordred cheapbytes CDs and had them last week.

Ya listening, Apple?

[stratjakt]

GD: Adopt a business model that is in harmony with Open Source Software; do not try to do proprietary with Open Source Software. And if you don't believe in OSS, don't do OSS!

There, you've been told by a frenchman!

I thought the principle of Open Source was anyone can use it however the hell they please.

I can't help but wonder

[bool morpheus()]

With as much success as a company like Mandrake is having, can't companies like Microsoft see that the days of charging $400 for you OS are gone?

Re:I can't help but wonder

[bool morpheus()]

I'd say that for the amount of financial trouble they were in, the "whine and beg" was kept pretty quiet. It wasn't like something came up every 30 minutes saying, "Give us money!".

Re:They're french?

[Tarantolato]

Perhaps someone can explain to me the slight or not-so-slight bias against the French in the US I keep hearing about

1. Your language is different[1].
2. Your popular press is as prejudiced against us as ours is against you[2].
3. French foreign policy has a long history of getting in the way of American - I don't just mean the recent stuff either; it goes back at least as far as de Gaulle refusing to endorse the Normandy invasion.
4. American tourists who come back feeling that the French have been rude to them[3].
5. Slightly different economic models, and the feeling on each side that the other's is insane.
6. Historical attraction of American women to foreign men.
7. Blue-assed baboon syndrome: it's easy to hate the losing side in any important struggle.
8. Inheritance from British anti-Americanism.
9. Instinctive dislike of anything that reeks of "high culture".

[1] Easier to dislike people you don't understand.
[2] e.g. frequent use of "cowboy" as an insult. or adulation of Michael Moore coupled with the lack of similarly hyper-harsh criticism of Chirac.
[3] Usually they only go to Paris. Which is a bit like going to New York and then forming judgements about Iowa, New Hampshire and Mississippi based on that.

Re:I can't help but wonder

[calethix]

Normally I find the majority of your posts to be pretty entertaining but I don't think I would put Mandrake in the 'begging' category.
So they have a bunch of stuff on the download page asking you to donate, big deal. It's not like every so often, you run a program and it reminds you to donate in the same fashion as some shareware.

Personally, I would much sooner make a donation to Mandrake based on how they treat their customers than buy Microsoft software. I'm lucky enough to get the professional versions of Windows and Office through my school if I wish. On the rare ocassion that I was working on a relative's PC with the home edition of something, I found product activation to be quite annoying.

Besides, getting out of bankruptcty wasn't just about getting more donations. They had to take a look at their business and cut out what was wasteful to survive. That by itself should be a lesson to other companies which think the only way out of a problem is to gouge their customers a little more instead of looking for internal problems.

Re:I ordred the box set....

[clontzman]

What about this?

[A]cting pursuant to the Constitution and [the Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution of 2002] is consistent with the United States and other countries continuing to take the necessary actions against international terrorists and terrorist organizations, including those nations, organizations, or persons who planned, authorized, committed, or aided the terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001.

--President Bush, in a letter to Congress outlining the legal justification for commencing war against Iraq, March 18, 2003