Mandriva Buys Assets from Lycoris 292
ulteus writes "For months after the acquisition of Conectiva, Mandriva moves further with the following announcement: "Mandriva today announced an agreement to purchase several assets from Lycoris, a major North American Linux distribution for home users. As part of this agreement, Lycoris' founder and CEO Joseph Cheek is joining Mandriva to develop a new and advanced Linux desktop product.". This is exciting for all Mandriva and Lycoris users, but I'm wondering: who's next?"
I see no problems with this (Score:5, Funny)
Re:I see no problems with this (Score:2)
I always did like Mandrake's desktop (mostly). I never used Lycoris, but what I've heard, their desktop was even better, so hopefully they'll be able to painlessly merge the greatest strengths of both of them (although we all know things don't always work out that way).
I hope they decide to do business under the Lycoris trade name. "Mandriva" sounds like something a dentist would
Re:ugh, marketing (Score:4, Informative)
According to docs at the Lycoris site, they used to be called "Redmond Linux" and News Forge [newsforge.com] has a late 2001 review of a beta of Redmond Linux [newsforge.com]. Founded as Redmond Linux in 2000, they changed their name to Lycoris in January 2002.
Couldn't find a history to see what distro it might have originally forked from.
Greg
Lycoris... (Score:4, Informative)
This was something that had to happen after the SCO v. IBM blowup sometime or another. I stopped recommending Lycoris to friends and family after the SCO lawsuit, and I suspect I was not alone. Poor Joe Cheek was stuck in the middle of all this.
Mandriva is a good distro, and Joe Cheek is a really good developer. He created a version of Linux that was really good for retraining people with Windows on the brain. Maybe Mandriva will do a "Mandriva Switch" sub-distro geared to the same audience as Lycoris.
Re:Perhaps the name could be LyMan (Score:2)
Maybe consolidation is good (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Maybe consolidation is good (Score:5, Insightful)
The long and short of it is:
1. The packaging system is user-unfriendly.
2. The locations of programs are user-unfriendly.
3. The folder layout of Linux systems is user-unfriendly.
4. The lack of a standard base of installed libraries is application (and thus user) unfriendly.
If this can at least be solved at the distribution level, then we'll be good to go. But right now a given distribution means different things to different people depending on what packages are installed.
(P.S. Speaking of my blog, I get a kick out of the fact that the story I submitted on my last entry is still pending. Since Saturday. Guess the editors just think it's cool to look at or something.
Re:Maybe consolidation is good (Score:4, Informative)
It's actually pretty good at what it is - a means to package a diverse system that can be tailored to the user. Things like Smart [smartpm.org] (a Conectiva/Mandriva project even) and Autopackage [autopackage.org] help a lot. To get the packaging systems you want you need to fix #4, and I don't think that's likely to happen (at least not successfully).
2. The locations of programs are user-unfriendly.
Really? Any program that actually supports the freedesktop.org desktop entry file is readily accessible to the user unless they use some WM or DE that doesn't bother to use them - which means they've gone out of their way to complicate their lives. As for where the programs are stored on disk
3. The folder layout of Linux systems is user-unfriendly.
To some extent I agree, but we're dealing with legacy here... even OS X and windows have some odd folder locations and names carried over. Besides, there's always GoboLinux, which I presume you already know about.
4. The lack of a standard base of installed libraries is application (and thus user) unfriendly.
This is the big one really. If you want a fixed mandated core set of libraries that the user is forced to install... well, grab yourself a nice mandated controlled system like OS X, because Linux probably isn't what you're looking for. In theory you could just set up a distribution that has such a guaranteed base set of libraries, and in a sense some already exist - try Linspire, or Xandros. The catch is that people write applications for "Linux" not "Debian, stable" or "Linspire 3.1" or whatever. Given a random open source application it will make whatever assumptions about libraries it cares to - it's up to the packages to make sure those dependencies are met. FOSS applications tend to be coded against "whatever system the developer cared to use" rather than specific distributions and versions. Commercial developers maybe? Well they do have requirements - Oracle requires particular versions of Redhat in standard installs. Other commercial developers can do that if they like. Alternatively they could accept that the Linux world is a diverse world and restricting yourself to the one distribution that is guaranteed to have everything you want where you want it is a little limiting. You can always use Autopackage and handle the dependency issue elegantly in a way that's effectively invisible to the user.
The fact is that different distributions are different. You seem to be asking for all (or most) of the distributions to agree on a firm fixed set of base libraries. Distributions are different competing companies often however - you may as well ask Apple and Microsoft to hammer out a combined base set of libraries that you can be guaranteed to get in both OS X and Windows. Maybe that's a good idea. Maybe CoreImage on Windows and DirectX on OS X is what you'd like to see. I'm not so sure it will happen though.
Jedidiah.
Re:Maybe consolidation is good (Score:2)
Especially this one:
"Alternatively they could accept that the Linux world is a diverse world and restricting yourself to the one distribution that is guaranteed to have everything you want where you want it is a little limiting."
This basically brings up the basic point that you have a spectrum of users. Most users of (large) corporation machines do not (or at least should not) install software unapproved by IT. Users of small corporation machines and home users might. But if those users know
Re:Maybe consolidation is good (Score:2, Informative)
I have recently made the jump from Win98 to Mandriva 10.1 and it was a surprisingly pain free experience. I have installed other distros in the past and after a while ended up paving over it with Windows for one reason or another (generally one of the reasons above). This time I don't see any reason why I would go back. My system is far more stable, robust and dare I say easy to maintain that it was as a Windows based system. Granted that my geek quotient is somewhat high, but if you take into account t
Re:Maybe consolidation is good (Score:2)
It is a very small percentage of computer users that know that Red Hat and Slackware are two different collections of libraries that happen to use the linux kernel.
I don't think this is quite the problem you seem to think. What we have to get past is the belief that there is a single system that is best for everyone. Once you are open to the exi
Re:Maybe consolidation is good (Score:2)
Don't you mean usr/friendly? (and also- no it's not, sit any joe schmoe user in front of a hierarchy of folder with bin, sbin, usr, local, etc and watch them get confused fast. That's why OSX hides these system files)
Re:Maybe consolidation is good (Score:2)
And watch Joe User - or even me, since I haven't bothered to analyze them all - look at the plethora of Windows folders under the Windows folders and get confused.
Yes, finally, Windows XP hides those folders automatically (and I of course unhide them instantly since I'm not a dumbed down Windows moron who needs to be "protected" from his own system.)
The bottom line is that whether you hide those directories or not, you still have them and any user confused by them should comprehend that he doesn't need to
Re:Maybe consolidation is good (Score:2)
Re:Maybe consolidation is good (Score:2)
generally that means it's not anything urgent, and they are saving it for a slow news day.
Re:Maybe consolidation is good (Score:2)
This is utter hogwash. They are simple even in
their console versions.
> 2. The locations of programs are user-unfriendly.
If a Unix app program is properly set up. THE LOCATION IS ENTIRELY IRRELEVANT to the user.
> 3. The folder layout of Linux systems is user-unfriendly.
It's remarkably better than the alternatives.
> 4. The lack of a standard base of installed libraries is application (and thus user) unfriendly.
"application
Re:Maybe consolidation is good (Score:2)
It sounds like you would have spent much less time just adding an entry to your WM's app menu, or possibly a symlink in your home directory, after figuring it out the first time. Tooling around the Program Files directory is not an intuitive way to find anything.
Re:Maybe consolidation is good (Score:2)
2. The locations of programs are user-unfriendly.
3. The folder layout of Linux systems is user-unfriendly.
4. The lack of a standard base of installed libraries is application (and thus user) unfriendly.
What? These are "user" issues?
In windows there are a dozen different installers and they do not all behave or interact well. Installing windows 2000 OOTB on a system and then trying to get their own visual studio installed on it once involved me spending HOURS onl
Re:Maybe consolidation is good (Score:2)
Re:Maybe consolidation is good (Score:2)
And this is why you are comparing apples to oranges. If the folks at ubuntu or mandrake or wherever would take the time to package it then it wouldn't be this mess it is.
You want a fair comparison? OK let's pick any given package for windows of equivalent complexity - say, the gimp - and intall IT without any binaries. Whoops! We don't even have a compilery
Yeah, we're working on it (Score:3, Interesting)
1. The packaging system is user-unfriendly.
Yes, and that is because in regular distributions, you have a "list of packages and dependencies" and then the actual files scattered through the file system, and those are held together by a
Re:Maybe consolidation is good (Score:2, Interesting)
1.)Current Linux users, these guys are set and probibly wont go anywhere any time soon
2.) Buisness class users that use windows
3.) Educational users that use windows
4.) Home users that use windows
3 & 4 are typicaly the same, and are considered the "critical mass" since their are more in this group.
The problem I see is not linux but the DE t
Re:Maybe consolidation is good (Score:2)
You are.
The biggest security problem in Windows is that the desktop (AND the browser, AND the applications) have connections to the kernel (that's "kernel" BTW to be
The last thing Linux (or Windows) needs is more interaction between the desktop and the kernel.
Re:Maybe consolidation is good (Score:3, Funny)
Of course, if they buy Wombat Linux, they could be called Woman-driva, but that would just scare everyone else off the road.
Re:Maybe consolidation is good (Score:2)
(be sure to remember correct pronunciation that dyc is dick).
Re:Maybe consolidation is good (Score:2)
Oi! That's what I'm calling my MUD!
Re:Maybe consolidation is good (Score:2)
Nah.. sell it for MORE than WinXP
Which of course, you can market it that way.. no spyware issues, virus issues, better default security model, more/better included software, default theme-able interface (KDE), free software
typo (Score:5, Informative)
Re:typo (Score:2)
Oh, no worries, that's what we have editors for...
D'oh!
What's so exciting about it? (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:What's so exciting about it? (Score:2)
Re:What's so exciting about it? (Score:2)
Re:What's so exciting about it? (Score:2, Interesting)
Hey mods, THIS IS NOT YOUR PRIVATE ECHO CHAMBER. Fucking retards.
Re:What's so exciting about it? (Score:4, Insightful)
Oh, no... (Score:2, Funny)
Re:What's so exciting about it? (Score:2)
What does Mandrake really gain from this deal anyway? Competition among Linux distros is limitless, so any increase in marketshare is a temporary shift that the market will correct over time. If Lycoris users wanted Mandrake, they would be using it already. Eliminating Lycoris will just create a new niche for a Lycoris clone to enter the market.
Novell's purchase
Re:What's so exciting about it? (Score:2)
Re:What's so exciting about it? (Score:2)
It should be obvious to you what Mandrake gets from this. Mandrake gets more advanced work at making the Linux desktop compete with Windows. Lycoris and Xandros and Linspire are the three Linux distros that most compete FOR WINDOWS USERS. Acquiring Lycoris gives Mandrake several pieces of technology th
Re:What's so exciting about it? (Score:2)
Choice is good but there is a limit. One thing I hate about most Linux distros, they install 30 different programs that all do the same thing. Who needs 30 different text editors? I don't even want to try 30 different text editors. Give me one mainstream program to start out with and then let me go find the alternatives. That's right, make a choice for me. Don't load up the machin
Re:What's so exciting about it? (Score:2)
Re:What's so exciting about it? (Score:2)
There are HOW MANY DISTROS OUT THERE?
Mandrake buys two moderately sized ones (not the smallest, not the biggest), and the sky is falling?
This is modded "Interesting"?
OTOH, if you're commenting on how some people WANT consolidation in Linux (down to two or a half dozen distros), then you are of course correct - diversity is better.
Since such consolidation isn't going to happen, it's a moot point.
Mod this "Redundant". Wait, I HAVE mod points, and I'm posting? Oops.
Re:What's so exciting about it? (Score:2)
Absolutely not.
Has absolutely nothing to do with "consolidation" - which means merging multiple versions into one which word has nothing to do with the simple fact that Windows is closed source.
Has everything to do with being first to market with an OS cheaper than UNIX USED to be, and then tying it to restrictive OEM contracts, and also tying the d
Consolidation of the commerical Linux vendors. (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Consolidation of the commerical Linux vendors. (Score:2)
Re:Consolidation of the commerical Linux vendors. (Score:2)
Re:Consolidation of the commerical Linux vendors. (Score:2)
Right now the good talent is spread out. When we see these players merging, maybe bringing the talent all under one roof, will see some magical results.
Re:Consolidation of the commerical Linux vendors. (Score:2, Funny)
What is a fucking moron, with ridiculous, unrealistic ideas about how the world works, and an irrational belief in failed ideology?
Do I win?
Re:Consolidation of the commerical Linux vendors. (Score:2)
I wouldn't call "Free Software" a failed ideology, considering Sun just open sourced Solaris, Microsoft is hiring open source software developers to understand open source, and public awareness of Free Software and Linux in general has only increased since Stallman began his work.
So, I guess, no, you don't win. =)
Re:Consolidation of the commerical Linux vendors. (Score:2)
Mandriva? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Mandriva? (Score:2)
ConutryTyme lemonade was once purchased too you know?
Lycoris Major Linux Distribution? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Lycoris Major Linux Distribution? (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Lycoris Major Linux Distribution? (Score:2)
How many of those other distros were sold at Wal-Mart?
Re:Lycoris Major Linux Distribution? (Score:2)
Windows and Mac OS X aren't free either but they are popular. Being good (in the eyes of the users) makes an operating popular. What do Lycoris offer that makes them better than the competition?
Re:Lycoris Major Linux Distribution? (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Lycoris Major Linux Distribution? (Score:2)
I don't know if anyone else here remembers it, but I loved the LinuxWorld "review" of Lycrois. It was two or three paragraphs long and went something like this:
"I installed Lycoris, a Linux billed as an XP clone. My screen tunred a weird shade of green when using the Desktop. That sucked. Fin."
After reading that, I was just standing there with a horrifie
Re:Lycoris Major Linux Distribution? (Score:2)
For example, I'm 5' 7" and white. But in a press release, I can become the next Michael Jordan. ...
Being broke is : "liquidity issues" or "cash flow interruptions", etc
It's the same on TV. A series that hasn't even been aired yet, is advertised as the "New Hit Series" of the season.
I think you get the picture.
Re:Lycoris Major Linux Distribution? (Score:3, Insightful)
Then, they abruptly changed their tune. Most likely they got some C&D's from Microsoft and they decided to change their name to Lycoris. While they were still going for a Windows-esque look and feel, they seemed to have lost some momentum, primarily after Lindows started to take off.
Re:Lycoris Major Linux Distribution? (Score:3, Insightful)
This is not a flamebait: honestly, who the hell knows Lycoris?
The parent is right: Lycoris isn't a major Linux distro. Period. I don't see why that's a flamebait, just the parent merely pointing out that the usual PR statement bullshit just doesn't match reality at all in this case.
As a Mandriva user... (Score:5, Interesting)
Needless to say running this Distro in 128MB of RAM is not recommended.
Re:As a Mandriva user... (Score:2)
I'm was/is in a similar situation. I bought into the Mandrake Club about 13 months ago because 9.1 and 9.2 were quite excellent. Unfortunately, nothing in 10.0+ made it worth my while to renew the club subscription. Fedora is currently miles ahead of Mandriva and the price is right!
Recent??? (Score:2)
Re:As a Mandriva user... (Score:2)
As for the dependencies, I reccommend using "easyurpmi" (just Google for it if you don't know what I'm talking about, it really is easy), and add the PLF sources and such, and then you'll be fairly set as far as dependencies go.
Re:As a Mandriva user... (Score:2)
I couldn't even get 10.1 to boot on my machine (K7T266A), due to the infamous VIA USB bulk-timeout error.
I burnt the 10.2 ISO to a DVD and it booted up, installed, no muss no fuss. No problems with the NVIDIA driver either.
Re:As a Mandriva user... (Score:2)
You have recently upgraded from 10.0 to 10.1? You might have gone with LE2005 as well instead. And if you encounter any problems, there are countless Mandriva fora where people are eager to help you.
Have Mandriva ever "screwed" the people who download the Free versions of their distro? What makes you think they might do so now?
Re:As a Mandriva user... (Score:2)
Re:As a Mandriva user... (Score:2)
That's the *only* issue I've had so far.
Mandriva? (Score:2, Funny)
It couldn't have been a native English speaker, because, at least to me, it reads "Mandriver" and just SCREAMS HOMOSEXUALITY.
Re:Mandriva? (Score:2)
I guess seeing things homosexual where there aren't any is your particular slant in life. Either that or you're a troll, which is more likely.
I read it as "mand-riva" (short i like in "river", not "driver"). I think most everybody read it that way.
Re:Mandriva? (Score:2)
Many Mandrake Club members complained of the same thing, so the grandparent is not trolling nor is he necessarily in the closet. It is more likely that the parent is trolling.
Just think, Mandrakesoft could change thier name again to Manlyca. Think Man licker.
Re:Mandriva? (Score:2)
To me, it sounds like Mangina. What a vagina would be doing on a man is an exercise best left for the reader.. But it does sound gay.
New name speculation... (Score:5, Funny)
Lydraktiva
Condraktivis
Mancortiva
I know you guys can come up with more!
Re:New name speculation... (Score:2)
Re:New name speculation... (Score:2)
Re:New name speculation... (Score:2)
Clitoris? (Score:4, Funny)
Might give it a whirl (Score:3, Interesting)
Since I still have a Mandrake club membership, I might give the new version a whirl, since the font rendering and desktop stuff from Lycoris looks interesting. I seriously doubt they'll get away from the bloated, buggy mess they've turned into.
Re:Might give it a whirl (Score:2)
I've given Ubuntu (and Kubuntu) a whirl, but wasn't too comfortable with the permissions setup of the distro. It's probably not as big a deal as I made it out to be, but having no real root user, but giving a standard user root permissions just didn't seem like a good idea to me.
Re:Not sure what you're talking about... (Score:2)
To be fair this was a community edition and not a commercial release.
I'm still running 9.
Who? (Score:4, Insightful)
Well lycoris looks really nice (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Well lycoris looks really nice (Score:3, Informative)
urpmi foo
Whoo, that was tough...
Re:Well lycoris looks really nice (Score:2)
Re:Well lycoris looks really nice (Score:2)
And if you don't think KDE looks professional, well that might be personal taste, but you can choose from more than just that one desktop with Mandriva.
Who's Next (Score:4, Funny)
"Mandriva announced today that they are purchasing the majority of shares in Microsoft Corporation. What does this signify to the Linux community?"
--- mandriva user (Score:2)
With all these people coming together, they should come up with something interesting. Who knows if it'll be good or bad, but I'm going to wait and see. I'm a little leery of Lycoris since I've never used it.
Doesn't hurt diversity... (Score:2)
For all the people complaining about diversity... how many distros does that leave remaining? Fedora, Ubuntu, Knoppix, Gentoo, Slackware, Debian, CentOS... and those are just the free ones I can na
Monopoly? (Score:4, Funny)
Maybe this will boost their brand image (Score:2, Interesting)
In my mind Mandriva hasn't had that image. Few years ago they allmost went to bankruptcy. After that, I have to confess, I haven't been able to trust them. But now when the
Lycoris: something of value (Score:2, Insightful)
However, something's brewing. Mandriva wouldn't have made the acquisition if nothing interesting was going on.
Whaever Lycoris has, it's obvious that Mandriva wants to throw more resources into it and integrate it into its own offerings. It'll be interesting to see what happens six months from now.
i hope (Score:2)
Linux Market (Score:2)
I can see RedHat talking the traditional Server roles (database, web, application), Nose taking the Desktop + Workstation servers, Madriva taking the standalone machines and Debian et al being the true competition for all of them.
Note that I am not suggesting that everything else will dissappear, but that commercial entities will remain localised, be debian based, or be swallowed up (who will take TurboLinux or will it tak
Mandrivorix (Score:2)
Re:Major? (Score:2)
You forgot something... (Score:2)
Linux is itself a small user base, so claiming a distro is or is not "major" is a little silly.
However, IIRC, Lycoris was the distro installed on the computers sold by Wal-Mart (am I wrong?) so that makes it FAR more "major" than most of the other big players anyway.
Re:You forgot something... (Score:2)
If Mandriva can use some of Lycoris's usability, and make it easy enough to use to get on a Wal-Mart shelf instead of on-line only, then Microsoft had better be worried (especially with the advances that OpenOffice.org is making with i
Re:You forgot something... (Score:2)
They did not have any specialized config tools like DrakeConf or Yast. This is the same failing I have heard others complain about thier golden child Ubuntu. You even have this problem with Linspire and Xandros.
Lastly, Lycoris susposedly came out with a pocketpc device distro
Re:You forgot something... (Score:2)
In any case, if either of those distros has reached a large userbase, it's not visible to the rest of the Linux world. I'm inclined to keep Lycoris filed under "minor", Wal-Mart or no.
Re:Screw them (Score:2)