Roy Schestowitz wrote:
> Interview with Adam Williamson, Mandriva Linux
>
> ,----[ Quote ]
> | The most common misconception about Mandriva is that it's 'not free'.
> | This takes several forms - the belief that you have to pay or join the
> | Club to get updates, or that the freely available versions of Mandriva
> | are crippled demos. In truth, we have one of the longest and best
> | records of freedom.
> `----
>
> http://distrowatch.com/weekly.php?issue=20070618#feature
>
Really? You try and find the free one on mandriva's web site.
SLES isn't free, but the link to openSuse is there on the same page for all
to see. Yes I know where the Mandriva one is, your site obviously isn't
keen on letting new users know it is there.
Mandriva's period of demise probably came for a number of reasons.
One was that if you did buy a product, then wrote to grumble that you had a
bad DVD or something, Mandriva's reply would direct you to the place where
you could buy it again.
Another was the number of Mandriva users who got the L12L12L12...on first
boot (boot loader troubles on some drives). But struggled to get any help
from Mandriva, the number of 'Tried to contact support...' posts we used to
get.
Then another is the breakdown of distros. it is better now, but it was
actually quite hard to decide which of the boxes you should get. Yes, I
know in the end Linux is Linux and it doesn't matter because you can set
them all up the same. But for many a home user the fact that advanced tools
were pretty much ready setup for them on Mandriva was a major attraction.
Even now the powerpack version is just short for home users wanting ready
done server services, so they have to go for the powerpack+, a difference
of 120Euro. Why can't home users have a proper server, Mandriva was one of
the first with the 'easy out the box servers', why not keep that
reputation. openSuse is doing that job still, it was the main alternative
to Mandriva at about version7 and 8, why did you stop fighting?
I've been encouraging families to have Linux servers,
. don't lose that work ever again, back it up to the family server.
. don't tie a printer to a client, let the server do the work.
. collect your emails from your local server,
. and many more (as they say)
Mandriva was my favourite distro for a long time, particularly for home but
I had servers and desktops scattered around me here and other work places
for years alongside the Redhats.
I wish I could still reccommend Mandriva, even if just from an 'Old boy's
loyalty' point of view. Is it still a good product, is the free version a
full product? You are right, these are questions people will ask, we hang
been caught out before.
But the news on the main site I use is that Mandriva has come good again,
great things are expected of the 2008 version apparently because the free
download version is so good. It will be nice to see Mandriva heading for
the top 5 again.
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