Roy Schestowitz wrote:
> A look at Mandriva Linux 2008
>
> ,----[ Quote ]
> | There were aspects of this Mandriva release that I really liked, such as
> | the installer and the Control Center but overall the system didn't
> | really grab me. It is quite a decent, well put-together operating system
> | with all the basics and a few extras like the Control Center and 3D
> | desktop effects. It was stable and ran well, but on the whole it didn't
> | seem to offer anything exciting enough to make me want to switch to the
> | distribution permanently. For the seasoned Mandriva user, I get the
> | impression this will be quite a worthy upgrade, but as for me I'm going
> | to check back when the next release arrives.
> |
> | 8 "Smarties" out of 10.
> `----
>
> http://distrowatch.com/weekly.php?issue=20071022#review
>
It is a sad thing what Mandriva has become. The problem came from Mandrake
days.
It was once first choice for many, for the simple reason that it was so good
and so complete compared with other distros that it would be first choice,
you wouldn't quibble at all about shelling out £60 or what ever for the box
set, in fact there were many bought that way simply so the user had the
box. (don't look at me like that, we all did it, you can't fool me).
Anyway, for a long time Mandriva was several rungs above all other distros.
But then they were the battles, a bad DVD or CD (always the last CD
inserted), so you try to ring the number, several days later you have given
up on that, but have now got Debian so that you can get on the PC and get
to the Mandriva site. But what ever link you contacted, you would get an
email back pointing you at the page on their site where you could buy the
box set again. The problems of drives, you needed a stack of hard drives
because with each version you couldn't tell before hand which drives it
would be willing to boot off. Some of the drive problems had nothing to do
with Mandriva, Seagate and others did that change at one time that seemed
to be MS lead, to try to make it difficult for Linux users.
I always had plenty of reasources because of my job, many home users could
do nothing except shoulder their disapointment.
There were many such battles, you were torn between knowing that once
Mandriva was onboard that you had the best Linux of the time, but on the
other side you were nervous of shelling out another £60, because you knew
with absolute certainty that if it didn't work for what ever reason you
would end up putting the box set on the shelf, not bothering to try to get
help, because there wasn't any worth having, not bothering to try to get
money back, because it couldn't be done. Users often just wrote off the
money.
So we now have the possition when Mandriva is again said to be a very good
product, that those who have been bitten on the bum before are not willing
to fly over to the Mandriva site and shell out even a tenner, until they
are certain that the release is safe to try.
Particularly as these problems were at the time of Suse 9.3, probably the
most major release of all distros. If Suse won you over at that time, it
was very hard to move anywhere else, 9.3 whether you set it as a server or
client was many rungs up the ladder compared to the other distro versions
of that time. It was a natural attraction for those who had been Mandrake
lovers, and frankly, for me at least, openSuse is still at least a small
head above the others. SLED and SLES though are those several rungs above.
Others of that ilk will no doubt be in the Ubuntu camp now, or maybe the new
Fedora which I looked at last night because Roy mentioned briefly how
impressed he was with it.
So it is hard to see where Mandriva's new users will come from or how they
go about winning back the confidence of those who left Mandriva behind. But
can't help feeling a pang of old loyalty boiling up every time I see them
mentioned.
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