On Wed, Sep 04, 2002 at 05:37:08PM -0600, Vincent Danen wrote: > >Is anyone here a member of the Mandrake Club? I'm curious because I > >don't see any votes/requests for PPC packages on the Club's RPM voting > >interface, and am wondering why that is...
Yes but I'm a VIP... > >There is starting to be a bit more of a drive for 8.2/PPC, at least on > >Club and Forum (if anyone has noticed), and I think it would serve us > >all well to get involved by either requesting packages, building > >packages, or just plain old subscribing to the Club and letting > >everyone > >know you're a PPC fanatic and want to see a new PPC version. > > > >I know the list has been somewhat dead due to a lack of interest > >(maybe?) in a new version of Mandrake/PPC (and I mean lack of interest > >on Mandrake's part, not your part), so maybe we can encourage some > >positive interest in the PPC port again by making ourselves a little > >more vocal and a little more known. X86 has a very large and dedicated > >community, and I think we can do the same with PPC, and I think by > >utilizing Club to our advantage (showing interest by requesting > >8.2/PPC-specific packages), will only help to a) increase our community > >and b) tell MandrakeSoft that we want another PPC version. (Yes, I > >know, I am a MandrakeSoft employee but I have really very little say in > >the PPC thing other than for security updates, so I have the same voice > >as the rest of you). > > > >Little pep talk, I guess... I know for myself, I'd love to see a new > >PPC version (as much as I like OS X, I would still prefer Mandrake on > >my > >ibook). *shrug* I've beat the drum a lot. But skipping a release version is just not the way to keep interest in the project. I know Mandrake has money issues and that they are having trouble justifying PPC. However, the way I see it by skipping the release you're shooting yourself in the foot. The PPC Linux community has seen distros come and go. They've seen quite a few pretty much abandoned distributions. I think quite a few people are going to assume that this is what has happened to Mandarke's PPC support without active development. There are very few PPC distros that are actively maintained and developed. And the users are going to go there. They are going to go where they can download a distro that has KDE3, Gnome2, and all the newest toys without having to add it in later. More specifically skipping a major release (8->9) probably was a big mistake. There are major changes in the environments (Gnome2 and KDE3) that most people are using between these versions. Skipping minor releases like 9.1 or 8.1 makes a lot of sense. But skipping major updates just pushes the people off to another distro. You're asking for a degree of commitment from the community to you to support you. It's time that Mandrake makes some commitment back. The x86 people have been more than willing to support you because they have a sense of commitment that the x86 distro is going to continue to be produced. But PPC is always sitting on the chopping block. As long as Mandrake employees constantly threaten that the future of PPC support by Mandrake is in doubt. People are going to look elsewhere. No one wants to make the commitment of time and energy to work on something that is going to get dropped. Even if all they are doing is installing it and using it. Taking the time to learn urpmi and the various Mandrake peculiarities for a person with only a PPC is likely to seem as a waste of time if that knowledge will become worthless soon. > >Just looking for some feedback as to what the community wants. Showing > >some interest via Club is a good way to go. Purchasing 8.2/PPC (on > >sale > >now for Club members!) and subscribing to the Club are also great ways > >to make your voice heard for future versions. I think what the community wants is a well supported distribution that has actively development on it. If they have to look elsewhere to find that they will. At any rate this is my 2 cents on the issue. I continue to use my Titanium (though not as much as I did, I mostly use an x86 desktop lately). I have donated to Mandrake, tagging it for PPC. I have bought the 2 disk PPC set. I have build packages. I have submitted fixes. But like I say I have to wonder if I'm not wasting my time and energy. -- Ben Reser <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> http://ben.reser.org Never take no as an answer from someone who isn't authorized to say yes.
