Mandrake Linux is based on a fixed date releasing due to market constraints (distributor/supplier schedules). As a consequence the release date was scheduled 3 months ago. On this date we have a very little margin of 2 or 3 days, but not more.
So the datum is: "release date is March the 15th". Now we need to do it in this timeframe (and we are the 17th), and we have no other choice. In a few days 8.2 updates will be released, and them you will have the real stable and polished distro you want. Debian has no real realease date, as a consequence doing a stable release is just a piece of cake, anybody can do it. Maybe our model is not good. Thinking of a better model, I am not sure what I could choose. No deadline means no hurry, and "if the last moments didn't exist, nothing good would be done". Moreover if we wait too much, new versions of nearly all the tools in the distro will be released, and their respective authors will not care anymore fixing bugs in the old version we would have included. I do think that our model is not so bad, and that we are reaching a good compromise between cutting edge and stability, but /this/ compromise _is needed_. -- Warly
