On Tue, 2002-12-24 at 12:53, Vincent Danen wrote: > On Tuesday, December 24, 2002, at 12:37 PM, mike wrote: > > [...] > >> I don't think the "vampires" would respond as they have nothing to do > >> with MandrakeSoft anymore. =) > > > > Mandrake is a great distribution and I hope it stays around.I believe > > an open > > source project should be a lean machine.I think Mandrake needs to take > > inventory and trim the fat.Focus on what they do best.Long Live > > Mandrake. > > And just what do you think we've been doing over the last few months? > =) > > I'd say a lot of fat has been trimmed. The machine is *really* lean > right now... thus the increase of capital. This is required for > Mandrake to remain any kind of machine. The end result will be a lean > machine (not too lean, mind you... can't put out a distro with only 10 > people!). > > Bottom line is this: It's time for people to step up to the plate and > walk the walk, not just talk the talk. We've done what we had to do, > and very painfully at times, to get MandrakeSoft where it is right > now... we had a *lot* to recover from, which civileme touched on. > We've done that. But for us to continue, the community has to show a > little support. > > I know what I want to be doing next Christmas.. playing with Mandrake > 9.2. The question is, what do you want to be doing next Christmas? > Also playing with Mandrake 9.2 or being frustrated at having to use a > lesser distribution? Or another OS entirely? > > For those who feel similar sentiments (ie. "Long Live Mandrake" and "I > hope it stays around"), I would sincerely ask you to put your money > where your mouth is. It's one thing to say you would like Mandrake to > be around forever and how much you love it, it's an entirely different > story to support the cause financially. > > I would also recommend that, despite some problems a few people have > had, people purchase their boxed sets of Mandrake from MandrakeStore. > We see a lot more revenue this way than if you go down the block to > whatever store you shop at and purchase it. Putting money into > distributor and retailer pockets doesn't help MandrakeSoft.
Some short comings in this statement.... First it ensures that the only people who can find out how to purchase a boxes set are people who have in the past used MDK... no growth here and since this limits growth it almost garauntees that the user base will be a negative growth not a positive one. Second. Younger users are often discriminated against. So is anyone else who doesn't have/use credit cards. Third. Common business error in the Software industry. I wan't it all or nothing at all. Just ask M$. which is better 25 dollars on a thousand users or 5 dollars on a Million? Any company that want's to succeed has to play the game of dealing with large numbers. You can't gouge a small market you have to cut a deal with a larger group. The numbers I've heard (not official) is that RH sold about 7 million box sets in the US last year through retail. Now if they only made an average of 10 dollars (US) that's 70 million before taxes... Could MDK use 1/3 of that? Putting money into Retailer Pockets and Distributor pockets does help MDK. Scenario, I own a business, Selling your product makes me money... I'm going to do everything I can to sell as much of your product as I can. The more I sell the more money we BOTH make. You don't spend money on adds I do. You don't spend money on shelf space or marketing, I do... BUT we both make money. Much of the "I have to have it all" attitude is a very propriatory M$ attitude. GM lets you sell car parts and add ons. They know, the more you sell the more they sell. (How many people here bought a car because of the cool add ons that car had?) Remember too that GM is the largest open source company in the world. You buy a car you own it. (No EULA) You can resell it. Source Code is available (aka Shop Manuals) You can build your own if you want. (The chances of me building my own car are greater than the chance I'm going to write my own kernel.) I can mix and match parts (Ford body chevy engine Custom Interior.) That's open source. I can build modify and repair to my hearst content. Nothing wrong with selling it yourself but there is more money in having someone else sell it for you. Remember M$ doesn't sell directly copies of Oriface or Windwoes to the consumer, But I can walk into any store in the US and find a copy, or order it online from dozens of stores. Again the large numbers game. If only 1% of the consumers buy and you show it to 10,000 you get 100 customers. But if 10,000,000 see it you get 100,000 customers. James > If a box > set isn't that important to you (ie. you don't need nice packaging and > a printed manual), then getting a MandrakeClub subscription is the best > way to go. Club generates the highest percentage of revenue, and every > penny counts. Plus, with Club, all the goodies you get on your CDs in > the box set you can get online (great for broadband users, maybe not so > great for dialup users). > > All these things will help keep Mandrake alive. > > -- > MandrakeSoft Security; http://www.mandrakesecure.net/ > "lynx -source http://linsec.ca/vdanen.asc | gpg --import" > {FE6F2AFD: 88D8 0D23 8D4B 3407 5BD7 66F9 2043 D0E5 FE6F 2AFD} >
Want to buy your Pack or Services from MandrakeSoft? Go to http://www.mandrakestore.com
