On Thu, 2002-12-26 at 10:55, Vincent Danen wrote: > On Thursday, December 26, 2002, at 01:15 AM, James Sparenberg wrote: > > [...] > >> So while James made some very good points, they're pretty much > >> irrelevant to the topic at hand which is, looking at the subject line, > >> Increase of Capital for Mandrakesoft, which is happening *now*... not > >> next year. > >> > >> Hope everyone had a great Christmas! > > > > I was commenting on the letter in the thread immediately before me, and > > if the short term doesn't include the long term (or vice versa ) It can > > be counter productive. If MDK had a million box sets in the stores > > right now. Making 5 bucks a crack... would 5 mill help the short term > > bottom line? Yes I know that it can often be 30 to 60 days before this > > Yes, but you're still missing the point, James. I don't know if there > *are* a million boxed sets in stores right now.
Oh I do get the point I'm just trying to extend it. BTW went to a local Fry's today (for those who don't know it's an electronics supermarket in California and Texas) They had 30 boxes of RH left and 15 SuSe. The gal working the software section said they got 75 roughly of each ... and of course one lone copy of MDK 8.2... This is why I feel that a million or even 500k isn't out of the question even with a 20% backwash from the channel it's still a healthy total (20% is very very high) > Sure $5M would be > helpful, it would be excellent! But if those boxes aren't there > *today*, I fail to see how this helps us get to the point where we will > be putting that number of boxes on store shelves. My point... why aren't they there? Why isn't McMillian pushing them out the door? > > > comes in but this kind of recievable would have possibly prevented the > > pull out of certain funds MDK was expecting (taken from the website > > announcement.) I don't wish or desire to denigrate the original > > letter.. > > I don't know about a pull-out of funds. It's been postponed/delayed > according to the website announcement, not retracted or cancelled. > > > but rather say yes I agree .... but more is needed for both short and > > long term success. I want to buy MDK 11.4 (yes I know they never get > > that high with sub numbers *grin*) I just hope there won't be another > > crisis like this right after 9.1 comes out, but the pattern is in > > place. I'm a club member, I buy my disks (not just download them, > > although I do that while waiting for my disks) I encourage others to > > buy > > not download. And right now... I'm tapped. My company is reaching an > > equally tight cash situation... but then again.... we are still > > privately funded with no Angel or Vulture investment. (soon to change) > > And I thank you for that, James. The issue at this instant in time, if > we could freeze on today, is not new users; it's existing users that > aren't doing their part (freeloaders if you will). Mandrake Linux is > perhaps one of the most popular Linux distributions out there, but > you'd never know it in terms of money. One of out greatest strengths > and, inevitably, our greatest weaknesses, is allowing the entire distro > to be downloaded for nothing. Don't tell me that people out there > don't take advantage of this and continue to download ISOs and use > Mandrake all over the place without contributing a dime. These are the > same people who will whine and complain if Mandrake ceases to exist, or > who currently scream and yell if something doesn't work to their liking. > > I don't know. Maybe we need to go with SuSE's model and allow a one > ISO demo a few months after release to prevent people from doing this. > Then again, who wants to see Mandrake become another SuSE? I think > the fact that Mandrake does this is, again, it's greatest strength and > I'd hate to see that change as I think it would change the entire > philosophy of the company. So is that really an option? I hope not. > > At any rate, I don't think there is much value in debating/discussing > this further. The real value is for people to step up and do something > to keep their distribution alive. That's right... *their* > distribution; it isn't our distro. It's *your* distro. We have opened > the process so much that almost anyone can put their mark on the distro > it is, essentially, a community distribution that we just maintain and > put the nuts and bolts on. If having that kind of distribution is > important to people, I trust they put their money into it to ensure > it's survival. > > I don't want to sit here and become an evangelist for Mandrake... > that's not my job. But I do feel that certain things need to be > understood about how all of this works. > > I also don't want anyone to feel we are neglecting the long term for > the sake of the short term as that is not the case at all. > > I've said enough on this particular thread. I think it's time to have > actions speak instead of words. > > Thanks. > > -- > 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} >
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