I agree with most everything said However i must add we should not forget the people to whose i count myself: Between geek and non computer literate, who use the system for work, no games, no fancy, but reliability, repairability, and ease of use is essential.
Mandriva is perfect for us: easy to set up, powerful and working configuration tools... well you know it all. There are actually appearing a range of Linux tech software, here is what i plan to soon add in my electronic workshop:: http://www.saleae.com/home/, http://spec.de/. I do almost all work in Linux and soon all. Usability and reliability is what matters for us and Mandriva has it, and so will Mageia, and it should be marketed like this for this segment. There may be many segments A. The masses who only want "a computer" B. Serious users that want reliable system and *can* do some system configuration but no not want to waste too much time on it. System is a work house, and the user is willing to pay some monetary support, i.e subscription. C. geeks that want to tweak whatever. May want to participate in development. D. Server users: combination of B&C E. Broad installations in schools and offices: combination of A & B F. Game section is special, together with audio/video editing, streaming, creation etc. Maybe create someting like artistx, possibly by task-gaming, task-videoedit etc package(s). We need to find some directions for development For A: broad hardware support, flash live system, good installers, short beautiful manual/guide For B: Keep on building on drak tools, maintain a wealthy forum and wiki. For C: Good system documentation, source code handling, bugzilla, developer channels, developer apprentice guidance Yes i think we can just head on development from where we forked, but work on branding, marketing, documentation, communication :) Just make sure we technically actually only have one system that is easily configurable by i.e task-packages! (the packages can not only change what programs are installed, but also the visual appearance)
