I was not insinuating that anyone at mandrake was in any way sinister or "uncaring"
Only that if they had to lay people off, laying off the ones that are in touch and have established good working relationships with the companies biggest clients is a bad idea... Since CEO's and directors are suits, they don't usually know anything about the product side of things.. so they probably made the decision based on what they consider to be the right choise.. that may not be the best thing for Mandrake,, (if you were a CEO and you had a choise between another programmer, and an office assistant.. and you were not a linux nutter like us, you'd probably chose to keep the assistant, since a CEO would probably think that they have other programmers that can pick up the slack.) If Civilme got annoyed and lost his faith in Mandrake he could protentially cost mandrake alot of money by telling us about it all, and potentially recommending another distro... (not that civilme would, I am just proposing speculation.) Its a known fact that when a spokesperson, (or salesperson, or just someone well known and associated with a product.) leaves a company, many people will follow as they trust the man more then the company.. I have been in this situation myself, I used to work for a large international PC component manufacturer. (Ocean, the main brand they marketed was Octek.) When I left, a good many of my clients asked me to start a wholesale business and stated they would follow me.. All I am saying is that you don't remove the most respected public face of Mandrake (with the users.. or customers) if you want to improve sales. Vincent Dannen and Civilme are the only two mandrake employees that go out of their way to help users on the newbie, expert and sometimes the cooker list.. there is nothing that has improved mandrakes public opinion more then those two I believe.. and mandrake just layed one of them off.. (and who is to say that Vincent hasn't been given his walking papers as well..) That said, Civilme has said that there is no need to make a fuss about it, so I suggest we don't. rgds Frank -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On Behalf Of Miark Sent: Wednesday, July 31, 2002 5:06 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: [newbie] Civilme petition. "Vincent A. Primavera" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> saith: > Hello, > What I don't understand is how we receive the newsletter boasting of > such great news regarding their financial status etc. and then when it > comes down to it they are laying off key players. What can you really > believe? Forgive my optimism, but unless Civileme himself indicates otherwise, I have to believe that this was a necessary move for Mandrake. Yes, it saddens us, but we don't know anything about what went into the decision, and I see no reason to assume the worst (viz. that Mandrake is a big, nasty, uncaring corporation). Quite the contrary, in fact. Remember, even though MDK is doing well, they are still _not_ profitable. If we want to see Linux Mandrake survive, they must become profitable, which takes some unfortunate decisions. I'm sad that Civileme is being laid off, but if this helps Mandrakesoft survive and thrive, then I'm pleased. And lest anybody think otherwise, I _do_ think Civileme is The Man. So Civileme, if something is rotten in Denmark... er, Paris, then let us know cuz we've got your back; we'll do anything we can to keep you on. Otherwise I must be thankful that the community still has you, that MDK's future is bright, and that you are destined to excel in whatever you take on from here. Miark
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