get a grip people, I'm not talking about an e-learning center.. I'm talking about adding some value to club members by putting one of their guys on an IRC server or whatever and allowing access to the clubmembers for an hour or two a day.. not that expensive to setup...
stuff like that.. ."talk daily with a mandrake programmer" sheesh.. I wasn't suggesting they rethink their business.. but there are alot of potential club members who are on the verge of signing up.. and something like that would tip the scales in mdk's favour... Think about it, don't you think it would be cool to have a real person at mandrake to voice off at or ask for help...?? from what I have seen/heard, mandrake leaves alot to be desired when it comes to newbies asking for help.. rgds Frank -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On Behalf Of Sascha Noyes Sent: Sunday, 22 December 2002 8:06 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: [newbie] Mandrake Raising More Capital -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 On Sunday 22 December 2002 10:41 am, Franki wrote: > I love the idea of training.. if Mandrake put an expert in an irc channel > 24/7 or even for specific times each day.. and his job was to answer club > members questions.. and perhaps train them on stuff when the questions > quiet down... (common ones could be refered to a mandrake page with the > common answers...)... > > > Training is what would make mandrake club longterm profitable.. but why > would they listen to this suggestion... > > Hell, they could do an online course..and offer a printable certificate at > the end.. it probably won't mean alot real world.. but I bet they'd get > swarms of signups if they did it. (I'd sign up too... just so I could > lurk'n learn.. > That is basically what got Mandrake into the bad position they are in right now, e-learning. (And no - they didn't get "swarms of signups") > As for debian and its long term viability.... > > Debian is one of the oldest distro's.. its alot older then mandrake.. > > Also, the guys that do it do it for one reason.. they love it.. > > There is no money to be concerned about.. also, every ISP I have delt > with.. and thats alot over the years, not just as a customer, but as a > consultant.. for my clients and others have used Debian.. > > Truth be told,, I think that if it were possible to check,,, debian would > probably be ahead of Redhat as far as installed base goes... > > Just not on the desktop.. most of the mail admins I'm sharing mailing lists > are using Debian (the linux users that is.) > > Debian is probably the purest open source project of them all... at least > thats my impression. > > If mandrake goes.. I'll use Debian or Gentoo for servers and redhat for > desktop.. currently I use Mandrake for both.. which is why I don't want to > change. > > but having said that.. there is no free lunch... if they want my money.. > they give me something I want.. thats all there is to it.. I am not > interested in games much.. I don't want software I can get free elsewhere.. > Mandrake's core focus is on delivering a Linux distro that has broad hardware support, is easy to set up and administer, and is committed to free software. The idea of the club is to support Mandrake in this goal. Quite a few people today have broadband and a cd writer (heck - you don't actually even need a cd writer), and therefore have no need for boxed sets, besides the additional software that is in it. The club is a way for Mandrake users to support them directly, without diluting the money with costs for packaging and delivery. Everything else on Mandrakeclub is an _incentive_ to join, and not the core reason. If you honestly feel that you are giving Mandrake a free lunch by joining the club - then so be it. > I want training.. in various areas.. I am a sucker for learning.. I've > taught myself 4 programming languages in the last 2 years.. just because I > could... The chance to learn stuff.. anything of interest.. is worth my > dollars. > > I know mandrake has alot of online docs.. but the way they have gone about > it is so haphazzard that most people have no idea its there or what its > for.... > > hmmm.. what else could they do??? > > I know.. hold off longer on the final releases of mandrake... instead of > rushing them out.. take more snapshots.. offer them to only the club or > cooker members as ISO's they could give something to the club members and > get something in return as well.. more bug testing.. I like aspects of 8.2 > and 9.0.. but nothing is better then 7.2 so far... (I still have lots of > servers running it.) > > One last thing they should do off the top of my head... > They should copy M$ and release a searchable knowledgebase.. not 100000 > docs spread all over the place.. but a searchable database of issues and > their solitions.. with unique id's and all.. > > make it available to clubmembers... (in my opinion, the M$ knowledgebase is > the only worthwhile thing they have done in years.) > > > Thats the stuff that will have people signing up... > > rgds > > Frank > > > > > > > > > > > > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On Behalf Of Anne Wilson > Sent: Sunday, 22 December 2002 9:30 PM > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject: Re: [newbie] Mandrake Raising More Capital > > > Comments in-line > > On Sunday 22 Dec 2002 12:09 pm, Franki wrote: > > Well, I guess its my turn to have a say... > > > > I am off the opinion that the club is a shortterm earner at best.. > > eventually people will pull out and if there are not new replacements it > > will dry up.. there is alot more benefit to mandrake in the club then > > there > > > currently is to the users I think. > > > > having said that, if the make it more worth the while then I will force > > all > > > my client that use mandrake pay it for a year.. > > > > just like I insist all of those using dyndns pay them a 20 dollar > > donation at signup... > > > > but right now, what am I gonna tell them?? you'll get a bunch of demo > > software, some nvidia drivers and a few other bits and bobs.. not enough > > to > > > convince someone thats going on second hand loyalty (mine). > > > > They need to think long and hard about what they can offer.. perhaps > > online > > > realtime tutorials/training with chatrooms and stuff.. I don't know, but > > do > > > some more value adding.. > > Corporate users, if that's what we're talking about, would be hard to > convince > at the moment, I agree. But I like the idea that training might be > offered. > > > As for mandrake going under.. I'll be very sad if they do.. I have bought > > powerpacks off them before.. and I was planning on buying 9.1, but if > > they go down.. it would take me a week or two to get to the same level > > using redhat.. (or gentoo ).. > > > > I love mandrake for the most part.. and would hate to see them go... but > > if > > > they do, I'll probably try to standardise on one of the not-for-profit > > distro's like debian... it'd be a pain for a while, but at least its > > unlikely to go under.. > > Why? Not questioning your knowledge - on the contrary, asking why you > believe > them to be sound. > > > In the email to customers,, Mandrake should have made more reference to > > what they owe.. when its likely to be over and a more detailed report of > > future profitability.. they could have made it sound alot less like > > begging > > > for donations. > > It must be difficult to write an email like that - particularly when it > must be in several languages. > > Anne - -- Please encrypt all correspondence. PGP key available from: http://individual.utoronto.ca/noyes/snoyes.asc - -- -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.2.1 (GNU/Linux) iD8DBQE+BaqWgzJdfX+cTW8RAkFoAJ9f1zWfmaWJkAV4jewHKilrNjbB0gCeI0wg uOIK005O5hSf8HM+ycS8vy8= =T8DG -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
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