Stephen Kuhn wrote: <snip>
<snip>But overall, one thing that they should consider is the pricing plan. Economies in different countries are different - so when someone in say, Australia, has to contend with paying $40USD for something, it's more like $80AUD - and that's a bit of a steep price to pay.If Mandrake would want to try that type of marketing, they might find that they'd not only eliminate the number of "freeloaders", but they'd be able to get a quick injection of cash into their accounts - but it's their decision to make - not mine or yours. I would happily make a purchase of a set - provided the cost was low enough to justify - even $50AUD would be low enough for me to justify
Stephen,
as a newbie Australian Mandrake user I agree with you wholeheartedly, I changed from Windows to linux for several reasons - I cannot afford the ongoing/increasing cost of M$ software, I wanted an OS that I could learn to understand and have some form of control over and the added security for my machine offered by linux.
I am enjoying my experience with the Mandrake distro having started with 8.2 and now 9.0 both as downloads and have successfully converted six others to the wonders of OSS and particularly Mandrake.
I want to contribute to the Mandrake community but as you pointed out a boxed set and silver membership would cost me about $ 360 AUD. I aim to buy 9.1 as a boxed set and have a club membership but as I only have dial-up I cannot currently utilise the benefits of a club membership.
My priority is #1 to get a broadband setup - which means I can't afford to support Mandrake at the current cost in AUD. If I could get the software/club membership for $180 AUD I could stretch my resources and manage to accomplish my goals of a broadband setup AND support Mandrake in a real way.
As it stands I will have to continue 'freeload' until I can save enough to do both.
I sincerley hope that Mandrake can find a way out of the current situation as I believe Mandrake to be the closest to a desktop replacement for M$.
Graham Banks
Want to buy your Pack or Services from MandrakeSoft? Go to http://www.mandrakestore.com
