On Thursday 16 Jan 2003 11:19 am, Ken Maurer wrote: > > > I wrote to Jaques le Marois when I heard that Civileme was to be booted > > > and received a snotty reply for my trouble. I certainly agree with you > > > about the contribution that Todd makes, but I'm not sure that Mandrake > > > are sophisticated enough to value the opinions of their customers (look > > > at the Mandrakestore debacle). > > > >If a CEO cares about his company and has to make decisions about > > redundancies he is already hurting - believe me, I know. To have an > > outsider who does not know the problems nor have to deal with them > > telling him how to deal with the situation is at best unhelpful - and I > > can guarantee that it will increase the hurt. The reply you got may not > > have helped the situation, but, by god, it is understandable in human > > terms > > True, but it does highlight one point. It isn't the product, the CEO or > anything of that sort that makes a business successful; it's the > customers. This is particularly important in so-called high-tech areas, > where customers/users are frequently dismissed as a bunch of ignorant > fools. There's an old movie, "Tron", in which the main character is sucked > into a computer where he interacts with applications that take the form > other people. At one point he's talking with an accounting package and > insisting that he isn't a program; he's a user. The package replies, > "Really? My mother used to tell me about users, but I thought it was > simply a myth." The further a business goes down that road, the more > problems they'll have to deal with. Eventually they become bankrupt (or > micro$haft).
I understand your concerns, but the fact remains that it is necessary to exist in the real world. With financial worries off your back you can then give more attention to users - which I'm sure they would like to. BTW, I'm sure the official statement talked about 2M Euros, which by reporting has now become 4M. It's bad enough without this kind of inflation. The best hope is that this Chapter 11 business will show them ways out of the morass that imposed management put on them. It's a fact the venture capitalist money sounds an exciting way forward, but too often the company finds, as Mandrakesoft did, that they are then forced down roads that they, at gut level, know to be wrong for them. They can't escape, but are the ones that will be held responsible. Anne -- Registered Linux User No.293302
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