On Saturday 08 November 2003 02:15 pm, Greg Meyer wrote: > > There was a big discussion in the Club forums about whether these guys are > really partners of MandrakeSoft or whether they are just being sleazy and > trying to make it look like they are. None of there agreements list > Mandrakesoft as a actual signatory, although the descriptions represent > that they are authorizing all of this. > > The discussion on the Club started because some guy that was selling the > download edition on e-bay got his auctions yanked because himandrake > represented themselves to ebay as the owner of the mandrake trademarks and > copyrights. If this is a US based partner of MandrakeSoft that is > enforcing an exclusive agreement, fine, but they could also be a sleazy > outfit that is trying to profit off of Mandrake's good name. > > I am more inclined to think the latter because I don't see anywhere on the > himandrake site where they state they are an official partner, and every > place where they might say so, it refers only to himandrake or Heavy > Industrial and there are no links to the MandrakeSoft or linux-mandrake > websites.
Greg: Evidently HiMandrake _does_ have some sort of an arrangement with Mandrake. See the November 5 post by fbhancilhon (AKA Francois -- IIRC, he is Mandrake's marketing HMFIC). It's partway down this page: http://www.mandrakeclub.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=Splatt_Forum&file=viewtopic&topic=13891&forum=12&start=0 Let me see if I've got this straight: 1. Mandrake invented the Mandrake Club two years ago as a way of resolving its cash problems. 2. In order to increase Club membership, Mandrake recently sweetened the pot by allowing only Club members to download 9.2 for the first few weeks after release. 3. Mandrake's distributor (HiMandrake) gets the Club-only files, burns some CD's, and offers them on e-bay _before_ the ISO's are available to man + dog. Sorta defeats the Club exclusivity feature, doesn't it? 4. The same distributor also shuts down anyone else who tries the same scam^H^H^H^Hdeal, claiming to have exclusive rights. 5. Mandrake's marketing guy says, "No big deal." Huh? -- cmg
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