Hi Sridhar and folks again, You are actually selling my case, again, my friend. Everybody and his dog have already tried to make this unworkable thing go and there has been a 100% failure. Look around.
Now look at Microsoft. A company flogging a set of products that even the front-end user has become enraged with and they are about to REALLY sock it to us.............. ME and my millions of non-geek compatriots. What are our real world choices? 1. Stay and be ..................... you-know-what-ed 2. Go to the Fruit????? ....... An absurd but very successful Religion built on the most atrocious lies. BUT great Advertising/PR. ( Great margins for the resellers, too who sorta illegally, in my opinion for most countries, agree not show them against anything else!) Amazing over-pricing. They could if they wanted, quadruple their marketshare, but who wants to?? It would mean cutting margins - poo to that! 3. The *X world. Now, the big corporate users are well catered for - even Bill's Billions haven't help him make a dent there. He just hasn't got the product and knows it, but he knows that the IT world is dumbing down, too......................... So that leaves the small business person and the domestic user. There is not a single, sensible product out there oriented toward the needs of the 90 million and the 300 million in the wings. I know because I and many, many people I know are still there, still trying. AND that is not even the highly experienced group I'm talking about - people like me who can not even understand the Manual. (Even though it has little to do with the actual product or components of the moment) Until somebody who understands P&L Statements and can write them a Business Plan does so, the future of Mandrake is decidedly grim. I will take bets on it -sadly. I want it to work, but 30 years of international business experience- many as a "last chance consultant" - tells me that this future is clear. Simple arithmetic. Folks, skip the rhetoric, the Religious fervour, give me some hope based on some sensible numbers. What we need are some Cost Accountants here....... :-) Cheers, Him Again Still with time on his hands - the last attempt at installing M8.0 fell over yesterday on my techo friends machine, too. ----- Original Message ----- From: Sridhar Dhanapalan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Monday, March 18, 2002 7:19 PM Subject: Re: [newbie] How to best support Mandrake - real world style > You seem to be applying closed-source pricing policies to something that is free > (as in speech). Why would one pay $100 for a Mandrake server when the source is > free? Someone can compile this source code and bingo: free (as in speech and in > beer) Mandrake, which can be legally distributed to millions of people. > Otherwise, they could just download Debian or Red Hat. Sure, Mandrake could make > proprietary aplications like Suse does (and note that Suse is in financial > difficulty while Red Hat isn't), but that would destroy Mandrakesoft's > reputation in the GNU/Linux community. Mandrakesoft is a free software company > through to the core. In this way it is almost like Debian, and it is the > principal reason why myself and many others like the company. Estranging the > developer community would just create a slow-developing and unpopular distro > like Caldera OpenLinux (which used to be amongst the most popular). > > I like Mandrake. I respect Mandrakesoft. But if they move to a restrictive > pricing policy like that of Suse or Caldera, I will switch to a free (as in > speech) distro like Debian or Gentoo. > > > On Mon, 18 Mar 2002 15:46:14 +1000, "john rigby" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Hi Todd & folks, > > Explaining value: > > How much money do you think charities would receive if the big numbers > > weren't tax deductible? > > > > Many years ago a friend of mine who thought he knew marketing ( was a famous > > expert) went into professional fund-raising. Lasted 3 months. > > Yet, it is the little people that DO make real charities work. They just > > don't have the money........... > > BUT if you give them an option to buy something that is actually useful as > > well, they do, they do. > > Some genius in Oz many years ago came up with the idea of the Lion's Club > > Xmas Cake. Even I used to buy a couple ...... > > > > I don't even believe in Free Trials. I believe in guarantees. Moneyback > > ones. Who could run a business today without them? In most civilised > > countries they are mandatory. > > If *anyone* could download a *demo* of Mandrake, that too is different. > > THAT would be very smart. AND small. It would have to demo a full > > replacement for THAT other one's suite - that's all. > > "That's all" means just that. > > Not one in a million - literally- of the potential users out there would > > even ever know what a Server was. Would ever use the "utils". > > > > For true Geeks, the legion of Masochists who like developing\getting broken > > by these things, by all means they should be able to play with kernels etc. > > to their hearts content. They are vital - but they have little to do with > > successful, competent *marketing* strategy. > > At most in the whole world we are talking about 10,000 people. All could be > > absorbed into a Friends Of Mandrake Developer's Club (free - entry > > requirement being a proved fully working install) and given lots of help via > > the millions coming in from a sensible consumer distro............... > > > > But, what on earth *IS* someone who can't afford a lousy $100 doing playing > > with Server Systems and expecting support??? ( Pardon my ignorance, but what > > type of person are we talking about here, then?) > > REAL Server Systems DO cost thousands - I know I've bought and paid for them > > over the years. I STILL don't ever expect them to be "free"! What I hope for > > is just the dream of freedom of choice. > > > > To finalise my point: > > The 18 richest people in the history of this planet - 6 of whom each have > > more financial power than existed in the entire world a century ago, run > > businesses based on maximising of market opportunity - which translated > > means: charging what the market is prepared to pay. Not even what will make > > a simple profit - but maximising what the market will pay. > > > > None of them and no successful person in the history of the world ever made > > any money by giving their product or service away! Samples, yes, Demos, > > yes, the whole cake? > > > > I repeat, can someobody show me what the sales pitch is here? There is a > > market like me who will pay for experimental products in the hope of getting > > an edge, or even holding on (to his sanity) but, we are miniscule. How many > > total paid-for retail packs has Mandrake sold? > > Not even enough to run a single, tiny Corporate Jet. > > But, 20 million at just $10 each = $200 million - with no distribution > > costs............................. > > It's a start. > > Especially as almost nobody came to the pay-for Club Party. Who would? Most > > of the people out there won't even pay for a disc pak that you can buy for a > > few bucks. They are already conditioned to "free". They will build a > > machine at home to save $20-50 assembly fee. Get no guarantee. Some do it > > because they like the pain. > > > > They are not the market. > > > > They are not the market > > > > They are not the market > > > > The market is the 90 million annoyed, frustrated Windows Users who will soon > > be told to join a subscriber thing or else. > > > > The market even bigger and better is the 300 million people out there who > > would buy a computer if it wasn't all so confusing and threatening and full > > of 20 y.o. kids showing off in electronic stores using all the latest splat > > words......... > > Instead of a nice older person who smiles and arranges their home > > installation for them and a training session on the Net to hook them into a > > User Support Group.................... > > > > Mandrake could own it. > > > > Cheap low-level hardware. > > Cheap Operating System > > Cheap Software > > Built-in giant underground support network. > > Jobs as installers for hundreds of junior geeks > > Jobs as tutors for hundreds of older Users. > > > > It would all be so easy. > > > > > > Cheers, > > > > Him Again > > -- > Sridhar Dhanapalan > > Yeah, yeah, it's 7PM Christmas Eve over there, and you're in the middle of your > Christmas dinner. You might feel that it's unreasonable of me to ask you to test > out my latest crazy idea. How selfish of you. > Get back there in front of the computer NOW. Christmas can wait. > Linus "the Grinch" Torvalds > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---- > Want to buy your Pack or Services from MandrakeSoft? > Go to http://www.mandrakestore.com >
Want to buy your Pack or Services from MandrakeSoft? Go to http://www.mandrakestore.com
