Reiver_Fluffi

Thank you for clearing things up (don't expect many flames though, most people are mature here ;) )

I have to say from recent communications that I've had with Remi, they do seem to be communicating better. I'm still waiting for a solution to my problem, but I do get emails from Remi letting me know I haven't been forgotten.

Yeah, credit where it's due, Remi has been doing a good job with respect to communication, and Adam Williamson can not be faulted, he does an excellent job. However it is in other key areas where I feel Mandriva is lacking, these two guys are only 2 of the key members, others should be doing more. Too often do I hear tales of customers who have tried to contact accounts/billing through official channels, wait for weeks with no reply, and only whe they nag on the forum to guys like Remi and Adam Williamson do they get some where, the consumer has to go to extra effort to be heard, that's wrong IMO.

What kind of business strategy can make you hurt your fan base?

I share the same concerns, I believe that a significant proportion of Mandriva's revenue is secured by their loyal following, and they depend on their experienced fans to prop up their poor (IMHO) support channels (like I have said before, I value this place as a better means of support than their official forum). I do wonder why wobo was picked though, he has made some harsh criticisms of the company in the last year (IIRC), I can not help but wonder if that had anything to do with it. Another concern is after the recent announcement concerning Adamw taking on additional responsibilities, is this the scope of their cost cutting, to cut staff and place increasing burdens on those that stay? Given that Mandriva as a company has a reputation for bad customer service/communication, is this likely to make things worse by over working their staff? I accept that we may not be furnished with all the facts, but unless Mandriva radically changes it's communication practices and explains fully where they are going and how they are going to get there, then we can only speculate.

Glad to help mate ;)

Every OS has copied some idea of function or "concept" from another OS at some point and time. MS is no exception.

So true, IIRC Xerox PARC was the daddy of modern WIMP GUI's, everyone copied off them (actually that's not 100% correct, IIRC Apple collaborated with them).

---

# /etc/modprobe.preload: kernel modules to load at boot time.

#

# This file should contain the names of kernel modules that are

# to be loaded at boot time, one per line. Comments begin with

# a `#', and everything on the line after them are ignored.

# this file is for module-init-tools (kernel 2.5 and above) ONLY

# for old kernel use /etc/modules

amd64-agp

amd64-agp

amd64-agp

---

Try adding

via-rhine

at the end of that list.

Did you have a look at the /etc/modprobe.preload file?

Having read the Fortune article I can not help but feel that M$ are going to fall flat on their face on this one, and possibly change the way propretary software is sold. Software as a service anyone?

Just noticed when attempting to get a Lexar USB drive working on Vista that I entered administrative services and lo and behold I was presented with a window warning me that I was getting into administrative 'territory".....just like when entering MCC.

Not a significantly new approach though, in XP you got a warning message before you where able to see any files in c:\windows and c:\program files.

What kind of ethernet controller are you using? In the past I have had problems with the installer failing to set up the correct kernel modules.

Try this to find your ethernet controller:

lspci | grep Ethernet

You will need to find out the name of the kernel module, then append it to /etc/modprobe.preload (IIRC), if it's already there, then we might have to consider alternatives.

You're not cynical are you?

Not at all :D

So that means that Mandriva is trying to do something similar as the fedora-project? Mandriva gives some manpower for the essential basic layout of Mandriva Free and community members build packages for the Free edition on a buildserver (totally acceptable IMO)? Or will the Free version be entirely built by a community while the enterprise edition and powerpacks are built by Mandriva (That would be damaging Mandrivas reputation IMHO)?

Does Mandriva have a big enough technical community outside it's payroll? Given that Mandriva is often labeled as the "beginners" distro (just a generalisation) do they have the right community to support the model, furthermore do they have the right people to manage a community effort (distinctly differrent to the corporate environment) and enforce the correct quality control (an area sometimes questionable by recent standards).

Is this (additional) high risk strategy another attempt to cut costs, or a reasonable effort to foster responsibility and encourage innovation within the community?

Did you build all the protocols in Gaim? I noticed in 2007.0 you got rid of Gadu-Gadu, which is a Polish IM program. That disappointed me, as I use gaim and required Gadu-Gadu. However, backports did have it fixed with all options available. Surprised someone made the choice to cut down what im's were available in the default 2007 though!

Seems silly to exclude it for all the bytes that it takes up......

Sorry, Ian, my joke was a bit too subtle.

Venture capitalists take on risky investments, yes, but not stupid investments. They do their homework and take calculated risks based on facts and reasonable expectations.

I am well aware of the types of investments VC's go for, I am also well aware that people have varying attitudes to risk, what looks like a "stupid" risk to one, may not to another, even if both are risk lovers. Given that they are valuing the company on open market value (at least that's how Mandriva explains it), and not future revenues/cash flows, i'm not inspired with confidence.

Maybe you should think about posting this to the wiki too, some very good points IMO

I mostly find it funny because as far as I know, none of us are running our own business that's internationally known - but somehow we know better? :unsure:

I produce financial and management accounts for business, it's what I do for a living, it doesn't matter the scale, or how many borders they cross, they are all the same...

Many successful companies use VC when they are in need of finances.

To fund specific investment opportunities yes, not to pull a badly managed company out of a rut. If they can't manage their debt as it is, bringing more with a higher cost isn't going to solve the problem.

Unfortunately that article paints a pleasant view of a rather dire situation. The writers simple explanation of the valuation does not inspire me with confidence, nor does the fact that they are relying mainly on venture capital. VC typically requires a high rate of return, and in this situation looks to further worsen the gurrent gearing, While the VC will improve the liquidity situation in the short term, it is yet to be seen if the company can maintain it in the long term, which means raising enough profits to cover their cost of finance, and pay their creditors. The point being, that securing the money is one thing, using it well is another.

There should be no problems formatting the hard drive, the only problem would be if you where needing to read the NTFS filesystem from Mandriva.

Working on FC 6:

Anyone using it yet?

 

Jon

I'm using it on my windows partition at the moment, seems to be working okay.

Fri, May 4, 2007 - 07:04 pm

 

I'm very proud to announce Pidgin 2.0.0, the long-awaited release of the IM client formally known as Gaim. In addition to the new name, this release features extraordinary enhancements to features and functionality over the previous release. You can get it from the download page.

 

This release owes a special thanks to a bunch of people, but I especially want to acknowledge The Software Freedom Law Center, which has represented Pidgin in its negotiations with AOL and helped us form Instant Messaging Freedom Inc. They also represent a ton of other important free and open-source projects and are an excellent cause to donate to.

 

Now that our legal worries are behind us and the huge undertaking of 2.0.0 is complete, we're all looking forward to continuing to actively develop Pidgin, Finch, and libpurple, and returning to our regular release cycle.

Source: http://pidgin.im/pidgin/news/latest_news/gaim_is_now_pidgin/

Did someone mention a cartoon magician?

and being far too easy to confuse with a cartoon magician... well come on comic book/operating system their virtually identical aren't they?

 

I know, 'sarcasm is the lowest form of wit'...

 

Leo