anacron

How'd you get the release? Are you sure that everything installed correctly? I guess you've already reinstalled once or twice.

They already do???? :o Okay, its a boxed version... Kind of strange that you gotta pay for the 2CD basic version and get to download the 3CD desktop/workstation/server pasckage for free. A 1CD download for basic users would really be nice and cheaper to give to your friends. Not necessarily. If Discovery is truly aimed at the new Windows convert, then the Support Package is pretty much an indespensible compenent of the set. Also, Windows people are used to (and comfortable with) paying for a boxed OS, so why not stay in their comfort zone (and make a few bucks, too)? Let's face it. Anyone who's comfortable downloading and then installing an unsupported Linux distro probably isn't in the target market for Discovery. Bottom line: Great idea, great product, poor marketing (again). This thing should be on retail shelves, or at least available at Amazon.com or some other major online reseller. Maybe we could contract with Mandrake individually to pitch Discovery to local software resellers in our home markets...

Hasn't the split already begun with "Mandrake Discovery"? From the site: "Are you looking for an easy-to-use alternative to Windows or the Mac OS? The Discovery Pack lets you adopt Linux with the shortest learning curve. Discovery has been designed to provide all the essentials in a simplified package, thanks to an automated installation procedure and hand-picked selection of applications. You get office, multimedia and Internet software, in an attractive and intuitive environment. Just place the Installation CD in the drive and let yourself be guided."

Sounds like he's got the "free beer"/"freedom" thing confused. No matter. The only people who care about his argument know the difference. Interesting, though. The article makes it clear that M$ is having a difficult time dealing with Open Source fanaticism (how do you reason with a fanatic?), so they're trying to redefine Open Source.

Google or an internet cafe aren't spending money on developing the OS or the apps that run on it. They are benefactors of the R&D of others (which they, like everyone else, did not have to pay for). But if we want developers to make Linux better, smarter, faster, etc., how are we going to compensate them? Volunteerism & community spirit will only get you so much, especially in an industry as dynamic as software development. There has to be a way for SOFTWARE DEVELOPERS to make money from Linux, if Linux is ever going to have the market penetration that Windows has. That's why we're seeing a progression to high-end bundling of services and hardware with Linux. Companies are wrestling with the cost/benefit possibilities of Linux.

You haven't solved the biggest problem: How will the new consortium (with all of its overhead) make a profit? The software will be GPLed, so what are they going to make money from?

First unpleasant discovery... 128M RAM is barely enough. Machine with 192M runs much better. 256M+ should rock. [edit]RAM upgraded. 256M does rock.[/edit]

I got my Mandrakemove CD in the mail today, popped it into a Win2K box, and 5 minutes later, KDE desktop heaven! My daughter & I played Tux Racer for a while (my wife even took a turn piloting the penguin into the pines), and now I'm surfing. Very easy, very intuitive, very impressive!

From another thread: The Linux Business Model True. So, if the enterprise is going to be profitable, it has to bundle a service (that is of value to consumers) with the software. That's the kind of thing that worries me about Mandrake's viability. I'm not sure it has that yet, and I haven't heard about them moving in that direction.

True. So, if the enterprise is going to be profitable, it has to bundle a service (that is of value to consumers) with the software. That's the kind of thing that worries me about Mandrake's viability. I'm not sure it has that yet, and I haven't heard about them moving in that direction.

Fine, but... Would you invest, say, $50,000 in a Linux software development startup? Probably not, because there's no money in Linux software development. You have to find some way to add value to the software, and then sell that.

Could you elaborate on number 1 please? Linux is not JUST "free as in beer" but "free as in freedom". That's what I like about it. My copy is actually mine. Normal software only gives you permission to use the software and not do anything else. It could be free in price, but only as a binary. But GPL'd software can be modified, improved, copied - anything you want. You can even sell it, but with the source. It's still "free" that way. You've given us some of the reasons why Linux users love Open Source. But ral's #1 reflected a problem facing companies that spend money developing Linux software, not the end users (or people that develop Linux software with no intention of ever making money from their work). For those companies, Linux being free is problematic. How can you convince people to pay for something that they can always get for free? And if they won't pay for it (which is usually the case), how will the developing firm recoup their expenses, much less make a profit? And if they can't make developing Linux apps profitable, or even recoup their R & D expenses, why should they bother to develop at all?

Couldn't get it to run under my Win2K install. It seemed to die out when it was "creating monitor". The Cooperative Linux Console opened, looked like it was booting, then went black. The message at the bottom was: "Cooperative Linux Console started Monitor0: Attached Monitor0: Broken Pipe Monitor0: Detached" In the window that the daemon was running in: "Cooperative Linux daemon daemon: manager not opened daemon: removing driver leftover driver: stopping driver service driver: removing driver service daemon: installing kernel driver daemon: loading configuration from default.colinux.xml Expected '>' after '/' for element network, but got 'n'! daemon: creating monitor co_message_switch: setting callback rule for 7 co_message_switch: setting callback rule for 2 co_message_switch: setting callback rule for 6 co_message_switch: setting callback rule for 3 co_message_switch: setting callback rule for 0 co_message_switch: setting callback rule for 4 colinux: launching net daemons daemon: launching daemon for conet0 executing: colinux-net-daemon daemon: launching console executing: colinux-console-fltk -a 0 Linux version 2.4.25-co-0.6.0 (karrde@callisto.yi.org) (gcc version 3.3.3 (Deb n)) #57 Mon Mar 22 23:56:28 IST 2004 64MB LOWMEM available. On node 0 totalpages: 16384 zone(0): 0 pages. zone(1): 16384 pages. zone(2): 0 pages. Kernel command line: root=/dev/cobd0 Initializing CPU#0 Enabling TAP-Win32... Error enabling TAP Win32vectors CPU_HAS_TSC: 1Detected 432.031 MHz processor. Console: colour CoCON 80x25 pipe client 0/6: Connecting to daemon... pipe client 0/6: Connection established Calibrating delay loop... daemon: module connected: console co_message_switch: setting callback rule for 6 830.66 BogoMIPS Memory: 62128k/65536k available (1126k kernel code, 0k reserved, 62k data, 52k nit, 0k highmem) Dentry cache hash table entries: 8192 (order: 4, 65536 bytes) Inode cache hash table entries: 4096 (order: 3, 32768 bytes) Mount cache hash table entries: 512 (order: 0, 4096 bytes) Buffer cache hash table entries: 4096 (order: 2, 16384 bytes) Page-cache hash table entries: 16384 (order: 4, 65536 bytes) CPU: L1 I cache: 16K, L1 D cache: 16K CPU: L2 cache: 128K CPU: After generic, caps: 0183f9ff 00000000 00000000 00000000 CPU: Common caps: 0183f9ff 00000000 00000000 00000000 CPU: Intel Celeron (Mendocino) stepping 05 Enabling fast FPU save and restore... done. Checking 'hlt' instruction... OK. POSIX conformance testing by UNIFIX Linux NET4.0 for Linux 2.4 Based upon Swansea University Computer Society NET3.039 Initializing RT netlink socket Starting kswapd Journalled Block Device driver loaded devfs: v1.12c (20020818) Richard Gooch (rgooch@atnf.csiro.au) devfs: boot_options: 0x0 pty: 256 Unix98 ptys configured RAMDISK driver initialized: 16 RAM disks of 4096K size 1024 blocksize loop: loaded (max 8 devices) cobd: loaded (max 8 devices) NET4: Linux TCP/IP 1.0 for NET4.0 IP Protocols: ICMP, UDP, TCP IP: routing cache hash table of 512 buckets, 4Kbytes TCP: Hash tables configured (established 4096 bind 8192) NET4: Unix domain sockets 1.0/SMP for Linux NET4.0. VFS: Cannot open root device "cobd0" or 75:00 Please append a correct "root=" boot option Kernel panic: VFS: Unable to mount root fs on 75:00 daemon: monitor terminated, reason 3 switch_message: freed message a045a50 (2 to 4) daemon: module disconnected: console colinux: shutting down daemon: daemon cleanup daemon: removing kernel driver driver: stopping driver service driver: removing driver service" Whaddaya think?

Can you buy them off the shelf at a retailer? Or do you have to know where to order them? That's a big difference, IMO. Only the computer saavy will hunt down a Linux box on the web, but a lot of people would buy it off the shelf (especially if it were priced right). Once Linux is available OEM off the shelf, the tide will start to turn.

I was just speculating on the future of Linux, and thinking about the different business models out there. (The problem being: How do you sell something that is available at no charge?) Some are focusing on support & training, some are focusing on hardware bundling, and some (Mandrake comes to mind) are depending on the Linux community to keep them going. It occurred to me that if there were Linux OEMs on the shelf at major PC resellers, and if the machines were priced lower than the Windows PCs, Linux with its recent ease of use upgrades, would start really making a dent. I then went so far as to think, "What if a low end PC manufacturer, say Emachines, purchased Mandrakesoft, and then began putting their PCs on the shelf with Mandrake OEM? Hmmm. The PCs would be a bargain, they would appeal to younger, more adventuresome shoppers and bargain hunters, and before too long, Linux would actually start to get some market share on the home desktop front. And, maybe more importantly, Emachines would see their profits increase due to Linux. So, in the end, I guess I'm thinking that IBM & Sun are on the right track with their bundling of computers & Linux software. Now I'd just like to see that extended to the shelves of major PC retailers. Thoughts?