Guest milkydoo Posted March 24, 2005 Report Share Posted March 24, 2005 Maybe I should just join the club and download, but I thought I might go and buy it locally. I've checked online with Best Buy, Circuit City, Office Max, Office Depot.... nothing. If they have Linux, it's Redhat. I also looked at the resellers section on the Mandrake site on the 10.1 page and it only lists two companies. One domain is dead, and the other has no local stores in my state. So, am I stuck with downloading it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adamw Posted March 24, 2005 Report Share Posted March 24, 2005 Almost. We haven't had a retail setup in the U.S. for a few years; the last one disintegrated in the wake of the poor financial decisions that affected the company a few years ago. HOWEVER! You may well be interested in this: http://www.mandrakesoft.com/company/press/...r/products/2548 So head on down to a bookstore :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ixthusdan Posted March 25, 2005 Report Share Posted March 25, 2005 Are you saying that Mandrake may actually try some marketing? B) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
axel_2078 Posted March 25, 2005 Report Share Posted March 25, 2005 I ordered Mandrake 10.0 from the Mandrake store and then saw it for sale in the computer book section at Border's Books. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adamw Posted March 29, 2005 Report Share Posted March 29, 2005 ixthusdan: shocking, I know. ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gowator Posted March 29, 2005 Report Share Posted March 29, 2005 Don't worry you can still buy 8.2 in a store near you. My locval stores still have 8.2 thru 9.2 since Mdk presumably don't take back onsold copies to exchange? When all those are sold MDKsoft might consider selling 10.1 .... by which time of course the current version will by 11.2! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adamw Posted March 29, 2005 Report Share Posted March 29, 2005 gowator: yeah, it's basically the same problem. If we've got no mechanism to get the product *out* to the store we don't have one to take it *back* either, we just don't have any kind of retail infrastructure in the states whatsoever. Nowhere the stores could ship the boxes back to, so they either stick them in storage or leave 'em on the shelves. I think they even still get bought occasionally, when some sales droid has wiped the dust off. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gowator Posted March 29, 2005 Report Share Posted March 29, 2005 gowator: yeah, it's basically the same problem. If we've got no mechanism to get the product *out* to the store we don't have one to take it *back* either, we just don't have any kind of retail infrastructure in the states whatsoever. Nowhere the stores could ship the boxes back to, so they either stick them in storage or leave 'em on the shelves. I think they even still get bought occasionally, when some sales droid has wiped the dust off. :) <{POST_SNAPBACK}> True but a man on a moped could do Paris... if anyone cared! Even just send a update Cd to give away with it but Gael must walk into FNAC once in a while and see 8.2... what is he thinking.. money for old rope? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adamw Posted March 29, 2005 Report Share Posted March 29, 2005 I don't know what the situation is with European retail, I thought there was a system for France at least...do they still have old versions on the shelves there? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gowator Posted March 30, 2005 Report Share Posted March 30, 2005 yep which I think really sucks for the price of recalling them. The real prob is someone pays for a 8.x or 9.x powerpack then finds out that its not up to date and they need the newer version, then find out the newer version is free for download... they start off all positive thinking they are trying it cheap and end up feeling cheated... These are major high street shops, FNAC is easily the biggest computer/stereo/TV type chain in France. Notice these forums where new users come saying they have just installed 9.x and ..... and those who get it working are comparing an old product with XP... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aRTee Posted March 30, 2005 Report Share Posted March 30, 2005 When all those are sold MDKsoft might consider selling 10.1 .... by which time of course the current version will by 11.2! Gowator, you're such a doom thinker!! I'm shocked! Of course they won't have Mdk 11.2 available for download once 10.1OE is finally in the shops. They aren't changing names for nothing. It will be Mandrakelinux Edition 2006! But seriously - I agree this should be fixed. The new release schedule is going to help out a lot on this front. Let's see MdkSoft implement this properly... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gowator Posted March 30, 2005 Report Share Posted March 30, 2005 its just poor...no scrub that inverse marketing... Mandrake get a sale.. whoohooo but then the person who bought it gets pissed. Its a great technical product... but the marketing really works against them, its not even useless marketing its actually negative.... I am still laughing at the name Limited Edition... how is it limited? Isit time limited or does it have the drivers removed or? My amd64 was actually given to me by the Technical director at the linux forum in Paris and after trying it and 9.2 I had to give up and tried suse. If they hadn't been so proud of it Id probably have accepted it as a quick botch job but it was an enormous missed opportunity. I had to make a snap decision bas3ed on their support of other non x86 arch's and PPC was the first I checked, frozen. Again this just looks bad... revrse marketing and if they stop suopporting/developing it they should hand it over 100% to the volunteer fork and not try selling it. It just looks shoddy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adamw Posted March 30, 2005 Report Share Posted March 30, 2005 We don't sell PPC any more, and every time we announce a release it's made clear that its non-supported and developed by contributors. This has been the situation since 10.1. If there's still old retail packs on the shelves in Paris, that sucks, no doubt about it. I don't know what I can really do, though - I mean, the rest of MDKsoft works in Paris, so I can't believe they don't *know* about it, I'm sure they go into FNAC too. So I guess there must be some problem there or other. I guess I might just ask Gael what's up with it, but...:\ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ixthusdan Posted April 1, 2005 Report Share Posted April 1, 2005 Several years ago, we had a rather exhaustive thread here about what we could do to increase Mandrake's market. (I know, we don't work there but many of us felt like Mandrake actually cared at the time) The summary is that Mandrake needs to market their product. Period. At least make an attempt. Shortly after, changes were made and Mandrake began the current trend of "let's slowly make it available only to the club" policy. (This was the policy after the "let's beg for money from people that like us" policy) Here in the US, creating one's own marketing structure complete with trucks for shipping is unnecessary. Partnering in business can find anyone marketing a new product. When Mandrake couldn't ship their product in a timely manner, I bagan to wonder about the seeming reluctance to partnership. Retail support is essential to success, which includes keeping the shelf current and providing pop to the retailer. The more people buy a product, the greater any unfortunate evils can be dealt with, like Mandrake's complete lack of promised support on their products. Why can't Mandrake get it together? Or better, why can't they utilize others who already have an expertise in areas where they are weak? (support, marketing) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adamw Posted April 2, 2005 Report Share Posted April 2, 2005 "Here in the US, creating one's own marketing structure complete with trucks for shipping is unnecessary. Partnering in business can find anyone marketing a new product." Well, um, exactly. See above. The new books are distributed in partnership with O'Reilly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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