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Analysis: Mandriva - a slow financial demise?


spinynorman
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I won't argue a lot against the "clue" in that atrticle, but Distrowatch is known as being negative against Mandriva and its managing and directing policies- so it is (IMHO) more of a rant than a really unbiased opinion.

But other than that, it's true that Mandriva has committed a lot of commercial blunders, while SuSE has signed a pact with the devil, but it has a much more sane (overall) marketing policy.

Edited by scarecrow
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Distrowatch is known as being negative against Mandriva
It was that way. It has changed some time ago and, in case you missed it, the article was not written by Bodnar.

 

The article makes me somehow feel uncomfortable.

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It strikes me as somewhat alarmist. Annual revenue has increased slightly but expenses have increased much faster than revenue. Expect some cost cutting moves by mandriva and a return to the six month release cycle should help boost revenues. I wouldn't rule out an acquisition, but I can't think of anyone that would want to acquire them right off the top of my head. Insolvency within the next year, strikes me as unduly pessimistic prediction.

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The writer doesn't have the full picture at all at is making a limited opinion based on limited information. He has no cash flow statement to asses the liquidity of the company, nor does he have the balance sheet. Thus they have little knowledge about the financing and it's cost to the company. While a profit and loss account is the ideal tool for reporting performance, it can not be used by itself to draw conclusions on the viability of the company.

Edited by Reiver_Fluffi
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The writer doesn't have the full picture at all at is making a limited opinion based on limited information. He has no cash flow statement to asses the liquidity of the company, nor does he have the balance sheet. Thus they have little knowledge about the financing and it's cost to the company. While a profit and loss account is the ideal tool for reporting performance, it can not be used by itself to draw conclusions on the viability of the company.

True but neither has the market....

Mandriva don't need to publish this because of the trading floor they trade on but that doesn't mean investers are going to be thinking hmm. perhaps they are doing much better than this appears but are not publishing the facts...

 

The fact they are publically traded means they have to play along with the market so even if the figures are better it won't help support the trade price of the shares.

 

Expect some cost cutting moves by mandriva and a return to the six month release cycle should help boost revenues.

Oh come-on.... they are already stripped down to the bare minimum of developers, they already can't handle orders efficiently, they fired their lead dev... and switching back to a 6 month cycle will either require more dev time or a crappier product.

 

Its hard to see where they can cut costs based on performance as a company and still turn out anything. Indeed I think its probably better for them to increase costs, spend some money on proper marketing and long term development but they seem forced into the same old grab a few new customers this financial year and worry about them returning next year cycle!

 

2007 was a disaster, probably the biggest in a few years because it just didn't work for so many people first time. The marketing of a USB key with 1GB free that's really only 600MB .. doesn't help ... people think "oh well... I won't fall for that again" and don't purchase the next product/release...

 

Just think all the people who bought move who might have been impressed and then bought a powerpack for a permanent install! Lost business and negative marketing....

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Oh come-on.... they are already stripped down to the bare minimum of developers

 

What is the basis of this opinion? From the figures, I saw a large increase in expenses and with a company like mandriva, that usually corresponds to employee salaries. I imagine that's their single largest expense. Do you have some inside info as to the current staffing at mandriva? Mandriva has made a lot of acquisitions over the past two years. Unfortunately, for the employees caught up in that situation, what generally follows is cleaning house and getting rid of redundant employees, mostly from the ranks of the acquired companies.

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Oh come-on.... they are already stripped down to the bare minimum of developers

 

What is the basis of this opinion? From the figures, I saw a large increase in expenses and with a company like mandriva, that usually corresponds to employee salaries. I imagine that's their single largest expense. Do you have some inside info as to the current staffing at mandriva? Mandriva has made a lot of acquisitions over the past two years. Unfortunately, for the employees caught up in that situation, what generally follows is cleaning house and getting rid of redundant employees, mostly from the ranks of the acquired companies.

I don't need inside information to see the results and make descisions as a consumer (which I once was) and as an investor (which I'm not) I can only make decisions based on the financial information they release.

 

Likewise the Mandriva web site is full of errors and old information, last time I checked a week or so ago they still had Christmas specials listed ??? (seems to have finally been changed but then I did point this out to Remi so its hard to say if that had any effect or not)

 

This allows me to make up my own mind as a consumer... along with anyone else who was thinking of purchasing...

 

However it still says "save and exchange your data in 1GB of free space!" which apprently is not true or even close... rounding 600MB to 1GB is not really honest, is it?

 

So every customer buying this for whihc 1GB was important is going to be pissed... pure and simple.

Many of these customers might have also boutht a powerpack had they been really happy.

 

http://www.mandriva.com/en/your_opinion

This still seemingly points to a black hole....

I did fill out one a couple of weeks ago, I'm waiting for a reply :D if I was a potential customer I'm still waiting but why can't Mandriva answer...? The only generous answer I can think of is they don't have the staff? The only other explanation is I was unlucky ? or they don't give a monkeys ass?

The fact I never heard of anyone getting a reply from the contact us form leads me to beleive its not just bad luck that mine was lost!

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Oh come-on.... they are already stripped down to the bare minimum of developers

 

What is the basis of this opinion? From the figures, I saw a large increase in expenses and with a company like mandriva, that usually corresponds to employee salaries. I imagine that's their single largest expense. Do you have some inside info as to the current staffing at mandriva? Mandriva has made a lot of acquisitions over the past two years. Unfortunately, for the employees caught up in that situation, what generally follows is cleaning house and getting rid of redundant employees, mostly from the ranks of the acquired companies.

 

You will get a steep but shortlived increase in expenditure from redundancy costs, after that expenses would naturally fall!

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  • 2 months later...
Guest dwayne

Well as far I heard there hasnt been a financial demise at all, well having said that I must also admit that whatever I am saying is basically that I heard from my friend, therefore it does not reflect my personal opinion. But then how can such a news be circulated if there isnt any truth involved in this! All of this is appearing so confusing to me!

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Mandriva had been in financial trouble, however it worked its way out of the french equivalent of bankruptcy by making some tough decisions. Although it is (or was) also in debt it has sought funds to solve the problem and complete a merger/takeover of another company. The CEO of Mandriva was interviewed and explained that the vast majority of linux companies are not currently making money, and that Mandriva is no exception. Lets hope that for all of our sakes Mandriva is able to develop a viable business model, as it seems like a company which has a true commitment to the principles of free software, and it produces a product that many of us value.

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