Mandriva and Service Packs

[fahd]

I wonder why Mandriva sells it's products (e.g. mandy 2007 and 2007.1) within the same versions instead of releasing them in service Pack forms. Selling for instance Mandriva Linux 2007 Powerpack Download version for almost 70-EUR is very cheap. If I were a manger in Mandriva Linux dept. I would have vended it for 150-EUR. However I would provide the official customers with updated versions in service Packs forms without any charge. Cause it is not fair to make any minor modifications and vend it of course for not a little charge. Just make a reasonable vend policy, not to monopolize the folks. The people all over the world have been using Windows XP for almost 6 years (for aprox. 200 US $), without any additional fees. If we compare this situation with Mandriva Linux and other Linux distros price policy, we would draw this conclusion:

Linux is not as cheap as we guess.

Return back to the above mentioned instance: Mandriva sells you the powerpack version for almost 80-EUR/half-year. This means that you would pay 800-EUR during 5 years. It is very expensive, ain't it?

All of us know what is the difference between the two worlds, Linux and Microsoft Windows. Of course for me Linux is more massive and dynamic stuff, but we should take in consideration that money may be paid for products to be used in everywhere, not for not final releases. It is not same to talk frankly about drawbaks of price policy. We all as mandriva Linux advocators really appreciate the code weavers work at Mandriva (developers), howevers I reckon that the Management at Mandriva has gone in the incorrect way. Hopefully somebody would realize this in the appropriate time. Thanks a lot.

 

Fahd

070217

 

[inserted some missing letters here and there for clarity - arctic]

[arctic]

I wonder why Mandriva sells it's products (e.g. mandy 2007 and 2007.1) within the same versions instead of releasing them in service Pack forms.

I guess that you confuse something here. 2007.1 will be a standalone release, not an "upgrade" or service pack for 2007.0. Thus, from Mandrivas point of view, it is only logical that you release new boxed sets for money. If charging that much for Mandrivalinux is acceptable is a different question.

If we compare this situation with Mandriva Linux and other Linux distros price policy, we would draw this conclusion:

Linux is not as cheap as we guess.

No. Mandrivalinux is not as cheap as you might guess. Other linuxes are also still available for free (there is the free download option with Mandriva). One additional note, though: You are not forced to upgrade with every new release. As there are patches available for some 18 months, you could - in theory- buy only every third package they release and still get a system that will get patched. Then you would pay e.g. two versions in three years instead of a full six packages.

...howevers I reckon that the Management at Mandriva has gone in the incorrect way. Hopefully somebody would realize this in the appropriate time.

Amen. They went the wrong path quite a long time ago. Things seem to be changing slowly, but if the changes will bear some fruits remains to be seen.

[chris:b]

I am using Mandrake/Mandriva since version 9.1

 

* I never had to pay one cent. Noone ever asked me to pay for it.

* I always got the full open-source distribution, and additional I have worldwide access (http/ftp) to all the software that don't fit on CD/DVD.

* I can install additional closed-source packages within no time

* I get all official security and bug fixes for free, I don't have to pay anything

* Noone forces me to install twice a year

 

Do you think that this is the 'incorrect way' of the 'Mandriva' management, too?

 

--chris

[arctic]

It is not the question here if the shipping of free linuxes is the right/wrong path for Mandriva. The question is: Is charging money for the boxed set a good approach? Especially when you can download the same thing for free?

 

Take a look at e.g. RedHat. They did it the right way. You don't pay money for the software in RHEL, but for the top-notch professional 24/7 support (and some security fixes) that you get when you purchase RHEL. A company that wants to migrate to Linux will have more interest in paying for good support than paying for a nice collection of software that lacks good support.

 

Even for Debian, which is free, there is professional (paid) support available. And Ubuntu went the same road. Guess who is financially struggling.... the ones that don't offer good customer support. Thus: If Mandriva wants to be succesful and financially fit, they should follow the RedHat way and let customers not pay for the product but for very (!) good support. This would also send a signal to everyone that they actually care about their users and thus give the company some much needed credibility.

[chris:b]

That was exactly my question.

 

Is selling/shipping boxed versions (in part. for the home user) meanwhile just not profitable?

While the buntu's are spreading zillions of (AOL-like) CDs, people more and more tend to believe that Linux is mainly about free-beer.

 

We will probably see quite a different direction, Mandriva is heading in the future.

Edited February 18, 2007 by anna

[iphitus]

The shipped packages need to be made worthwhile.

 

Solid paper documentation and a more complete CD set. Even if it is available online, it's pretty convenient to have a full package repository burnt for you.

 

James