Mandriva - Get your act together!

[ianw1974]

Since about March/April 2007, I've been attempting (and I say attempting) to become a partner with Mandriva. Back then, you filled in a form, and you got a profile which you could access through http://my.mandriva.com or roughly that.

 

At first, I had problems registering. So I emailed their partner address - no response!

 

I eventually got registered. However, as a supposed Business Partner - I never appeared on their partner list. Numerous emails between Remi and myself don't seem to have gotten me anywhere. Still no supposed partner relationship. I wonder if emailing will actually change anything? I mean, has it changed the Community for the better over the years? I would have expected a Business relationship to be something they would be wanting more than anything. It seems not.

 

It makes me wonder, that it's hardly surprising that they made bankruptcy status if nobody who wants to, or is willing to partner and sell their products. I mean, I have tried for getting on for 8 months or so now. And nothing?

 

Seemingly, since the redesign of their website, the partner page has disappeared completely. Now I don't have a list of the products I could have sold before, or even a server along with that software. It makes my mind boggle how I'm supposed to offer the products? And, I've no idea what Support would be like if I'm unable to sell the products.

 

I'm hoping Mandriva will get it together - I don't think they would survive another bankruptcy. Sales is your most important way of making revenue and profit. If you don't make that..........well, then it's practically game over.

 

I emailed Remi last week, wondering what would happen about the supposed Business Partnership. No reply as of yet. I'm not expecting much. I'm kind of giving up on it and finding something else to use in place of it. But it shouldn't have to come to that!

[Dyslexic]

Very unfortunate, but not surprising. I've wanted to use Mandriva for Enterprise and SMB deployments for a while, but the company doesn't have a focus in those segments. I eventually broke down and ranted in this forum, as you know. Adam's comments made it clear to me that he doesn't understand the needs of business, which is not a knock on him -- he's a very nice and helpful guy, and it's not his job to know. I get the impression that it's not anyone's job at Mandriva to understand the needs of businesses. I mean, these are the people who called the distribution "Mandrake," used a magician's hat for their logo, and were surprised when they were threatened with legal action. RHEL and SLES get the job done, but seem to be going the way of maintenance licensing, which I don't like. Ubuntu is gaining momentum, but I don't see it as being in the same league as Mandriva.

 

Mandriva started as an offshoot of Red Hat, addressing many of its deficiencies. Maybe Texstar will address Mandriva's deficiencies and grow PCLOS into a deployable version of Mandriva one day. Until then, I'll be searching for a deployable distro with flexible licensing.

Edited November 17, 2007 by Dyslexic

[ianw1974]

It is disappointing. I like Mandriva Linux, it's good. But I don't feel I can offer it within business if things don't get better. That's the reality unfortunately.

[arctic]

Heh, what you talk about has imho to do with Mandrivas "strange relation to marketing". A list of business partners on their website would make them more of a trustworthy company. Try to think of a list saying e.g.

 

Mandriva products are used by:

Government of Nigeria

Government of France

Government of Belgium

European Comission

European Space Agency (ESA)

EADS

Porsche

Renault

City of Paris

City of Heidelberg

City of Rome

Oxford University

Technical University Hamburg-Harburg

Humboldt University Berlin

Hapag Lloyd

...

 

That would look terrific, wouldn't it (although the list is fictional)? And it would propagate Mandriva automatically.

 

I still hope that they improve their business-approach. The potential is there for being a major player in the enterprise market. It only lacks coordination and the will to do certain moves imho.

[Ixthusdan]

It is true. The word "marketing" is a derogatory remark in France. (according to Gowater) Marketing is the same as lying. It is also true that the comic farce is a French literary invention!

[Reiver_Fluffi]

Given all this it's not surprising that their share price has fallen by ~90% in one year (no stock splits to consider here), and are seeking finance from VCF's at the same time as reporting yet another operating loss. The latter brings a whole new level of scepticism when you look at the idea that the venture capital money was to invest in new strategies, more likely it was to alleviate the pressure on what I imagine was a worsening liquidity problem. It gives me no surprise that the financial information on Mandriva's "investor" area is so limited, it is more than likely hiding issues with working capital management that would put off potential investors. The Mandriva management seriously need to remove their heads from their backsides and learn to do business rather than play shop like a bunch of four year-old's, there's only so much debt you can manage before the bubble bursts!

[scoonma]

It is true. The word "marketing" is a derogatory remark in France. (according to Gowater) Marketing is the same as lying.

 

I'd subscribe that for many Linux users - but not for all - here in Germany. Marketing strategies which do not end up in lying would be considered zero effective and thus simply ridiculous. Everybody knows that so...

 

OTOH, people who are used to do business have a totally different perspective. I assume the more clever ones know that they're basically lying when it comes to advertising and the like, but they consider it inevitable due to market competion.

 

Linux as a primarily user based and targeted OS is in a difficult area of conflict here. If you do not have someone like Mark Shuttleworth in the background willing to spend large amounts of money, you'll have to compromise with both sides. I do not envy Mandriva officials relating to business strategy. But for their own interest, they should support (prospective) partners and/or resellers like Ian as well as possible, for sure.

 

Share prices are totally unimportant to me - the whole stock market has gone crazy since long. This is where the real bubbles grow - they'll continue bursting ever after until some possible fundamental change.

[Ixthusdan]

Marketing does not necessarily entail lying, although it frequently does. Marketing basically is simply product presentation or product image. You can fault human psychology for that one! :P In modern business, no marketing equals no product presentation.

For example, "Linux is user based" is a statement of product image. Assuming that human psychology does not work with geeks is simply wrong. Look at Ubuntu. They have embarked upon a marketing strategy that is working for them. We all know that in reality, Ubuntu is really no different than any other Linux and some, like Mandriva, have better tools for gui users. But Ubuntu is marketing. Mandriva not only does not market, but flies from it in the face of reason.

 

Bottom line, there is simply no excuse for ignoring users or business partners. Denying marketing is not the "high road;" it is a dead end ally.

[iphitus]

Heh, what you talk about has imho to do with Mandrivas "strange relation to marketing". A list of business partners on their website would make them more of a trustworthy company. Try to think of a list saying e.g.

 

Mandriva products are used by:

Government of Nigeria

<snip>

 

Nigeria looks great on the top, sponsoring all those scammers :P

[scoonma]

I do not perceive human psyche and mind the way marketing gurus and some modern neuro scientists do. In fact, it is rather fluent than fixed, to the same extent the world has seen many different shades of civilization and still does today. If it were that simple and universal, it couldn't be influenced that easily by external conditions. This goes to geeks as well - who may be interested in fast and effective PCs rather than fast cars. However, literacy and education put them in a better position to reflect needs, motivations and market relations - if they decided to go that way ;).

 

The statement "Linux is user based" is not only a statement of product image, but also reflects the very history of it's core: When Linus and others did invent GNU/Linux, they did not aim business, but functionality. We all know OS carrying a different approach.

 

I must agree to the following: Ignoring users or business partners does no good for any company today.

[Dyslexic]

Nigeria looks great on the top, sponsoring all those scammers :P

 

Actually, Dr. Mogoto of the Nigerian education ministry has agreed to provide Mandriva with the venture capital it desperately needs. The only problem is that his money is in francs and the offer is time sensitive, so he needs a French account number to make that deposit before the deal can longer happen. Fortunately, Mandriva CEO, Francois Bancilhon, was able to provide Dr. Mogoto with Mandriva's account number and access codes in time.

 

I think the rest of this thread is turning into a debate of semantics. Marketing (although I think you're really talking about advertising since marketing is more about numbers), isn't the issue. It's a question of intent and desire. I don't think Mandriva has any interest in working with businesses. If it were just a case of bad advertising or poor market forecasting, Mandriva would jump at the opportunity to sell whatever it can to companies who approach it, rather than ignoring these opportunities. Mandriva would rather operate as an R&D lab coming up with really cool stuff that other people fund. It wants to work with educational institutions and governments of emerging economies because that's the scholarly thing to do. That might even work for Mandriva, and it simply means that Mandriva isn't a distribution for corporate deployment.

[Reiver_Fluffi]

Actually, Dr. Mogoto of the Nigerian education ministry has agreed to provide Mandriva with the venture capital it desperately needs. The only problem is that his money is in francs and the offer is time sensitive, so he needs a French account number to make that deposit before the deal can longer happen. Fortunately, Mandriva CEO, Francois Bancilhon, was able to provide Dr. Mogoto with Mandriva's account number and access codes in time.

 

 

Marketing (although I think you're really talking about advertising since marketing is more about numbers)

I disagree with you there Dyslexic, Marketing is about knowing what the market wants (strategic marketing) and then delivering the product to the market (operational marketing), the latter involves selling, distribution, and advertising.

[scoonma]

 

 

I disagree with you there Dyslexic, Marketing is about knowing what the market wants (strategic marketing) and then delivering the product to the market (operational marketing), the latter involves selling, distribution, and advertising.

Yeah, good connections is half a deal! ;)

 

With regard to marketing, I'm really different. It's not only semantics, but a different point of view. I'd never say the market wants anything. We're living in a cultural world. Thus demand for consumer products is being created, nothing natural here.

Edited November 20, 2007 by scoonma

[adamw]

Ian, send me an email and I'll make sure you get hooked up with someone who can make this work out. Sorry for the trouble you've had so far.

[Ixthusdan]

Adam, you do a marvelous job. I hope you do not take my criticism personally. Mandriva really needs business help from a marketing perspective. They always have. (at least since the 7.0 days)