Comments on: Mandriva Linux Attracts 2,000 Partners

By: WFTL Bytes! for Dec 18, 2008 | WFTL Bytes!

WFTL Bytes! for Dec 18, 2008 | WFTL Bytes! — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 17:49:36 +0000

[...] Mandriva’s channel network is growing [...]

By: The VAR Guy

The VAR Guy — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 17:41:43 +0000

Adam: thevarguy [at] ninelivesmediainc.com, assuming The VAR Guy really exists. Thanks.

By: Adam Williamson

Adam Williamson — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 17:00:53 +0000

VAR Guy: can you email me so we can pass on some customer contacts in a non-public channel? You don’t appear to have an easily available contact address.

By: Adam Williamson

Adam Williamson — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 16:58:41 +0000

1. Mandriva has never *had* 2,000 employees, so we’ve certainly never cut that many. Myself and most other external contractors are leaving at the end of this month as a cost-cutting measure, but that’s only about five people. I’m not aware of anyone else leaving at this time.

2. Yes, in 2003, Mandrake (as was) went into ‘cessation de paiement’, which can most closely be compared to Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the States. This ended in 2004.

3. Indeed, Mandrake and Conectiva merged in 2005 (technically Mandrake bought Conectiva but practically speaking it worked out more as a merger). The merged company was renamed actually because of a ridiculous lawsuit (I really don’t have the energy to go into it here) which meant we longer had the right to use the name Mandrake, otherwise it may not have been. Mandriva now has a large office in Brazil (Curitiba), Conectiva’s former base, but all upper management is still based in Paris.

By: The VAR Guy

The VAR Guy — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 14:17:20 +0000

Peter: Thank you for the balance. The VAR Guy’s original blog looks a little naive because it didn’t mention the layoffs and management upheaval at the company (item 1 on your list). Not sure about item 2, in terms of whether they went bankrupt. Mandriva does, indeed, list itself as a Paris company.

By: Peter Vereshagin

Peter Vereshagin — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 12:01:29 +0000

But I’ve heard 3 facts about Mandiva, too:
1. Very recently they cut 2000 employees
2. Several years ago, Mandrake was bankrupt.
3. After bankrupt, the company merged Brazil’s Connectiva distribution and switched its’ name, so is it again, as you said, the Paris-based?

By: The Mandi Guy

The Mandi Guy — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 07:56:16 +0000

To the VAR Guy: To answer your question, no i do not use it for business, but i am confident it would perform pretty good if all the proper tools would be installed. I use it to run a LAMP server for a 5 computers network and over the internet with my .com. As a personnel desktop its pretty hard to beat.

By: JohnMS

JohnMS — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 16:55:32 +0000

I use Mandriva personally and at work as well. On both desktops, laptops, and servers. The staff and I are very pleased with it.

By: The VAR Guy

The VAR Guy — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 15:58:54 +0000

The Mandi Guy: Do you use Mandriva for business or for pleasure? Seems like lots of personal PC users are joining the conversation, but The VAR Guy isn’t hearing much about business deployments involving Mandriva…

By: The Mandi Guy

The Mandi Guy — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 11:57:02 +0000

I have been using Linux since 1999 when i bought for 10$ a Corel distro. But i soon downloaded Mandrake 8.0 as my main distro, I must have tried 30 other distro over the years on a spare partition (triple boot or more). But i always had a version of Mandriva as my main OS, (it just work)

By: JAFO

JAFO — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 19:31:41 +0000

just purchased a HP 2910 laptop with vista and dual boot with Mandriva 2009…had a feeling every piece of hardware would work out of the box and did as it has in the past….the built in wireless, builtin webcam, video, even the remote control works with mythtv without LIRC which surprised me……….
Never been disappointed with Mandriva since 1999.

By: The VAR Guy

The VAR Guy — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 19:13:09 +0000

Adam: No worries. The VAR Guy has been the victim of jokes, insults (and far worse) on this site (and others). But in the end, he appreciates the dialog.