Linked by Eugenia Loli-Queru on Wed 20th Nov 2002 22:20 UTC
MandrakeSoft and Pearson Education sent us over a copy of their latest "pro" edition of the popular Linux Mandrake 9.0. We already wrote a review about Linux Mandrake 9.0, so this is going to be a review of the ProSuite deal specifically and what you get for $199 USD RPP (easily found for around $175 USD in the market). Update: Apparently, StarOffice 6.0 is included in its full version with the distribution. Too bad Mandrake does such a poor job and include its RPMs along with some hundreds other demos in the two Commercial CDs, without saying a word about it (or where to find it) in the "Commercial Software Guide" booklet or another really prominent place.
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Americans (most distros are trying for that market that we talk about here) prefer Threes; they don't like too many choices. Example: Auto-Ford, GM, Crysler...Cable--ATT, TW, other...Pizza--Dominos, Little Ceasers, Hungry Howies.. The list goes on.
For the PC market Linux need to step up as #3 choice...MS, Apple, ????
MS is doing a favor by killing off Win9x; Apple is killing off OS 9. This provides an opening in ISV minds because the will precive 3 platforms as decent to support. Linux vendors need to quickly provide a unified front for consumer software. One easy way to steal customers would be to get Wine, etc. to a Win 98 level of functionality allowing Linux to be a cheap upgrade for older machines and games.
I see Lindows, Lycoris, and Xandros heading in the right direction with simple, standard Linux Subset configs that are tweaked to just work. Red Hat, Mandrake, and Suse are trying to provide massive Supersets of Linux with every possible option and from most of the reviews lately, don't really please any large group of people. Linux needs to consolidate "mindshare" to gain ground.
I am looking for something to replace my aging Win 98 boxes at work, and few of the distros really market to me. I don't care about hundreds of programs with lots of options, just prove to me that what I need it to do will work. (Lycoris Office Productivity pack is looking like what I want at this point.) If I knew what I was doing, I wouldn't be looking to buy something. I'd just roll my own; but I can't do that yet.
The more I look around, the more I see Linux being ready for daily business users. Only a few people are marketing it properly though. Also, I think there should be a push for retail box space. Really, a chain store like CompUSA only carries several dozen grade A Windows Apps. Most of the shelf space is $20 cheap gadget stuff and games. Perhaps if the Wine group could come up with a compatibility sticker to slap on some boxes that the stuff would work on linux, or a suite for ISVs that would check wine compatibility more people would be willing to switch. Transgamming seems to be doing well in that direction, but they need to advertize it at retail a little more.