F*ckedCompany reports that “rumor has it Xandros is on life support… word is some employees haven’t been paid in over two months“. However, OSNews reader Dennis Baptista was able to get information directly from Xandros about the future products that Xandros is preparing: “There are two versions of the Xandros server product – a deployment server (Xandros Networks Enterprise) and a general purpose server. The deployment server is targeted towards the fall time frame while the general purpose will follow after that.” Support Xandros here.
Rumor Says Xandros in Bad Shape But Product Development Goes On
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Eugenia Loli
Ex-programmer, ex-editor in chief at OSNews.com, now a visual artist/filmmaker.
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I saw that post on FC yesterday but didn’t hear about it anywhere else. If they go out of business, that would be too bad. They have a nice distro.
It’s a statistic. I hope Xandros stick around. They’re one of the better distros out there.
On the other hand, the market is hopelessly overloaded right now. There are far too many commercial distros for them all to survive. Mandrake is going down, maybe Xandros too. How long will Lindows/Lycoris hold out?
In the future maybe when Linux dominates the market, then you could have the level of competition we see now. But not today.
…for that one Xandros guy coming on the msg boards and calling the Linux community a bunch of freeloaders
Community power rules…
Were they expecting instant fame and profit?
I know Xandros is based on Corel source code and they sold some of the Xandros code to Lindows.com. I guess cost of developing a desktop Linux distro was far more expensive than they thought or people are much less willing to pay for a new commercial distro then they though. Ask anyone who knows anything about buisness and they will tell you that not many new companies generate a profit early on. Xandros probably knew this going into the game but are still folding after the first release. Nothing like dismal failure to encourage new competition on the Linux front.
They are, aren’t they?
I mean some aren’t, but most seem to think that if they have to pay for it then it’s not worth using. Which is really sad since getting a really high quality, polished product requires some sort of funds.
Maybe redhat will buy them out and rebrand it as redhat 10. :
I would like to buy a copy, but they have no student price, and I cannot try before I buy. Until then…
…for that one Xandros guy coming on the msg boards and calling the Linux community a bunch of freeloaders
Oh the sweet-sweet irony
That’s why they are going down – the Linux community really are mostly freeloaders heh. The only commercial piece of software on my Linux partition is UT and that’s it. Everything else is free.
> Maybe redhat will buy them out and rebrand it as redhat 10.
That was a joke, right?
It’s like saying Microsoft will buy and rebrand a WinNT-based spin-off, while the company already has moved on to the superior WinXP codebase. Why would they do that? Such buyouts make no sense.
Does anyone really believe things that are posted on this site? I’ve never heard of them, but they don’t sound too…um…credible, if you ask me. (You didn’t, but too bad). Just the makeup of their posters alone is enough to make me question the whole thing. However, if it is true, it’s too bad. I don’t use Xandros, but I’ve heard great things about it (I’ve been thinking about trying it against Mandrake 9.1). But a poster above was right: the distro market is so overloaded that I’m surprised we don’t see more distros dropping off even faster than they are.
</begin personal opinion>
I personally think that the reviews of Xandros’ first release certainly sound encouraging. I also have to give them credit for releasing a 39.95 version as opposed to charging just 99.95 (to the guy who posted about a student version.. perhaps this “standard edition” is good for you?) The only thing i do not like about Xandros Desktop 1.0 is the eye candy. I’m personally tired of companies trying to mimic the windows look and feel.. but some people like this i suppose. I found xandros to be unappealing to me visually, so i didn’t buy it. perhaps if they spruced up the way it looks it may help? Just a thought.. some people might like the look.. i don’t.
</end personal opinion>
You mooch off millions of lines of GPL code, strap on a product from codeweavers that was also mooched off of GPL code, and try and sell your product with absolutely no possible method of free download….
Uh hu, ya… Oh Daddy daddy.. Please lend me a hundred bucks to buy this linux os!! Whats wrong with RedHat son? Oh daddy, just cause they are free doesnt mean im happy.. Please loan me the money…
Get a grip XANDROS you lame excuse of a company. Have you not noticed that the one linux distro that is in the black is REDHAT. they adhere to GPL standards more tightly than any selfish distributer out there. And they are reaping the financial benefits
Since when did linux enthusiasts suddenly stop beleiving in the concept of Free Software and suddenly support all these distros who refuse to make an iso download an option. Yes, linux has a place in the commercial world, but ditching the concepts of FS is not one of them. Without those concepts, GNU/Linux would not exist. I for one will stand up for what i have long beleived to be the best developement model.
That’s funny, I mailed them about a student price and they wrote me right back offering a 50% discount. (At least, I believe it was 50, somewhere between 45-55, anyway.)
that OSNews and PCLinuxOnline will be merging into one huge rumor monger site. You heard here first!
This shouldn’t come as a surprise, or if turns out to be just a rumor expect the true bust soon after. Do they really expect anybody to shell out $99 with Red Hat being free for grabs or SuSE Prof. costing $80. Linux market has just started to flourish and a lot of startups are going to end belly up. The sooner they realize that the better Linux market will be established.
“Support Xandros here.”
No Thanks. I won’t be supporting them, Lindows, or United Linux. I will of course still be supporting Red Hat, Mandrake, Gentoo, Debian, and Slackware or any other company who upholds the ideals of the linux community.
Companies like Xandros, Lindows et al should be using the BSD codebase for thie distro’s not a GPL codebase.
If the future of the linux desktop is a proprietary one, why bother? You might as well stick with Windows or OS X instead.
Have you not noticed that the one linux distro that is in the black is REDHAT. they adhere to GPL standards more tightly than any selfish distributer out there. And they are reaping the financial benefits
Slackware has always been profitable. Quality and a cult following should never be underestimated. Red Hat makes some money from selling boxed CD sets, but the bulk of their revenue comes from support contracts. It’s a business model that works for them and allows them to put out free (beer) isos without it damaging their bottom line. In fact, it has built and continues to build RH mindshare.
For Mandrake OTOH, free (beer) isos may have built mindshare, but it’s a disastrous business practice for a desktop distro company. In this respect, I think SuSE has the correct business model for desktop Linux: free (beer) software via FTP install only. If you want CDs, fork over the cash.
I’ve been using it since Dec & it’s going to enable me to do away with windoze.
They really aren’t looking to sell to existing Linux users, you know. Their target market is business users who want to get away from windoze. Home users are almost an afterthought.
Considering that I was able to have a working Linux box up & running in 20 minutes without having to edit config files or go searching for info on how to make something work right, I think they may just be on to something.
Considering the source of the post that started this, I’m surprised that this site even published this.
Dave
I use Xandros on a daily basis. It has replaced (entirely) Windows on all my work machines (I still have Windows on my home machine for gaming).
It really is the best distribution of Linux out there for desktop use. I don’t say this lightly. I have tried every distribution I could find (within reason, of course) and it kicks all of their asses. Honestly.
For them to be going about of business would actually make me swear off Linux for desktop use. I’m not being over dramatic. I’m not exaggerating. When the community kills one of it’s brightest stars, why would I bother being part of that community anymore?
Two things:
1) Have you tried Gentoo? It’s my favorite distro easily.
2) I don’t see how you can blame the community for killing off Xandros. Who killed it? Did I kill Xandros by not buying the distro? By not sending them money? It is not the community’s resonsibility to take care of every startup who wants to make a buck of linux. If you are going to sell software it is your job to not only make the software, but make people want to use it. Xandros has clearly done a poor job of that so far. I applaud their efforts at a “desktop” distro (a ridiculous notion though as really any distro can be used here), but it doesn’t mean they deserve to hang around.
Gentoo is shit. ’nuff said.
Xandros is easily the most user-friendly distro out there. It would not only be a shame, but a loss to everyone if they were to fold. They understand what the business community wants and needs better than anyone else, Red Hat included. So they are somewhat Windows-like. To varying degrees most distros are. Only an idiot would think that any distribution could become commerically successful unless they present a familiar (read: Windows-like) work environment for users. I think there will always be geeky distros for those who enjoy compiling their kernels and dependency hell, but they’re not for everyone.
Comparing Gentoo to Xandros for n00b desktop users not wanting to take 3 days to compile is ridiculous. Apples and oranges.
These new desktop distros all seem to be having a tough time, but I think part of it is wanting the fruits of the open source community without giving anything back to it. And no, I don’t mean that they necessarily have to provide free-as-in-beer isos, either.
But making it a pain to get sources doesn’t help them. Calling the Linux community that provided the codebase for their distros a bunch of freeloaders doesn’t help them. Fighting for market niche against entrenched Linux distros that have earned community respect requires them to innovate, and for the most part, they ain’t innovating in ways that build loyalty.
Maybe Knoppix or College Linux or Ark Linux can get it right. Xandros, Lindows and Lycoris don’t seem to get it though.
On a final note, Red Hat is making commitments to the desktop. That’s alot of brand name recognition right there to propel interest. Everyone knows that one of the big things holding desktop Linux back is a lack of popular commercial apps like Dreamweaver and Photoshop. Now, just assuming that Macromedia and Adobde and others will someday release binary retail versions of their products when desktop Linux gets critical mass, who do you think they will release for and guarantee operability with? Red Hat and other LSB-compliant distros? Or some Johnny come lately?
//In the future maybe when Linux dominates the market, then you could have the level of competition we see now. But not today.//
Don’t hold your breath for that future. It will likely be many many many decades from now.
If they’re dying it’s because they have a poor business model.
They’ve failed to become a Windows replacement. I mean who really wants to buy a distribution that acts like Windows but only runs a handful of Windows applications? So I doubt they’re winning over many Windows users.
What about a Linux replacement? Well, it doesn’t have very much of anything over any other Linux distribution that people can get for free. I mean Open Office, etc. are all available for free to anyone. So they’re not winning over many Linux users either.
So who exactly are they targetting? The handful of people that like Windows but hate Microsoft so bad they will pay for anything except Microsoft products? Makes no sense at all.
I will of course still be supporting Red Hat, Mandrake, Gentoo, Debian, and Slackware or any other company who upholds the ideals of the linux community.
Since RedHat borked KDE and Gnome in 8.0, pissed off both communities and made the whole distro a hell for developers, I’m not supporting them anymore. Still, it has it’s place in the world and it deserves that place. They just need to bump up the desktop quality a bit. Oh and either lose the freaking rpms or make a nice front-end with a dependency solver.
I think SuSE has the correct business model for desktop Linux: free (beer) software via FTP install only. If you want CDs, fork over the cash.
The SuSE FTP install was a nightmare for me. The thing hanged several times during install and when 8 hours later I finally had all the packages that I wanted installed, it reported that several of these had had errors during install. I tried to boot up the newly installed system but it froze. That’s when I booted up Gentoo and wiped SuSE’s partition.
Still, some people like my friend Thrion have gotten SuSE working without any glitches so I guess it could have been a bad burn or hardware error.
1) Have you tried Gentoo? It’s my favorite distro easily.
Gentoo is not for everyone. Unless you are prepared to occasionally dig into the config files and tweak your system in and out, you’ll start hating it soon. It can really piss you off sometimes
As for Gentoo and newbies there’s too much of them. Everyone’s going around telling how good and easy it is (yes, indeed it is) but it’s just attracting people who spend a day installing it, then go to the forum or the irc channel and start bitching about how hard the install was. It’s a distro mainly for power users, not newbies.
If some distro does not suit you, spare yourself and others and use another distro – there’s plenty to choose from.
As for Xandros going out of business then I believe it’s because of their weak marketing. Even though Lindows is pretty futile compared to Xandros, they have better marketing and more profit. An OS needs agressive marketing to sell well.
>>but I think part of it is wanting the fruits of the open source community without giving anything back to it<<
The company is a year old & released their 1.0 distribution in Nov. Give em a chance before condeming them.
>>But making it a pain to get sources doesn’t help them. <<
Xandros supplies source code on the CD.
>>Calling the Linux community that provided the codebase for their distros a bunch of freeloaders doesn’t help them.<<
Who did that, anyway? Can’t hold a distro responsible for the words of one person, ya know.
>>Fighting for market niche against entrenched Linux distros<<
But they’re not, really. They are hopeing to create a nich amongst windoze users who probably would never have moved to Linux if someone didn’t make it easier to use.
>>they ain’t innovating in ways that build loyalty.<<
Ever been to the Xandros forum?
>>On a final note, Red Hat is making commitments to the desktop.<<
Yeah, now that Xandros & others have proved there is a market for it.
Dave
Assuming Xandros does go out of business, wouldn’t it still be possible to use it indefinitely? I mean, it’s a Debian-based distro, so .deb packages are compatible. Of course things like the xandros network and the xandros file manager will break, but the rest still remains intact. (I briefly played around with Xandros, and apparently the aforementioned items break if you apt-get to kde3) The way I figure it, Xandros is just making it easier to install Debian. (And before anyone starts up with ‘I don’t know what’s so hard about installing Debian’, MOST people will find the default debian installer a pain in the ass.) If indeed Xandros is on it’s way out, it’s a sad thing. I was quite impressed with the distro overall, it was clean, stable and fast. (My only reason for not continuing to use it was that my aureal-based soundcard isn’t supported under KDE 2.2, and no sound wasn’t an option for me.) Unless you have a similar card, I’d recommend Xandros to anyone.
Sounds like you are into Linux just because you are a cheap ass. Please quote the section of the GPL that requires 0-day ISOs for all your Linux distributions. GPL is supposedly about having “Free Source” to the users of the software. It doesn’t say the software has to made available free of cost. Most Linux enthusiasts still believe in the “spirit of Free Software”, they just have a better grasp of what it than you. I’m not suprised seeing as your nickname is a reference to Slashdot, the home of blind groupthink.
I’m am so very surprised to see that OS News has decided to post a rumor from such a horrible website. Come on, Fucked Company? This just seems like a site for people to complain and disrespect other people and companies. I have been a Xandros user since Thanksgiving, and I have to honest say that is it the best Linux OS that I have ever used! They’re right when they say, “It just works!” I feel it was well worthe the $99 price tag to have nVidia 3D drivers installed by default, not to mention the inclusion of Codeweavers’ software so that Quicktime, Windows Media, and Macromedia can be played. I also forgot the easy font installer. The only detractor is the use of KDE 2.2 which doesn’t allow for some of the newest themes to be used. I have managed to dress it up some with Crystal Icons and the like. I sincerely hope that this is just a rumor started by some otherwise bored people, and I also sincerely hope that OS News will pull itself out the trashy filth that it has cast itself into by showing some principles when it comes to deciding what to print and what not to print. Thank you.
As a Xandros user, i find the rumor of its demise to be just that, A RUMOR!! There’s a lot of talk about free software, but what makes it free——-contributions from the community. For a company to come along, Xandros, and develop a OS that is BASED on the linux os, and which will make it EASIER to transition from windows, why is that so horrible. You can’t try it because there’s no FREE download. So is that a reason to punish it?? If you take the time to read up on Xandros you’ll find some excellant points that should make you consider it. But don’t forget, the typical windows user wants to fire it up, point to an app, and run that app. Xandros does all that and by the way, Networking works out of the box!! What other distro does that?? Now there’s some engineering that was developed. But oh, lets give it away!!
Don’t forget, which was the first distro to bundle Codeweavers software with it? I’ll give you a hint, it was Xandros. And lets see, who else is now bundling—-Suse. But i guess there wrong as well!!
Face facts—–Xandros is here to stay. You’ll all eat your words when 2.0 comes out. Oh, and should i forget—-Mandrake is ready to release 9.1. But they were bankrupt and goneeeeeeeeeee!!!
And lets see, who else is now bundling—-Suse. But i guess there wrong as well!!
SuSE still allows for an FTP install and provides a live demo CD. Xandros doesn’t. And SuSE Pro gives a hella lotta software for the price at a cheaper price than Xandros.
Nobody on this thread is knocking SuSE, except maybe the guy who had a rough FTP install. So quit setting up straw men.
Another one bites the dust. Nice to hear of you, now I’ll forget you. Now don’t let the door kick you on the way out. I wonder if any one has started a collection of Linux distros and tried to hawk it on eBay.
In truth, bad management is bad management. I have yet to see, hear or use a distro that works period(and only Red Hat has good management).
I have a number of points to make…
1. Thanks firstly to Ben for mentioning the discount for students. Do you have any more concrete info on that? I’m not about to fork out $89 (New Zealand dollars) to try a new distro.
2. I would not take seriously anything on that trashy rumour site. Where specifically is their evidence for Xandros going under?
3. Personally I get sick of hearing pathetic whingers in the Linux community complaining about having to pay for a bit of software. Complain about MS Office if you please. It is so over-priced that many simply cannot afford to buy it. But for someone earning a bit of money, they can afford to pay a bit for some of the Linux distros. These whingers don’t complain (or maybe they do) about having to buy other stuff (food, cars, books) so why do they think the Xandros developers should do all their work for free?
4. Gentoo is useless for anyone who has only a dial-up connection. Yes, I have tried and went back to FreeBSD.
5. Xandros needs a trial version!!! And KDE 3.1 !
If this rumor is true, it’s a real shame. This is the most polished desktop oriented version of Linux I’ve ever used (an unbroken string going all the way back to Yggdrasil Linux in the mid-90s). They’ve done some fine work, especially with regard to the file manager, preference panels, and hardware detection. Even Red Hat could learn a few things from them.
I paid US$99 for Xandros and I am totally satisfied with it. I wouldn’t download RedHat/Mandrake/SuSe for free. Seriously. Xandros works. If you don’t want to pay US$99, buy the Standard Edition for US$40. It’s a good distro.
It is very stable, it has good support, a good community of users, it is the best OS (the only OS) I have ever purchased (not counting the WinXP tax on my laptop). And every Windows user I have shown it to has been blown away. “That’s Linux?!?” they say. “I had no idea it’s so good.”
I agree, for some people not being able to try before they buy is an issue, but for me the bigger issues was finding a distribution that I could be confident with.
I am happy for anyone who finds an OS they can use and be happy with. I am even happier if that OS isn’t windows. However, if Xandros falls apart I can’t see blaming the Linux community. Xandros must have known their business model would attract about zero linux veterans.
If you ask me the desktop distro with the best chance of weathering the storm is Lindows. Love it or hate it, Michael Robertson has deep pockets. He can afford to spend as long is it takes, and he can draw publicity.
Lycoris doesn’t do bad either. They have the right idea in keeping a very small staff. It is cheap for them to keep the business open with low overhead. They can do what they need to do with a minimal business risk. If I was to reccomend a newbie distro I would say lycoris all the way.
As to new gentoo users getting onto forums and bitching about how hard the install was… I haven’t seen it. I seriously read the forums every day and try and answer other people’s questions as well as getting my own answered (give a penny, take a penny). I have yet to see anyone bitch about the hard install. I have seen quite a few posts that are cheers of joy at completing the install, but this is positive posts. Not whining about how hard it was.
is not Xandros. Xandros is an absolutely great distribution. I bought it and use now as my main OS. Its worth every cent I spent to purchase it. The real problem with Linux is all of the lamer bozos who think that everything should be free and handed to them on a silver platter. After downloading some developers hard work these same jerks then will turn around and play their games on a Windoze partition all the while claiming they are Linux users and believe in Open Source. After they get done playing their game in Bills latest version of MonopolyOS they hop onto boards like this and post crap about Xandros, Lindows, WineX, Codeweavers or anyone else they think won’t give them something for nothing. They are hypocrites and losers and deserve to be stuck with MonopolyOS for eternity. Crawl back under your rocks slimeballs.
First all (not all, some) you Linux guys harp on people to try Linux before condemming it. Then folks start trying different Linux distro’s, but that’s not good enough. What you really want is for people to try the “right” Linux distro. But don’t pay for it, no sir…..get the free download. Yeah, get the free one and bitch about why the new and improved updated version hasn’t come out yet. Let’s not actually support (with money) those who are trying to earn a living developing a Linux distro that works well and people can use and enjoy. Let’s slam those who do not have the time to spend all their time learning the inner workings of their operating system. That would be like slamming people for not being mechanics and still driving a car. The time is for you Linux snobs to grow up and buck up….if not, then just shut up because you are not helping. Mind you, not everyone who uses Linux is a Linux snob, and thank goodness for that. Xandros is a decent distro…….so is Libranet, Vector, Suse, Redhat, Mandrake, Lycoris, Linows, etc, etc….it would be a shame to lose any of them because it’s about choice.
For those of you that don’t know f’ed company is a credible source. They announced the big hp/compaq layoffs a week or two ahead of anyone (including the wall street journal and barons). Insiders give them news. Thats also how they get internal memos (they have a “sister” site of nothing but internal memos). They’re usually ahead of the game when it comes to companies dying. Do they have a name that leads to misconceptions? Yes, but I think theres an explanation. The site founder was a dotcommer who lost his job at a f’ed company. So he started the site (or he did it while the company was in its death throes).
I like Xandros, and while they don’t have a published student discount they do give you a student discount code if you ask. I asked, just as a general question, and within a day of my email I was sent a special discount code. It expired after two weeks, but it was like 40% off. If there service is anywhere near that good normally they’re a company that deserves to live. In fact I think I’ll get a code and order a copy, once I get back from spring break. Of course then I’ll be a windows user doing more to support linux and its community than most linux users.
Let’s not actually support (with money) those who are trying to earn a living developing a Linux distro that works well and people can use and enjoy. Let’s slam those who do not have the time to spend all their time learning the inner workings of their operating system.
Geeks support Slackware financially, so STFU. How do you think it has survived all this time while always remaining in the black? While allowing free downloads of its product, nonetheless. (Thanks again, Pat V)
The distros who give back to the community get loyalty. If Mandrake was crappy and didn’t provide value there wouldn’t be users donating to keep it alive. I think Mandrake’s business model isn’t a long-term viable solution, but users are willing to chip in to get them over the rough spots because they’ve earned respect.
Unlike leeches like Xandros, Lycoris and Lindows who just want to earn a buck, the community be damned. Most in the community don’t bitch because Xandros ain’t free…we wouldn’t use it anyhow. But we don’t shed a tear seeing them keel over with an unviable business model either, considering they built their product on the backs of unpaid volunteer developers.
despite its few (fewer when buying it) loyal adorers, and Xandros is no exception. Too bad for a company that has had by large the capital to make one.
Reactions quoted from the Interviews with Xandros Vice President Michael Bego on 2002-08-06 and 2002-08-08:
>>
Chris Parker
Something about this guy – probably the way he doesn’t really give direct answers and seems to shy away from making any criticisms, smells of corporate bullshit. They might have a great product, but I give them a year till they go out of business and this guy blames someone else for his failures.
>>
>>
m
Xandros cannot go too far on the desktop with a president that doesn’t regard interface design as engineering, nor as a priority.
Quote: “We have a world-class team at Xandros, but one that has to date been 95% focused on technology and engineering”.
>>
>>
Michael
That sinking “these guys are amateurs” feeling, eh?
>>
I would only call them amateurs regarding the very poor and obnoxius looking KDE interface they have delivered, the fist beta they showed was pathetic even for a beta (coming from a LGB company that inherited Corel Linux tech), and things haven’t changed much on that respect with 1.0
I don’t think they are done yet, but I do know they are not going anywhere with Bego’s complete lack of insight for a competitive and atractive Desktop OS.
I hope it is just a rumour. I use Xandros at work and at home. Its support for networking is excellent. Seriously, if you need to browse windows networks or share your own drive REALLY easily, then Xandros is the way to go. I would like to be able to wean myself off their file manager but I don’t think there is anything out there is open source land which quite cuts the mustard with regards to easy networking. I have been able to slide myself into a staunchly pro-microsoft work place and maintain productivity levels.
I have some gripes with Xandros:
– it feels a bit slower
– still on kde 2.2
– autoconfiguration keeps mucking around with lilo every time I change something
But overall it is the best distro for me and I have tried heaps.
“But we don’t shed a tear seeing them keel over with an unviable business model either, considering they built their product on the backs of unpaid volunteer developers.”
They volunteered, knowing that people might make money off of their work. Every company that works with open source makes money off of other people’s work. Thats how the system works. The problem is you give lip service to community, but the minute someone does exactly what the system allows, they’re voted off you’re island. Go shout at apple for ripping off bsd programmers. Or slackware for not giving their revenue back to the community.
You don’t want open source, you want utopia.
Everyone can take what they want, but traditionally you pitch in.
Hey that guy isn’t pitching in.
I say good for that guy, he beat the system.
You whine about not pitching in, even though its not at all required.
> Maybe redhat will buy them out and rebrand it as redhat 10.
>That was a joke, right?
>It’s like saying Microsoft will buy and rebrand a >WinNT-based spin-off, while the company already has moved on >to the superior WinXP codebase. Why would they do that? >Such buyouts make no sense.
No I’m not kidding. Red Hat is a nice distro just not the greatest on the desktop.
What do you do when some one has better technology then you and they are going out of business? Buy them.
RedHat wants to get in to the desktop market, and them buying Xandros would be a smart move. After they change the branding they have a desktop product that is slick and ready to move with out having to develop it themselves.
I bought the 99 distor and while it has merits I could not get over the fact it uses KDE 2.x.
Gentoo,Redhat or mandrake with Kde 3.1 is much better and has all the the bells and whistles Xandros does.
T
A distro company that wants to sell a desktop Linux to consumers should price it in the $20-$30 range. With a $99 price tag, people are going to think long and hard before buying it, and it isn’t enticing either to pay $40 for a stripped-down version. They should be pricing it low to go for volume and market share. Then after having obtained a good market share they can think about selling the next version for $50 or more.