Tux Reports has posted a series of screenshots from Mandrake Linux 9.1 final release.
Series of Screenshots of Mandrake 9.1
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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 would assume that means that it’s actually out, but it doesn’t seem to be available anywhere. Maybe they finally took the hint and decided to offer it to Club members first? :>
I will pre-order Mandrake 9.1 (http://www.mandrakestore.com/). I hope they stay around.
If I had the money I’d consider it, at the moment I don’t..might pick one up later. The problem is that if it’s offered for free, most people (including myself) would be more inclined just to download it :> SuSE seems to have somewhat of a better idea..offer the FTP installation as a free download, and if you want the CD’s, documentation and support, you buy the boxed set. Mandrake’s moral compass is pointing in the right direction, but what with the bankrupcy protection announcement, I think it’s probably safe to say that the business side needs fixing.
Not a troll… Just curious. Why is Mandrake not offering a CD only version of the Standard Edition? For something I can download for free, the only reason I would buy a copy is to support Mandrake (the company). But my pockets are not deep enough for $39. Maybe $15 to $25. I wonder if a study has ever been done to see at what point people will not ‘donate’ (cause that is what you are doing, in essence) money to OSS projects for software? I know, some people will never pay for software. But I think that there are a good number of people out there that will gladly give up $10, $15, or maybe even $20. At what point do people say “Screw it! They want to much. I’ll just dl it off a mirror.”
After all, the wife controls the purse strings in my family
.
well, a lot of people will probably be a little leary of “pre-ordering” from mandrake after the last fiasco.
for me…i am saving my money for Zeta!
I didn’t take the time to view all of the pics, but what I saw looked fabulous. And yes, that’s important to me–I make my living on my computer, meaning I wind up staring at it for hours at a time, meaning I don’t want it to be ugly. As for functionality, I’ve read great things about the RC’s. I’m sold.
Are there any mirrors for this yet?
Q
As a Mandrake user since 8.0, and as a Mandrake Club member, I will never preorder from Mandrake again. The 8.2 orders took a long time to fill and I did not receive my 9.0 order until the end of December, long after the isos had been released etc. They have pissed me off for the last time. I’ve got my Club membership, so I’ll download 9.1 when it comes out, but I’ll never order another thing from them.
Aparently it is out, just no mirrors yet.
Q
i would glady pay 15 dollars for the downloadable version … same with SUSE, Lindows et all … 40, 50, 60, 70 or 100 for a OS OS
is too much
After taking count of all the expenses, Mandrake probably does not make more than 15$ on a boxed version.
Their “strategy” of putting the version for free download and shipping months after the “paid” version is obviously very bad for them.
No, Mandrake is not released yet, at least not to the public…
About the boxed version being shipped months after the iso-image is available for download; everyone can understand that is not a strategy but a malfunction somewhere along their routines. But before blaming them about the free downloads; consider the alternative: mandrake would be shipped, but as they show up in the stores all the software is already months old! (Now who would gain on that?!) With the downloadable edition the ones who’ve payed for the set can atleast use it before the shipping reaches them.
And, please (!), stop complaining at the free ISOs. It is giving mandrake and linux as a whole new users everyday. Putting a pricetag on something that isn’t already leading the race can be fatal, and the ones that download and get familiar with mandrake will probably want the same for their companies; who in turn are willing to pay for support and documentation.
As for supporting mandrake without buying one of the more expensive boxes, there is always the mandrakeclub.
Summary: If you want others to pay for the distribution (as You did?); yes that would make mandrake some fast money, but in the long run it is not a viable alternative if they want to be successful.
totally agree with you guys.
It’s called low price , high volume.
Wait, maybe I can patent this business method.
…On the internet, goods are offered at a low price in
hopes of making large volumes of sales, making same or even
more money…
Hope Amazon.com didn’t beat me to it.
Look, I like Mandrake, but they really have to get their act together. It does not take that long to press CD’s and print boxes for the powerpacks etc. RH released 8.0 isos and within 2 weeks of that, boxed sets were in the stores.
This is the timeline they should use:
1. Assume 9.1 code goes gold. Start printing CDs immediately. If they have thought ahead, they should have the printers all teed up to start printing the boxes etc. Say this takes 3 weeks.
2. During this 3 week period, have the 9.1 isos available for download by Club members only. Give people a real incentive to join the Club.
3. By the end of this 3 week period, preorders should be shipping and boxes should be shipping to the retail stores. Mandrake then releases the isos free.
They need to time it so the free isos/pre-orders/boxed sets in stores all appear roughly at the same time. Now, it doesn’t have to be exactly the same day, but generally speaking, Mandrake needs to place its priority on paying customers and those are: (a) Club members (b) people who pre-order boxed sets from the Mandrake site and (c) people who buy boxed sets in stores. Once those three maarkets are covered, then the release the free isos.
I really think this timeline would work and would get them back to profitability.
I’m very impressed with Mandrake’s 91 release. BEofre I though their distro was poorly patched together, looked ugly and their configuration tools were unfriendly, and not enough.
THIS HAS ALL CHANGE! 9.1 looks beautiful, their tools are well integrated, there are plenty of easy to use tools, it ahs a large RPM repository and it’s isntallation sequenece ahs been greately improved. I would actually recommend this over RH 8.1. (Can’t say anything about SuSE, haven’t tried 8.2)
Their boxes also look a lot better than usual : http://www.mandrakestore.com/mdkinc/index.php?LANG_=en&tab_x=tab_6
“I would actually recommend this over RH 8.1”
Gee, that’s funny, I didn’t realize RH 8.1 had been released yet.
It seems they finally hired someone who KNOWS how to do graphics as well…
this is looking rather smooth!
Right now I see no one coming close to Redhat’s grasp of solid business practices. I am quite sold on Redhat now. Was once a Mandrake user. I think something is wrong if suddenly Mandrake has to resort to delaying iso’s for people to buy their cd’s. I do not need support therefore will not pay for it. Simple. And I also do not believe in ‘donating’ money to commercial organizations. If Mandrake needs ‘mercy’ buying to survive financially, then they should not be in business at all.
Alex, have you actually tried any of these products before making a judgement?
Their boxes also look a lot better than usual
Don’t judge a book by it’s cover.
I like Mandrake. It was my first linux, being friendlier than other distros. I even bought Man8.0 PowerPack. Now that company is struggling to survive and 9.1 seems to be a more polished product I wanted to buy it. But now check this: “We will ship the preorders clients in priority mode as soon as we get them. Shipping mode will be UPS/FedEx. Expect to be delivered by the end of april (estimated date). We will inform you as soon as the product is available.”
The gap between Free and Pack releases is too long. By the time I get my pack they will be alredy talking of how good 9.2 will be. And well, when I bough 8.0 Power Pack I should the say that the additional applications were useless for me or were simple demos (like Sin for linux).
Mandrake has a good distro, but they need to really analyze their bussiness strategy. I mean, at least I would expect them to ship packs same month than the release. Otherwise free version will be enough until the next release.
Brad
well, a lot of people will probably be a little leary of “pre-ordering” from mandrake after the last fiasco.
for me…i am saving my money for Zeta!
the Mandrake club has grown as u woudnt believe. Mandrake
can probably surive just off the club. i dont believe they will
have to but there are now tens of thousand of people in the
Mandrake Club and it is still growing.
this is not gospel but i dont believe from what i have read that
there is gonna be a free download until the boxed sets have
ben around about a month.
Mandrake Club members are now preordering Mandrake 9.1.
u can purchase your dvd or cds at mandrake linux online.
there is gonna be special servers set up so that mandrake
club members can download the latest version of Mandrake .
hope to see u all soon over at the mandrake club. if not be
sure and buy your copy of the best distro to have ever been
As a Mandrake user since 8.0, and as a Mandrake Club member, I will never preorder from Mandrake again. The 8.2 orders took a long time to fill and I did not receive my 9.0 order until the end of December, long after the isos had been released etc. They have pissed me off for the last time. I’ve got my Club membership, so I’ll download 9.1 when it comes out, but I’ll never order another thing from them.
are u sure u are a club member. if u are u are the only club
member that i know that is angry with Mandrake.
hmmm, whats your club name. or do u really have one
I’m in the MandrakeClub because I don’t want to see Mandrake disappear. I’m sad to see MandrakeClub members complaining about not getting enough out of their membership. As I remember, MandrakeClub extras were not the reason we joined, just a nice side effect…
I’m running RC2 actually without problem (well, found lot’s of bugs, but they had all already been reported.) It looks really good (hopefully, PLF & Textar will not wait too long before doing ther magic on 9.1)
I now have 4 PowerPacks and noticed I didn’t read/need the manuals. I’ve also been reading jealously about the Suse DVD while shuffeling in the CDs. Wel, Deno yesterday pointed out that there is now the possibility to pre-order a DVD-only Mandrake 9.1 (no CDs, no manuals) so I went for that. There is also the posibility to order a CD-only edition. ETA is end April. That’s only a month from now and no public iso are yet available. So things are getting better…
I just hope lots of people do the same thing and preorder
While the looks have certainly changed, it is mostly just skin deep. Many parts I hated about Mandrake is still there, especially Mandrake Control.
Well, for those who likes Live CD’s, there’s also another Knoppix look a like, try to go to: http://www.morphix.org for further info.
“are u sure u are a club member. if u are u are the only club
member that i know that is angry with Mandrake.
hmmm, whats your club name. or do u really have one
”
Look, I am a Club member and have been for over a year (just renewed a month ago). I don’t give a rat’s ass if you don’t believe me.
If you’ve been around at all and read the posts on the old MUO board, the old Mandrake forum, PCLinuxonline, and other sites, you would know damn well that many Mandrake users are extremely upset with the company over the 9.0 pre-order shipping fiasco. I am one of them. IT was a total f*&&k up, right on the heels of the package screwups with 8.2 (the incident of the 8.2 Powerpacks not including all the packages the download version had, even standard programs like hdparm).
I’m keeping my Club membership. I’m just never pre-ordering from them again.
yes, there were some people upset about the 9.0 problem
with getting the cds to the people . this has been taken
care of and it was taken care of quickly as the people made
it known that they had not recieved their cds.
just the other day on the club someone seemed a little upset
that they didnt get their cds and it turned out that they
had no spammed their email address. as soon as they sent
in their real email address it was fixed and mandrake even
gave them an extra month in the mandrake club. they did
fix the problems. there may be a few people who didnt get
their copies but if they contact mandrake they will.
this wasnt even mandrakes fault but they fixed the customer
up right away.
of all the thousands of people in the mandrake club there
are very very few that ever get upset. occasionally we have
a kid or two that argue with each other over something silly,
usualy not mandrake related and the people settle them down.
its quite a cool place. everybody working together and helping
each other.
and by the way what is your club name ?
laters
if there is something u hate about mandrake instead of
commenting about hate just buy something else.
that is what is so great about Linux. there is so much
choice.
what Linux do u use ?
do i get the feeling that this time round the majir distros are fighting to be the LAST to release? i though mdk was supposed to be out on April 15/20? and redhat too? are they holding back with lots of testing and bugfixing?
i dream and hope!
t
I’m using Mandrake since the BeOS fall and 7.0 not as an expert but a final user. I’ve bought 8.0, the gaming edition, 9.0 and I’ve just preordered 9.1. While i think Mandrake is the best distro i’ve ever tried and used, I’ve decided not to be a member of the club after the 1 month trial membership. Many thanks for the opportunity but I think there are many things left to do for the common user web experience. The web site needs more coherence
and better layouts. Imvho it is paradoxically the weakest part of the “Mandrake experience”. Improve it and keep up with the good work. GL.
I don’t buy/download a distro based on the company’s business model, I buy/download a distro because it works. I’ve been running cooker/9.1 for a month and every program that I had wanted to work but never did under 8.1/8.2/9.0 flat out works in 9.1 Great Job! to the developers. If they can do this under the financial pressure that they are under now, just think! I’m sorry but in my eyes I think that Mandrake is a close to an optimum Linux distro in terms of Open Source and business. There. My Two Cents!
You got me wrong. Mandrake is a good distro. What I am sayig is I do not think you should ‘buy’ a distro if it does not add value to you. I can download a distro and I do NOT ‘need’ support. Mandrakesoft should start going for the enterprise because that is where the money is at right now. Redhat understands this and is profitable. Right now, most users of Linux besides in the business are ‘geeks’ or people who do not mind tinkering a lot. Mandrake cannot make good business by trying to get this small group pay for the distro. They should target those people who more or less ‘have to pay’, even if only for support. Impassionate pleas for donations are not my thing. I do not believe in a ‘for profit’ entity recieving donations.
Linux is probably worse off without Mandrake, and probably better off with Mandrake alive. But if keepign Mandrake alive comes at a cost, maybe we are better off without it altogether. If it goes under, let this be a warning to all the others. You cannot build a business with geeks as your customer base.
I’m using Mandrake since the BeOS fall and 7.0 not as an expert but a final user. I’ve bought 8.0, the gaming edition, 9.0 and I’ve just preordered 9.1. While i think Mandrake is the best distro i’ve ever tried and used, I’ve decided not to be a member of the club after the 1 month trial membership. Many thanks for the opportunity but I think there are many things left to do for the common user web experience. The web site needs more coherence
and better layouts. Imvho it is paradoxically the weakest part of the “Mandrake experience”. Improve it and keep up with the good work. GL.
if u think mandrke club needs some appearance changes the
best thing to do is to bring it up and the people will discuss
it and possibly change it.
there will always be something for people to complain about.
real men fix the problems
im just kidding. hope u the best
and before i forget my manners.
hi eugenia