Mandrake is Vital to our Community (Cont'd)

"You know, MandrakeSoft has filed for the French equivalent of bankruptcy", I informed him. With a look of incredulity, he asked me how that could be. I explained to him that Mandrake is actually selling enough software to be profitable. Unfortunately, some "dot-bomb" ex-management sunk the company into debt. Fortunately, they have long since gone to look for more napkins to write business plans on for somebody else, but the debt stayed behind. MandrakeSoft has a great product, enthusiastic customers, potential for growth and an overwhelming debt. Bottom line: Life is unfair. Actually, life can be somewhat fair. Just this past week a French judge approved their plan to refloat the company, so they've gotten by a major hurdle.

As we're on the subject of fairness, success in the IT world is measured in how many non-technical people you've got staring at your product everyday. Although Linux is strong in the back room, the average tech pundit only writes about what's showing in the front office. Unfair monopoly holders often dictate what you're staring into at work. That's why the news of Mandrake's troubles is so alarming to me. Whenever any novice wants to use Linux for the first time, without hesitation I recommend Mandrake. I have been burnt by the "user-friendly" installs of other Linux distributions before. I never have been with Mandrake. It's the best hope of our community to get Linux into the hands of non-technical people. My best wishes go out to the developers, supporters and investors of Mandrake. They've gone to great lengths to provide us with a top notch product. It's our turn to support them. This is just my small effort to help out.

Michael J. Jordan is Webmaster of Linux Online. He can be reached at Michael.Jordan@Linux.org