Mandriva finished for good?

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Re: Mageia in Distrowatch Top Ten Distributions

Postby dubigrasu » Jan 5th, '12, 11:34

if Mandriva goes belly-up on January 16th, as it looks by now.

BTW, will be there any kind of consequences for Mageia because of that?
I mean, are all the connections with Mandriva already severed?
Pardon my (likely) dumb question...
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Re: Mageia in Distrowatch Top Ten Distributions

Postby filip » Jan 5th, '12, 11:40

wobo wrote:... if Mandriva goes belly-up on January 16th, as it looks by now.

Any online source?
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Re: Mageia in Distrowatch Top Ten Distributions

Postby dubigrasu » Jan 5th, '12, 11:51

Don't know where wobo found this but I saw it on Mandriva forum.
http://forum.mandriva.com/en/viewtopic. ... 49#p854370
Well,let's make it short: everything was fine, but there is a big problem: a minor shareholder (Linlux) refuses the capital injection required for Mandriva to continue, even though the Russian investor had offered to bear it alone .

Except turnaround Mandriva should cease activity Jan. 16 (Sorry for the bad news, for those who did not already know).
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Re: Mageia in Distrowatch Top Ten Distributions

Postby wobo » Jan 5th, '12, 12:03

Short wrap-up:
In late December the CEO sent a notice to all share holders. Mandriva needs a raise in capital, otherwise it will have to cease operations on Januar 16th. The main investor (russians) is ok with the raise and declared that they would give the money all by themselves if necessary. But the former main investor Occam (who now is Linlux) does not agree to the raise.

As I wrote: "IF" - I think we will know in 2 weeks. In early 2010 Occam (at that time main investor) refused to give more money and brought Mandriva to start buy-out negotiations which failed and Mandriva was saved in sommer last minute by the russians - which again caused the closing of EdgeIT - which again was the last drop which in the end caused the founding of Mageia :) Now Linlux (former Occam) is again hammering away at Mandriva's coffin.

Links:
http://forum.mandriva.com/en/viewtopic. ... 49#p854370 - post by AshLeDombos who is in touch with the CEO
https://linuxfr.org/users/jaypee/journa ... e-mandriva (french) - French Linux site
http://www.boursorama.com/forum-mandriv ... 14340508-1 (french) - French info site for shareholders
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Re: Mageia in Distrowatch Top Ten Distributions

Postby wobo » Jan 5th, '12, 16:54

Today I received a copy of the letter which was sent to the shareholders by M. Dominique Loucougain, president of the executive board of Mandriva SA, date December 23rd, 2011. This the first hard proof I received that the situation is as described.

The letter tells just what I wrote in my previous post, just in more details.

1. There are actually 4 parties involved:
- LinPlus (former Occam) with representative Marc Goldberg (a known name at Mandriva), minority shareholder with 42% of the shares.
- Townarea Trading & Investments Ltd. (the cypris based investment group which controls Rosa, aka "the russians"), majority shareholder
- Mandriva
. the smaller shareholders (single people, (former) employees, etc.)

2. Mandriva sent a letter to the relevant judge, describing the situation that LinPlus for no reason is blocking a procedure which will decide on the continuity of the company or its bankruptcy. Plans to sue LinPlus are still open.
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Re: Mageia in Distrowatch Top Ten Distributions

Postby wobo » Jan 6th, '12, 12:48

http://forum.mandriva.com/en/viewtopic. ... 49#p854582 now shows the documents I talked about in my previous post.
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Mandriva finished for good?

Postby ruel24 » Jan 6th, '12, 19:12

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Re: Mandriva finished for good?

Postby doktor5000 » Jan 6th, '12, 20:18

Already discussed from there: viewtopic.php?p=12273#p12273 onwards.
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Re: Mandriva finished for good?

Postby isadora » Jan 6th, '12, 22:05

Due to a re-arrangement, the first 6 messages have been merged from the topic "Mageia in Distrowatch Top Ten Distributions":
viewtopic.php?f=4&t=1537
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Re: Mandriva finished for good?

Postby ruel24 » Jan 6th, '12, 23:32

I will say that this makes me so glad the developers of Mageia decided to fork Mandriva as a community effort. Long live Mageia...
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Re: Mandriva finished for good?

Postby baud » Jan 7th, '12, 21:17

ruel24 wrote: so glad the developers of Mageia decided to fork Mandriva as a community effort


I would not say "glad", this was sad at the time it was done imho, but optimistic to provide users with an alternative and, as you said, a community oriented (users, docs, supporters, dev, testing, marketing, Linux professional be it hardware vendors or hosting...) operation and initiative.

We're currently at crossroads (long ago announced), I hope the best for Mandriva firm (as a community - done my best^W^Wwhat I could - contributor, I wish the firm to do its best too, though I've long lost confidence, mainly once long-known interns lost their job too or changed job...). Mageia is not a Mandriva (the firm) replacement, only a continuation of Mandriva Linux (the distribution) imho, with our own ways, which may differ, in the interest of users (and what developers and supporter want), though for the best we can all achieve (community involvement being a great plus, like Debian GNU/Linux model if you follow what I allude to :D).
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Re: Mandriva finished for good?

Postby mark9117 » Jan 8th, '12, 05:07

I agree that this is sad. I was a dedicated Mandrake/Mandriva user for a long time. I still run two Mandriva machines, but Mageia is the way of the future in this strain of Gnu-Linux. I pretty much saw the handwriting on that wall when the developers, bless them all, chose to pick up the distro and move it forward in the wake of the unfortunate decisions made by management at Mandriva SA.

As I continue to move my systems over to Magia, I am pleased to find that the developers and community that form the body and soul of Magia are on the right track. Mageia is shaping up to satisfy my expectations in a quality product. I hope Mandriva gets their act together, but I've been saying that for years now.

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Re: Mandriva finished for good?

Postby ruel24 » Jan 8th, '12, 05:44

baud wrote:
ruel24 wrote: so glad the developers of Mageia decided to fork Mandriva as a community effort


I would not say "glad", this was sad at the time it was done imho, but optimistic to provide users with an alternative and, as you said, a community oriented (users, docs, supporters, dev, testing, marketing, Linux professional be it hardware vendors or hosting...) operation and initiative.

We're currently at crossroads (long ago announced), I hope the best for Mandriva firm (as a community - done my best^W^Wwhat I could - contributor, I wish the firm to do its best too, though I've long lost confidence, mainly once long-known interns lost their job too or changed job...). Mageia is not a Mandriva (the firm) replacement, only a continuation of Mandriva Linux (the distribution) imho, with our own ways, which may differ, in the interest of users (and what developers and supporter want), though for the best we can all achieve (community involvement being a great plus, like Debian GNU/Linux model if you follow what I allude to :D).


Baud, you know what I meant. I was not "glad" Mandriva is hurting, but "glad" that it will survive in the form of Mageia if it's lost. Mageia isn't Mandriva, but it is a fork, heading in it's own direction. Unlike PCLinuxOS, which also forked, Mageia is much more close to what Mandriva was before the release of the latest version.

And, I can't speak for the developers, but it forked because the some of the developers at Mandriva saw the writing on the wall and decided to fork it. That writing was the financial mess Mandriva was in, and the impending doom. As developer after developer, intern after intern left, it was obvious that there was little life left. Something had to be done.
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Re: Mandriva finished for good?

Postby Lebarhon » Mar 10th, '12, 13:11

Hi,
Things are stirring by Mandriva. What is the Mageia eye on it ?
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Re: Mandriva finished for good?

Postby wobo » Mar 10th, '12, 14:11

None at all, at least until official announcements have been made from both sides (Mandriva & Foundation).
I would not comment or draw conclusions of any sorts until the details are in the open. And I would regard anybody who does as acting on speculations
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Re: Mandriva finished for good?

Postby ghmitch » Mar 14th, '12, 18:19

Apparently from the latest authoritative posts on the Mandriva forum, there is important news coming out within the next few weeks and it seems like that news will be guardedly positive. Right now they are in the process of presenting all the details to the Mandriva Brazil team. Through all of this pain, Mandriva may become a much better company and community. That is certainly what I am hoping for. It has been a never ending roller coaster ride for Mandiva all the way back to the initial giddy ride to the top with Linux Mandrake. I certainly do hope for better days ahead for them because in the end that will be good for all of us and will benefit our whole Mandriva centric community (Mandriva, PCLinuxOS and Mageia) and the Linux community at large as well. - George
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Re: Mandriva finished for good?

Postby wobo » Mar 14th, '12, 19:07

Well, there is only one thing cleared up now - the financial struggle in the investor's area.

There are several different solutions for now. The main point seems to be that Mandriva (the company) will do what has been proposed 12 years ago: the company will keep themselves to the business product line and let a foundation do the community side, while being still in charge for the core development of the distribution (similar to the Red hat / Fedora model).

The details are not known yet, there have already been talks (also with Mageia, reported on the council mailing list) and there will be more talks with different people. Surely Mandriva Brasil is involved as well.
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Re: Mandriva finished for good?

Postby viking60 » Mar 21st, '12, 13:55

Interesting speculations there :mrgreen: Let's hope Mandriva can bounce back once again.
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Re: Mandriva finished for good?

Postby Max » May 2nd, '12, 15:55

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Re: Mandriva finished for good?

Postby wobo » May 2nd, '12, 16:51

Max wrote:
Mandriva wrote:I'm not dead yet!

Where is that quote from? :)

After reading the official blog post at Mandriva I also read the blog post on the ostatic blog which is rather a comment on the official information, an author's interpretation, same as any other interpretation in the forums all over. The reliable information coming from Mandriva is:

1. What had been decided for some time now has been formally accepted. The company is on safe ground.
2. The strategy for the future will be decided upon in mid May. This will include the future of the distribution as far as the company is concerned.

Nothing more, nothing less.
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Re: Mandriva finished for good?

Postby Max » May 3rd, '12, 19:46

wobo wrote:
Max wrote:
Mandriva wrote:I'm not dead yet!

Where is that quote from? :)

It's a single line from the movie Monty Python and the Holy Grail. It's a very funny movie and I can't recommend it enough. :mrgreen:
The relevant scene can be found on Youtube of course.
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Re: Mandriva finished for good?

Postby wobo » May 4th, '12, 08:16

Of course I know the Monty Python movie!

But you quoted like "Mandriva wrote:" - that's why I asked.
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Re: Mandriva finished for good?

Postby ghmitch » May 5th, '12, 18:58

Wobo, you have to admit, it could be Mandriva's motto. "I'm not dead yet!" is where they always seem to end up. But they always *seem* to be about as close to death as one can get. While I still have a couple of systems running Mandriva, it is a huge relief to have my key systems running on Mageia who doesn't always have to scream "I'm not dead yet!". Everything about Mageia flows with life. What a refreshing difference. After so many years, it was really hard to leave Mandriva, but looking back it seems like it was more like an unhealthy co-dependency in many ways. So, while I continue to wish them the best, in terms of my own life, in spite of fond memories and wonderful people, I am increasingly glad they are gone (out of my life). And while they claim "I'm not dead yet!", I suspect the future of Mandriva really lies, not in Mandriva, but in Mageia and ROSA. And EVEN THOUGH they are "not dead yet!", I consider them as sort of the "walking dead" with not a lot of hope for the future given the time worn cluelessness of their management. - George
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Re: Mandriva finished for good?

Postby Max » May 5th, '12, 19:40

Well, the [quote] tags had to suffice, since there isn't a [paraphrase] tag.
Yet.
It is ridiculously easy to add custom tags to phpBB forums, but that is neither here nor there.
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Re: Mandriva finished for good?

Postby wobo » May 5th, '12, 20:49

ghmitch wrote:I consider them as sort of the "walking dead" with not a lot of hope for the future given the time worn cluelessness of their management. - George


1. The new management has some other ideas. The new COO put his own money on the table: (quote JM Croset) "I have not invested a large part of my own capital to watch losing it."(unquote). He recognizes the main mistakes of former management and is not ready to make the same mistakes (at least that's what he told me on the phone :) )
2. Depends what you mean with "Mandriva" - the company or the distribution. All news so far were about the company (new balance in the shareholder crowd, raise of capital accepted, etc.). According to the lates blog news about the distribution will come in mid May as part of the future strategy of the company, so concerning the distribution there is no news, neither "I'm not dead" nor "Goodbye world". :)
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