Linux Format forums

davecs · Posted: Tue Mar 14, 2006 1:42 pm Post subject: Gaël Duval sacked!

The founder of Mandrakesoft has been fired by Mandriva...

I have fond memories of Mandrake, from 9.0 up to 9.2, which got me started in Linux in the days where it was about the simplest distro for the new user. Indeed my present attachment to PCLOS was as a result of remembering Texstar due to his unofficial repositories for Mandrake at that time.

By getting involved in Corporate Takeovers and then the inevitable "staff savings" (ie sackings) as the inevitable duplication of work is shedded, Mandrake/iva lost its soul, even before Duval was fired, which just confirmed that point.

The former choice of the Home User, the former favourite of everyone outside the corporate sector (think Linuxquestions, Linux Format mag, but a couple of years ago) had already lost its way. It is trying to take on Red Hat and Novell/SuSE. I just don't see it.

Mandriva Club site discussion on this matter:

http://forum.mandrivaclub.com/viewtopic.php?t=47157&sid=f851c08aae50ae0af4eda276296d3ede

Gaël Duval's homepage:

http://www.indidea.org/gael/en/
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M-Saunders · Moderator Joined: Mon Apr 11, 2005 1:14 pm Posts: 2883

And it looks like he's going to sue!

M

marco · Posted: Wed May 17, 2006 11:49 am Post subject: RE: Gaël Duval sacked!

This is really terrible!

I followed the conversations on the club forum and many people are thinking to switch to another distro (like myself).

It is not fair at all to get fired from the company you founded. But on the other side, what is "fair" in the business world?

alloydog · LXF regular Joined: Thu Apr 07, 2005 8:32 pm Posts: 600

But these days, a company's only concern is the shareholders' dividends.
Forget the employees, the product, etc etc, just keep the earnings-per-share up regardless, even if it means layoffs and asset stripping.

Rhakios · Posted: Wed May 17, 2006 9:05 pm Post subject: RE: Gaël Duval sacked!

Oddly (or not) enough, I had already decided not to renew my club membership before the news of Duval's departure. I don't see that it makes much difference. Mandriva no longer offers me anything better than I can get elsewhere. As for the club's offerings, I find them long on promises and short on delivery.
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Bye, Rhakios

nordle · LXF regular Joined: Fri Apr 08, 2005 10:56 pm Posts: 1497

He quickly setup a new project, ulteo
http://ulteo.free.fr/about/
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marco · Posted: Sat May 20, 2006 1:01 am Post subject: Re: RE: Gaël Duval sacked!

TheDoctor · LXF regular Joined: Mon Jan 02, 2006 9:02 pm Posts: 325