My
very first tryst with Linux started with RedHat version 8, the time
when RedHat was a free operating system like any-other Linux distro and
there was no Ubuntu. But RedHat never worked the way I wanted my desktop
to be, and I tried as many Linux distro as I could find. A distro which
stood apart and worked beautifully for me was Mandriva (known as
Mandrake Linux that time).
In
one sentence, Mandrake Linux was like the Ubuntu of this era in terms
of usability and ease. Mandrake Linux provided the easiest way to the
Internet and software availability in its infamous discovery and power
pack flavors packed with both open source and proprietary software.
Down
the year 2012 the old shine and luster is all lost and the company
behind the Magical Linux is on the verge of disappearance from the
legendary wall of fame of Linux distributions.
But what made this transition from being a legend to a forgotten tale ?
Brian Proffitt argued in his article “The diminishing of the operating system” that
not keeping up with the trends of time is the reason for the decline
of French Linux distributor, the other OS vendors are no longer selling
Operating System as a standalone solution, rather they offer services
such as virtualization and cloud computing along with the OS, training
and support (which is no longer a minting machine for Open Source
companies).
Brian
could be correct in his deduction as far as RedHat and SUSE are
concerned since these companies no longer rely on the sale of their
brand of operating system and offer a basket full of innovative services
and solutions for the enterprise and server space. But it is not the
case with Ubuntu, the move towards Smart TV , Mobile and Tablet platform
are only the plans for the future and do not create funds for canonical
right now.
One
should also take the community factor into the consideration when
talking about FOSS. One cannot deny that the main source for the new
innovations in open source space for RedHat & Novell stems from
their community offerings namely Fedora and OpenSUSE which are among the
most active free and open source communities along with Cannonical for
Ubuntu.
In
my opinion the lack of contributions from an active community is also a
reason behind this deadly jerk for Mandriva. Mageia Linux which forked
out from the Mandriva in 2010 is not a supported community initiative
from Mandriva, but an effort from the bunch of dissatisfied developers
from the French Linux company.
So
even if the Mandriva will recover from the financial crunch (as they
had done in 2010) the community effort from the Mageia will carry the
legacy of the Magical Linux Desktop forward in the coming years.