Mandrake is belov’ed by Linux fans. Mandrake is a favorite of the Linux desktop crew. And Mandrake is on its way out the door.
On January 13, 2003, Mandrake filed a declaration de cessation des paiements, French for “Chapter 11.” Even begging for money from its loyal users couldn’t reverse Mandrake’s fate. Now the question is: What other Linux companies will follow in its wake?
Mandrake’s fall spells out — for anyone who hasn’t put it together yet — that since Linux is open source and is essentially free, the basic business plan of packing a product (Linux) for resale just doesn’t work. When the basic material of your distribution is free for the taking, not enough people will pay for it to make it worthwhile.
So what’s a Linux businessman to do? Clearly, you can give up on the idea of vanilla Linux distributions. Mandrake was both popular and critically received, but it didn’t matter. If Mandrake can’t do it, no one can.
So what are the Linux vendors doing that might be successful? I see three different approaches being used that might work: lock-in software distribution, ala Lindows; emphasize proprietary add-ons and focus on service, ala SCO; and continue to embrace open source, but make service your real “value add,” ala Red Hat.
Lindows started out as the Linux that would also let you run Windows applications. That got them lots of attention and a lawsuit from Microsoft. With lawsuits like that who needs…
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