Mandriva under a change of a new CEO have now put corporate interest above the life source of the distribution; its own community and leadership in the attempt to save a dollar. This will be the ulitmate downfall of the distro if these changes continue to happen. They don’t get it, without the community involvement there will be no more Mandriva. These changes will not help the financial status of the company. It will continue to make matters worse. Mandriva community, Its time to rise up and put your support behind our leaders.
Good bye Adam Williamson - Adams might have rocked the boat recently with his comments about Canonical. They were his own thoughts. As to the Mandriva Community he has been the PR and backbone of the Community and losing him will be a great loss to us all. Save Adam and the other remote devs and contractors.
” On behalf of Wolfgang “wobo” Bornath
Sir,
With great surprise I read the announcement about the termination of Mr. Adam Williamson’s contract with Mandriva. As one of the longest standing users (since 1998), contributors and advocates of Mandrake/Mandriva Linux, as well as a former long term contractor of Mandriva, as well as the founder and maintainer of the German Mandriva user community project MandrivaUser.de I would like to share my opinion about this move.
Let me first state that I am well aware of the financial situation of Mandriva SA. I am also aware of the importance and essential role of cost reduction in the attempt to make Mandriva SA survive the current situation.
Every company in this situation has to look at its assets and decide which one can be sacrificed. The crucial question is: what does it cost the company if I give away this or that asset. In German we have a rule: “Never give away your family jewels!” which may translate into: you must not draw on your reserves.
I saw Dr. Denis Havlik come and go, also Mr. Gaël Duval and many other very important people, important for the future of the company Mandriva and the distribution likewise. With Mr. Williamson you give away one of the most precious assets Mandriva has.
Were it not for Mr. Williamson the community of Mandriva users would be much smaller. You may not know the Mandriva Forum, you may not know the importance of the community in the Linux universe in general nor for Mandriva itself. But you may know the repeatedly announced commitment of Mandriva to this community. Terminating Mr. Williamson’s contract is a dirct contradiction to that commitment. Most of the work which is necessary to distribute Mandriva Linux is done by just that community - for free! Do you know how much of this work will be left undone when you “fire” one of the most important persons in this community?
Certainly you know that each member of this community may be the person who talks to the CTO or CEO of your next potential corporate customer. Guess what this person will tell his superior about Mandriva.
Were it not for Mr. Williamson Mandriva’s output of news and information would have gone down to zero after Mr. Duval and Mr. N’Doua had left the company. It is not the press release on the Mandriva website which makes Mandriva visible in the market, it is the continuous flow of news and information, which was mainly in Adam’s hands during the last years.
Of course you can terminate each and every contract and hope that “the community” will fill the gap for free. This may work well for a certain time and to a certain degree. But it will not work in any case. And not in this case.
For myself, on behalf of the German user community and for the future of Mandriva I want to ask you to give the termination of Mr. Williamson’s contract a second thought.
Thank you very much for reading
Yours,
Wolfgang “wobo” Bornath”