There is good software, bad software and softare that could be of use when the bugs would be repaired. Many software distributors call that service. In any other branche it would be called, delay of delivery what the customer bought in the first place.

Now I know, Linux is regarded as a gift from heaven. To many Linux lovers, one should not see oneselves as a customer, and the cost of a Linux purchase should be regarded as a gift for the good purpose.

Nevertheless, every third word on the Madrake Linux website, is PAY.
But that is probably all part of this religion. The Mandrake Linux distribution that I received on CD and DVD with included books, were send to me after paying just as much as a windows distribution would have cost me. Windows does not come with any book at all, but it is easy to install. The diificulty there, is to get it to do what you want, not what Microsoft had in mind. I excpected something different from a Linux distribution and I choose for the professional version of the Mandrake distribution.

Starting problems I expected. The blunt GIMMEMORE attitude, I did not.

I paid for the distribution including 3 months of support and for a membership including 1 year support. For every question, I got a line of the manual as a reply. If I got any reply at all. I can read. I have read the manual. I have installed according to the manual instruction. I do not want someone to type out the manual for me, I have one myself. And I do not consider that service, support, or experthelp.

After the Linux distribution failed to install properly, had ruined my graphicscart, and had cost me lotst of valuable time, I was invited to update, and buy more, more, and more. Setting up a simple network server is what software is intended for. I was advised to use non of the "advanced feautures".

How can it be, that a software is deliverd with so many errors as this one?
How did this Mandrake company get so arrogant, that they don't even attempt to distribute patches to solve the many problems with missing and faulty scripts and corrupt drivers?

How can the simple use of an uptodate graphics card, a dualprocessor pentium serverboard, a second network card, broadband DSL, be a problem for systemsoftware that is so much recommended by the Linux believers?

Hi, softwar, be welcome here.

Its unfortunate that your first contact with linux would be so troubled. While I understand and feel familiar with this feeling of frustration, there are a few things we should clarify here:

- Linux is just a kernel released and maintained by a group of people. Mandrake is a company that integrates this kernel with lots of other stuff and releases it either free or as a product. Any kind of trouble with mandrake can't just be linked to the linux kernel directly whitout taking into account all other possible erorrs. Due to the freedom which is characteristic of the free software, several people/groups of people/companies take these pieces of code and build/fork/derive it to meet its own demand.

Its also possible that linux being a work-in-progress, it expects a more active intervention from you to config things correctly. Of course, you can't (justifiably) do that by now, but this will come with time.

- Every linux user is regarded as a partner, in a concept that lacks completely in other proprietary models. Linux is not a gift from heaven. Is more like a coletive work mantained by hundreds of thousands of people all around. This is the most thrilling of all this: liunux brings back control of the technology to the people. Whoever fails to realize this, is missing one of the most important aspect of the system.

You can rely on us to try and help you (can't say we WILL solve it, though). If mandrake wasn't the one for you, try another distro. Everybody here tried a dozen different, before sticking to one.

In the end, its all about freedom.