2012 started as a rather interesting year. Perhaps influenced by the so-called "Mayan Doomsday" prophecies, people today reported hearing strange rumbling noises coming from the Earth.
Interestingly, the Linux world also has its own disaster predictions--you always listen that Linux is finished on the desktop, that the desktop computer itself is finished, and a myriad more.
One of the predictions that I read is that 2012 will be the definite year of Mandriva's disappearance. Since Mandriva was the distro that made me migrate to Linux, I must admit that I received the news with a grave heart.
However, one must consider that Mandriva (the distro) is not the same as Mandriva S.A. (the company). It is the latter the one that might finally close its doors. The question at stake would be if Mandriva Linux can survive without the company. Will Mandriva Linux sail into oblivion? Will it transform into something else, ROSA Linux, for instance? And if Mandriva actually vanishes, will that imply the demise of the forums, MIB, and so many other Mandriva-related pages, such as the humble www.mandrivachronicles.blogspot.com, prompting me to go back to the always forgiving arms of Redmond? I know, I know, that's exaggerating too much. :-P
Let us see what happens. When facing doomsday prophecies, one must never make hasty decisions. As for me, I have learned to love the responsiveness of PCLinuxOS, the simplicity of Mepis, and the stability of Pardus, so I do not think I will go back to Windows any time soon. Besides, if Mandriva truly disappears, its legacy is already preserved by the magical cauldron of Mageia.
I wondered what you might say about this, so I thought I would ask, but then I decided to wait and see. :)
ResponderEliminarIt looks like there is already a ROSA Linux out that is based on Mandriva and offers a pure KDE/ROSA experience, and the ROSA developers seem to be closely knit with the Mandriva developers, so I think that when (not if, because it looks to be basically certain now) Mandriva closes its doors, Mandriva Linux will become ROSA Linux. And as you said, of course, there is always Mageia.
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a Linux Mint user since 2009 May 1
@ PV,
ResponderEliminarThanks for dropping by and commenting.
The year of the water dragon is treating Mint and Mageia better than it is treating Mandriva. I hope the distro does not disappear, but if it does, well, such is the Linux world. At least I get to keep many good memories and some collectibles ;-)
Wait, my wife owns a pre-installed Xandros Linux netbook! That IS a collection item!
That's bad news indeed. However, if extinct distros like Xandros are still around, I think Mandriva (the distro) will still exist after Mandriva S.A (the company) ceases its functions.
ResponderEliminarSorry to hear of Mandriva's woes, yet on a personal note, if a distro does what you wish it to do then that would be the 'perfect OS' irrespective of branding. Mageia seems to be a stable piece of work just as well as PCLinuxOS.
ResponderEliminarhaha! why end of the world? Mayan people just found out by that date that "it seems numbers don't have an end..."
ResponderEliminarYear 2038 is a far more realistic date for the end of the world as we know it... if most computers on the market wheren't 64bit already. So we won't need an IBM 5100 to save the world.