- Mandriva
-
This article is about the company. For the Linux distribution produced by this company, see Mandriva Linux.
Mandriva 
Industry Software industry Founded 1998 (MandrakeSoft)
1995 (Conectiva)Headquarters Paris, France Products Mandriva Linux Website www.mandriva.com Mandriva S.A. is a publicly traded (symbol:MLMAN) Linux and open source software company with its headquarters in Paris, France and development center in Curitiba, Brazil. Mandriva, S.A. is the creator and maintainer of Mandriva Linux, describing itself as a "project initiator and a skills organizer in the Open Source arena", and a founding member of the Desktop Linux Consortium.
Contents
History
Mandriva, S.A. began as MandrakeSoft in 1998.[1] It currently has about 70 employees (45 of whom are engineers) and has offices in France, the USA, and Brazil.[2][3] The company sells its products in more than 140 countries and estimates the number of Mandriva Linux users to be approximately 3 million, according to mandriva.com website.
MandrakeSoft was forced to change its name as a result of losing litigation to the Hearst Corporation over the name Mandrake. The litigation concluded in February 2004, and appeals expired in early 2005. The litigation arose because of Hearst Corporation's claim to the name "Mandrake", inspired by the comic Mandrake the Magician; forcing MandrakeSoft to change its name. In 2005, MandrakeSoft acquired the assets of Lycoris, and purchased Conectiva. As a result of the forced name change, the name Mandriva was selected to reflect the combination of MandrakeSoft and Conectiva.[4]
On 2008-01-16, Mandriva and Turbolinux announced a partnership to create a lab named Manbo-Labs, to share resources and technology to release a common base system for both companies' Linux distributions.[5]
Innovations
Mandriva has, like other Linux distributions, created several applications that give it a distinctive feel. The urpmi package management tools and the suite of graphical system configuration tools contained in the Mandriva Control Center are probably the most notable.
Another example is transfugdrake, a tool designed for easy migration of documents and settings from Microsoft Windows to Mandriva Linux.[6][7] It is a front end to Migration Assistant.[8]
Mandriva Club
In addition to selling Linux distributions through its online store and authorized resellers, Mandriva previously sold subscriptions to the Mandriva Club. There were several levels of membership, at costs ranging from US$66 or 60 € per year (as of 2007) to 600 € per year.[9]
Club members gained access to the Club website, additional mirrors and torrents for downloading, free downloads of its boxed products (depending on membership level), interim releases of the Mandriva Linux distribution, and additional software updates. For example, only Gold-level and higher members could download Powerpack+ editions.
Many Mandriva commercial products came with short-term membership in the club; however, Mandriva Linux was completely usable without a club membership.
When Mandriva Linux 2008.0 was released in October 2007, Mandriva made club membership free of charge to all comers, splitting download subscriptions off into a separate service.[10]
Mandriva also has a Mandriva Corporate Club for larger organizations.[11]
Acquisitions
On October 4, 2004, Mandrakesoft acquired the professional support company Edge IT. Edge IT focused on the delivery of services and support to the corporate market in France and had 6 employees.[12]
On February 24, 2005, Mandrakesoft acquired Brazilian Linux distributor Conectiva for €1.79 million (2.3 million US dollars at the time).[13]
On June 15, 2005, Mandriva acquired Lycoris (formerly, Redmond Linux Corporation).[14]
On October 5, 2006, Mandriva signed an agreement to acquire Linux enterprise software infrastructure company Linbox.
Products
- Mandriva Linux - Free of cost versions include Mandriva Free (open source version) and Mandriva One (Live CD with some proprietary components). The paid version is called Powerpack and includes licensed codecs for common audio and video file formats, Google applications and 3 months of web support.
- Mandriva Directory Server - An open source LDAP server that aims to be easy to administer via a web GUI. Similar in aims to Fedora Directory Server
- Pulse 2 - Open Source tool that simplifies application deployment, inventory, and maintenance of an IT network.
References
- ^ Corrêa, Fernando Ribeiro (May 2000). "Linux in France: Guess MandrakeSoft's Next Move". Linux Gazette (53). http://linuxgazette.net/issue53/correa3.html. Retrieved 2007-05-27.
- ^ "Mandriva aims its Linux at Mexican enterprises". DesktopLinux.com. 2006-12-27. http://www.desktoplinux.com/news/NS3535721433.html. Retrieved 2007-05-27.
- ^ "Corporate information about Mandriva - Mandriva Linux". Mandriva Linux. Archived from the original on 2006-05-05. http://web.archive.org/web/20060505091425/http://www.mandriva.com/en/company. Retrieved 2007-05-27.
- ^ "Mandrakesoft Announces Name Change!" (Press release). Mandriva Linux. 2005-04-07. http://www.mandriva.com/archives/en/company/press/pr/corporate_2551.html. Retrieved 2007-05-27.
- ^ Mandriva and Turbolinux announce a partnership and create a joint development lab called Manbo-Labs
- ^ [cvs] Index of /soft/transfugdrake
- ^ [cvs] View of /soft/transfugdrake/README
- ^ "migration-assistant". launchpad.net. https://launchpad.net/migration-assistant. Retrieved 2008-03-07.
- ^ "Welcome to the Mandriva Linux Users Club Page". Archived from the original on 2007-10-02. http://web.archive.org/web/20071002114102/http://www.mandriva.com/en/community/resources/club. Retrieved 2007-10-03.
- ^ "Arkub" (2007-10-26 at 04:12). "Mandriva Club: Where is the Club?". http://club.mandriva.com/xwiki/bin/view/Main/Faq. Retrieved 2007-11-03.
- ^ "Welcome To The Mandriva Corporate Club". http://corporateclub.mandriva.com/. Retrieved 2007-10-03.
- ^ O'Gara, Maureen (2004-12-04). "Mandrakesoft Back in the Black". Enterprise Open Source Magazine. http://www.opensource.sys-con.com/read/47298.htm. Retrieved 2007-05-27.
- ^ "Linux companies Mandrakesoft and Conectiva Announce Definitive Merger Agreement" (Press release). Mandriva Linux. 2005-02-24. http://www.mandriva.com/en/company/press/pr/corporate_2539. Retrieved 2007-05-27.
- ^ "Mandriva acquires Lycoris, boosts US presence, desktop prowess". DesktopLinux.com. 2005-06-15. http://www.desktoplinux.com/news/NS6659836508.html. Retrieved 2007-05-27.
External links
Categories:- Linux companies
- Free software companies
- Software companies of France
- Companies of France
- Companies listed on the OTCBB
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