02.14.07
Posted in Mandriva, English at 7:19 pm by François Bancilhon
I am trying to understand the deal and what it really means.
Quick summary is Linspire is switching from Debian to Ubuntu as its underlying technology and will make its CNR technology run on Ubuntu.
I read the PR announcements: everyone is fine and dandy. Great victory for all, synergy and leverage, bla bla.
Is this a graceful exit for Linspire? Given that Linspire is now based on Ubuntu, I assume the Linspire specificity as a distro is bound to disapear and Linspire will be gone as a distro vendor/editor. But maybe I exagerate. Can a company live on CNR?
It brings convergence: less distros on the market, less confusion.
Of course, it looks like a big win for Ubuntu: a competitor is adopting its core product.
But I am ready to listen to different versions of the story.
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02.13.07
Posted in Mandriva, English at 5:50 pm by François Bancilhon
Warly is leaving Mandriva.
I can talk freely about him, since he’s leaving.
We have a few things in common: we went through the same school and we both spent some time at INRIA. We have a few differences: like we don’t have exactly the same age, nor do we dress the same way.
He was one of those who helped me when I joined Mandrakesoft. At that time I had no clue about open source (I’m still learning, but I know a little more now), he taught me a number of things I know about the open source space, about the community and about Linux technology and about building a distro.
I think he accomplished a tremendous job for the company and the product. He was clearly a major contributor to the many versions of our product, and he should get credit for the success of our distros over the years. He is smart, and friendly and funny.
I read his departure note, his mea culpa is vastly exagerated, only those who do nothing make no mistakes. Clearly, too much depending on him, but this happens often to people ready to help and dedicated to their work.
I really loved his blunders on the Web: he could go out and express his feelings to the entire world, not taking into account corporate communication rules or needs. Even though it did put us in hot water here and there and I got upset about it, I could not help laugh about it and recognize that this is part of life — let not this be a hint or an excuse to others 
I will still get upset –
I will miss him thoroughly and so will many people at Mandriva. Still, I understand he would want to leave and move to something else after all this time.
For 6 years, he has been the Build Manager at Mandrakesoft/Mandriva. When he told us of his intention to leave, he was kind enough to agree to stay the necessary amount of time for us to organize his replacement. David Barth worked on that with him and I’m sure after a few hickups we’ll be fine.
So long, Warly, stay in touch and keep helping us!
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