RE: [Security Firewall] firewall

Same here. I joined the club over 2 years ago to show my support to Mandrake
at a very difficult time in their history. Without the club they would have
gone bust. It would be nice for them to show their commitment and thanks to
club members for their support by making a torrent for MNF2 available to
club members. I for one will not renew our pretty expensive corporate level
subscription if Mandriva stops making things available to members. 
Mandriva has every right to make money from their hard work, but if they are
going to charge for club membership then they need to accept and support
that model of business.

-----Original Message-----
From: Pascal Krijnberg [mailto:[email protected]] 
Sent: 28 June 2005 20:07
To: security-firewall-4qZELD6FgxheH41UXmfQsti2O/[email protected]
Subject: RE: [Security Firewall] firewall

Hi,

I totally agree with the message below. I'm also one of the people that
joined the club to support the development of the great products mandrake
created and creates. Especially I joined the club for the MNF project. It
feels really odd that mandriva sets out this new course.

Greetings,

Pascal


-----Original Message-----
From: security-firewall-owner-4qZELD6FgxheH41UXmfQsti2O/[email protected]
[mailto:security-firewall-owner-4qZELD6FgxheH41UXmfQsti2O/[email protected]] On Behalf Of John Locke
Sent: donderdag 23 juni 2005 0:28
To: security-firewall-4qZELD6FgxheH41UXmfQsti2O/[email protected]
Subject: Re: [Security Firewall] firewall

Hello,

Hopefully this won't drift too far off topic. Like others here, I will be
sorely dissappointed if there isn't a free version released. I don't
begrudge Mandriva wanting to make money off this release, and I think the
new price is much more reasonable than the price for MNF1, making me much
more likely to pay it. But I do think a policy of not releasing a free ISO
goes against the whole spirit of Free software.

Mandrake has been one of the staunchest supporters of free software, and
that's why I've become such a big fan. I do pay for it, too--I've been a
Mandrake Club member for two years now. I think the division between the
download and powerpack editions, and advance availability for club members
is reasonable.

Why should the MNF2 be treated differently? Will Mandriva, now that it's no
longer Mandrake, continue its level of commitment to free software?

So far I've installed MNF (different versions) at two different clients. 
I do not charge for the software--only the service of installing it. And in
my business, I have a policy of contributing 10% of my profits back to the
open source software used in my solutions. But since I service primarily
small businesses, with small budgets, nearly $2000 USD for licensing is
nowhere near reasonable. $500 is much more in the range--though I can
purchase a WatchGuard Firebox, a completely proprietary firewall in its own
appliance, for less. By the time you add my services, it becomes a hard sell
to my small business clients.

I think Mandriva should make a free version available, especially to members
of this list and those who have been proponents for so long. I think they
should also have some online payment location where I can pay an amount of
my choosing. I'm much more likely to pay in the $100 to $200 range for each
place I install it, rather than $500--If I need to charge enough to cover
that, I'll be deploying a lot more Smoothwalls.

Cutting off the open source community, though, and strong-arming us in this
way doesn't seem like an advisable business move to me...

Cheers,

--
John Locke
"Open Source Solutions for Small Business Problems"
published by Charles River Media, June 2004 http://www.freelock.com







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