Linux

The Mandrake/Connectiva merger looks like a success + a success. The result should be good. I don't like Mandrake but a lot of people do.

By contrast the Novell/SuSE merger didn't make much sense on paper. At least not to me. Here we had a has-been merging with a promising contender. The result is that SuSE Linux, my current favorite distro, is being bastardized by the integration of lots of expensive Novell proprietary add ons. Their web site isn't like any other Linux distro web site. It's becoming a different animal altogether.

Mandrake probably as a bright future. The merger with Connectiva appears to be a good move.

The distro's are essentially addressing Linux's apparent weakness in the corporate environment by stamping every piece of Linux code they can find with their name.
As long as they don't break the open source ideal, I'm happy for them to lever open a bigger market.

isn't the open source issues, as mdk has never issued any software that is not gpl. even thier installer and admin tools are gpl software.

it's the simple fact that 3 years ago mandrake went into receivership.
they were going bankrupt.

where did the financial wherewithal come from for this deal to go through?