I had missed this announcement: just going through some old blog posts (I hardly read any now). Occam Capital has invested in Mandriva. Good stuff. I know the team at Occam pretty well, and the founder of Mandriva as well. Interesting mix.
And I remember discussing the possibility of this deal a very long while ago on the phone... The challenge is huge, but there are a few possible strategies to make Mandriva standout vs. Ubuntu (the main challenger) to the 2 US-based firms: Redhat and Suse / Novell. Not to forget of course the development of Redflag and other minor distributions.
Challenges include:
. proper positionning in the B2C, B2B or B2G (government) markets (Ubuntu is very B2C. Should Mandriva go B2B ?)
. simplicity of product offering, installation and support for a large-range of hardware
. proper support services, the killer B-model in open-source
. marketing efforts to develop the brand
Opportunities include:
. an alternative to US-based software vendors for international governments
. a low-cost alternative for new markets
. exclusive deals with manufacturers (not PCs... as they are mainly in the USA, but Asia, and also set top boxes, mobile devices...)
Any other thougths are welcome: I've stopped using Fedora and Mandriva, and have moved on to Ubuntu for its simplicity, but it's mainly a B2C proposition.