"François Bancilhon sees Mandrake-Conectiva in the top tier of Linux distribution providers. And he sees Mandrake-Conectiva as a key player in the Linux community." MozillaQuest Magazine (mozillaquest.com) reports: "Mandrakesoft . . . and Conectiva, announced plans Thursday for Mandrakesoft to purchase Conectiva for $2.3-million US . . . in stock. Mandrake's acquisition of Conectiva strengthens Mandrake's position among the top-tier Linux distribution providers."

Paris, France; Curitiba, Brazil; February 24th , 2005 - Mandrakesoft,the number one European Linux company, today announced a definitiveagreement to acquire Conectiva, the number one Linux company in Braziland Latin America. This acquisition is expected to increasesignificantly Mandrakesoft's size and R&D capabilities.

Conectiva, founded in 1995, employs 60 people and has offices inCuritiba, São Paulo and Manaus, Brazil. The company had 1.7 millionEUR (2.2 million USD) of revenues in their latest audited fiscal year, andreached break-even during the latest fiscal half-year. Conectiva hasgained significant recognition for its adaptive approach to technologydevelopment for corporations, communities and large partners in thecommunication and technology sector in Latin America.

Moreno Valley, CA; Paris, France – Mandrakesoft announced today the release of the first Linux system capable of real-time computing on Itanium™ 2 based parallel computing platforms (Symmetric Multiprocessing and cluster computing). Developed for the "ITEA-HYADES" research project which is intended to adapt standard technology for applications that require real-time response, associated with heavy, parallel computations, the new system has already shown its capabilities in two innovating research applications. The new system will be marketed through Mandrakesoft's services branch.

From Newsforge:

For almost three years I have used Mandrakelinux and compared it with several other desktop distros. For ease of use, excellent support, and up-to-date packaging, Mandrake is the best desktop going.

For ease of use, Mandrake can't be beat. The Mandrake Control Center is cleanly laid out and is probably the most intuitive on the market. Setting up one's box is a snap. Mandrake's hardware recognition is simply superb. And I have never had Mandrake choke on my machines. It has always recognized and set up my hardware with little input needed from me. Mandrakelinux just keeps getting better with every release.

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From Open for Business:

Going into 2005, Mandrakesoft is a company that has gone against everything that was predicted. It has survived the dot-com bust, become profitable and continues to frown on the idea of moving away from Free and Open Source Software development in favor of the proprietary approach advocated by many of the newer GNU/Linux distribution developers. To catch up on the changes since their last full interview, Mandrakesoft co-founder Gaël Duval recently agreed to talk with OFB's editor-in-chief, Timothy R. Butler, about where the company is heading and the state of the industry at the present time.

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Mandrakesoft announced today a new partner program for US companies offering Linux products and services to small and mid-sized business customers. The Mandrakelinux Solution Provider Program is designed to support IT services companies in offering the benefits of open source to a mainstream audience through technical and marketing support.

MandrakeClub has an interview with Warly, the development coordinator of the Mandrakelinux. One of several excellent quotes:

"Eventually I came to realise the values behind free software, little by little I began to understand that free software was far more than just the technical aspects mentioned in the media. I realised then that intellectual property was a brake on innovation and on the peaceful development of mankind, that this wasn't just something technically fascinating but was also a revolution in humanity."

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Two new Mandrakesoft products for business customers are nowavailable. Corporate Server, Mandrakesoft's leading server system, hasbeen thoroughly updated with dozens of new features. Mandrakesoftalso introduces Corporate Desktop, making the deployment of Linux on business desktops quick, easy and cost-efficient.

Welcome to the Mandrake Linux Community Newsletter -- dedicated to keeping you up-to-date with the latest Mandrake-related news & info. Inside this Issue:

* Top Story -- Mandrakelinux 10.1 Official is available for download!
* What's cooking at Mandrakesoft? -- New Multi Network Firewall - second Beta
* Mandrakesoft News -- Linux vendors partner to further standards
* Financial Corner -- Mandrakesoft Back To Profitability in FY 2003/2004
* Mandrakelinux Education & Training -- Mandrakesoft E-Training Platform
* Quick Reminder! -- Mandrakelinux 10.1 Products & Goodies
* Software Updates -- Keeping your Mandrakelinux system up-to-date

Mandrakesoft recently made a move into offering pre-configured Linux-based file and e-mail servers to small and midsize businesses. The products are being offered through Linux consulting and services firm Connect Computing, and are aimed at enticing small business users off of Windows-based servers and onto Linux.

The Mandrakelinux Dedicated File Server software is the primary product in the offering. The server offers Windows-compatible file/print services and is based on the widely-used Samba open source software package for Window/Linux/Unix interoperability. The server package is a new bundled product from Mandrake aimed at small businesses.

Read the full thing here