Paul M Foster wrote:
>It appears the new Mepis is out now. However, it seems that one can only
>get it as a set of ISOs. This would be massively easier if one could
>update the way one does with Debian, on a package by package basis. Does
>anyone know if this is possible and from what source?
>
This is the first "real" release of SimplyMEPIS rather than a beta,
release candidate or whatever.
From now on you'll be able to do updates rather than load a whole new
system. There's a Debian standard package name for the update that
Warren will use, but I forget what it is. He, Matt, and other developers
(MEPIS is no longer a one-man show) will get that going shortly. Right
now I believe they're concentrating on a new release of the "full" MEPIS
(probably going to be called ProMEPIS) that has all the compilers,
servers, and other tools that were intentionally left out of SimplyMEPIS
in order to fit it on one CD and to keep it, well, simple.
At the same time they're working to get the MEPIS ecommerce site up and
running so it's easier for people to register MEPIS and/or buy update
subscriptions. MEPIS has no outside investors; the only income is
voluntary registrations, CD sales, and -- soon -- subscriptions (target
price $30/year) + reselling commercial software including Win4Lin,
Crossover, and StarOffice, plus books, videos, and other training
materials. Obviously, turning MEPIS's growing popularity (#4 at
DistroWatch this month) into income is important.
Note that MEPIS is an experiment on several levels:
1) Because of the way it's packaged it can spawn customized versions
easily. SUSE can't quickly/cheaply make a version for your company's
exact needs, perhaps including some commercial software you need/select
and/or tailored to specific hardware or other requirements, but MEPIS can.
2) Working with, rather than at cross-purposes to, Debian, KDE, and the
other volunteer projects on which it's based. Warren rejected the
package rebranding and renaming that take Linspire and Xandros out of
the Debian/KDE mainstream. And with MEPIS, if you want to use the Debian
server pool instead of the (coming) MEPIS private servers, that's fine.
One click and you're there, but don't expect support for packages that
aren't in the "MEPIS-tested" group on the MEPIS servers.
3) Keeping a fully-functional version of MEPIS 100% free (both meanings)
while earning a decent living for a small group of developers and other
workers. MEPIS has the advantage of no investors with big $$ dreams.
Sure, Warren wants to live nicely -- but he's in Morgantown WVA where a
nice house is $150K, not in Silly Valley. His primary helper lives
nearby and a couple of others are in E. Europe. It doesn't take much to
support this small crowd. The MEPIS manual will be the book I just
finished writing -- for Prentice Hall, with PH's money. Warren will make
*more money* per unit retailing that book/CD/video package than SUSE
makes on its low-end "personal" version, plus he can sell CD and/or CD +
video packages for as little as $10 and still do okay.
The trick here is that MEPIS doesn't have to become big-time to
accomplish its founder's goals, and doesn't need a sell-through rate
higher than a typical Windows shareware program to turn a profit. The
downside (to some) of this self-financed modest financial plan is that
things get done one at a time, incrementally, instead of in big
PR-blasted jumps a la Michael Robertson and Linspire. It's a whole
different business philosophy, one that probably won't ever make anyone
rich but gives the company more stability than most software companies.
Oh yeah - Warren wrote a whole bunch of award-winning, enterprise-level
financial modeling software before he got tired of the San Francisco
life and went "home" to mess with Linux. Once the basic MEPIS biz is
squared away, Warren is going to be porting and updating some of his
enterprise software, plus working with others to sell the financial
software suite with a MEPIS base beneath it. That's next year. It will
generate significant income while giving MEPIS a unique enterprise-level
penetration opportunity.
So one step at a time... getting SimplyMEPIS out to meet Prentice Hall's
deadline was an exhausting task for Warren, just as writing the book and
making the first round of videos (for the DVD that's going to be
included in the book) wore *me* out. But we had to do this on the tight
deadline because the MEPIS-based "Point and Click Linux" package is a
Barnes and Noble Christmas pick -- the first Linux book they've *ever*
agreed to promote beyond the computer section, and we don't want to
waste that buzz.
- Robin
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