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Company Information

  name Mandriva
  type Linux Distribution
  foundation 1998 (Mandrakesoft)
  location Paris , France <br /> Curitiba , Brasil <br /> San Diego , United States
  locations <!--# of locations-->
  homepage wwwmandrivacom
  intl <!--Enter ''yes'' to change labels to international instead of US terminology-->


Mandriva S.A. is a Linux and Open Source Software Company with its headquarters in Paris , France and development center in Curitiba , Brazil and publicly traded with the symbol MDKFF. Mandriva, S.A. is the creator and maintainer of Mandriva Linux . Describing itself as a "project initiator and a skills organizer in the Open Source arena", and a founding member of the Desktop Linux Consortium .

Mandriva, S.A. began as MandrakeSoft in 1998.1 It currently has about 130 employees (80 of whom are engineers) and has offices in France , USA , and Brazil .23 It sells its products in more than 140 countries and estimates the number of Mandriva Linux users to be in the 6-to-8 million range.

MandrakeSoft was forced to change its name as a result of losing litigation over the name Mandrake, in favor of Hearst Corporation . The litigation concluded in February 2004, and appeals expired in early 2005. The litigation arose because of Hearst Corporation's claim to the name "Mandrake", inspired by the comic Mandrake The Magician . This litigation loss has forced MandrakeSoft to change its name. In 2005, MandrakeSoft acquired the assets of Lycoris , and purchased Conectiva . As a result of the forced name change, Mandriva was selected to reflect MandrakeSoft and Conectiva.4 In 2007, Mandriva concluded an acquisition of Linbox.


INNOVATIONS


Mandriva has, like other Linux distributions, created several applications that give it a distinctive feel. The Urpmi package management tools and the suite of graphical system configuration tools contained in the Mandriva Control Center are probably the most notable, along with nspluginwrapper which allows x86-32 Plugins to be used within a x86-64 browser.


FINANCIAL STATE


Mandrakesoft operated under Bankruptcy Protection from January 27 , 2003 to March 30 , 2004 .56 Despite its efforts to cut losses and improve profits, Mandrakesoft was forced to file for protection due to a series of quarterly losses. The ''déclaration de cessation de paiement'' (similar to the US Chapter 11 ) gave the company protection from its creditors. Mandrakesoft recorded its first quarterly profit since 1999 of 270,000 on €1.42 million of revenue during the period between October 2003 and December 2003.7

Shares of Mandrakesoft are again being traded on the Euronext Marché Libre exchange ( ISIN code MLMAN) and on the US OTC Bulletin Board (Stock symbol MDKFF).

One of the sources of income for Mandriva is Mandriva Club . The Club provides its members with a club web site, additional mirrors and torrents for downloading, free downloads of its boxed products, interim releases of the Mandriva Linux distribution, and additional software updates. Mandriva Linux is just as usable without a club membership, however. Some Club members say that they have joined the Club for its services, whereas others say they have joined the Club mostly to support their favorite distribution financially.


ACQUISITIONS


On October 4 , 2004 , Mandrakesoft acquired professional support company Edge IT. Edge IT focused on the delivery of services and support to the corporate market in France and had 6 employees.8

On February 24 , 2005 , Mandrakesoft announced that it would acquire Brazil ian Linux distributor Conectiva for the amount of €1.79 million (2.3 million US Dollar s at the time).9

On June 15 , 2005 , Mandriva acquired Lycoris (formerly, Redmond Linux Corporation).10

On October 5 , 2006 , Mandriva signed an agreement to acquire Linux enterprise software infrastructure company Linbox. The agreement includes the acquisition of all shares of Linbox for a total of $1.739 million in Mandriva stock, plus an earn out of up to $401,000 based on the 2006 Linbox financials.11


CONTROVERSY




PRODUCTS


  • Mandriva Linux - Versions include the free '''One'' version' (free Live CD), and the paid ""Discovery"" (for beginners), ""PowerPack"" (for advanced users), and ""PowerPack+"" (for power users).



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