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here is a press-release about the success of wide-audience personal computers pre-loaded with the Mandrakelinux operating system, sold in a nation-wide store chain. For the first time, a major brick and mortar retail chain has widely marketed a low cost PC bundled with Linux. Previously, such sales had been limited to e-commerce. Metro Group, one of the largest retailers in Europe, is selling PC's with Mandrakelinux through their Planete Saturn subsidiary. Using a strong marketing campaign, including print, radio, and billboard advertising, sales have far exceeded expectations.
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Moreno Valley, California; Paris, France; October 19, 2004
Mandrakelinux PCs have been available since July in Planete Saturn
stores. The operation's success highlights Linux's growing importance
in the personal computer market.
The time when Linux was considered an Operating System confined to
technical types and server rooms is over. The efforts of free software
actors, among them Mandrakesoft, has payed off: Linux is now both
powerful and accessible. The commercial success of Mandrakelinux PC's
sold in Planète Saturn stores stands as proof of that. Planete Saturn
is a branch of Media Saturn Holding, the European retail leader in
home electronics and appliances.
Planete Saturn is the first company to offer Linux personal computers
for sale in its stores nation-wide. The PC's have met with great
commercial success: all units have been sold and Planete Saturn has
just begun to offer a new configuration.
"A new Linux PC has been available in our stores since the 6th of
October", said André Pichon, head of sales at Media Saturn France.
"The third one since July, this new PC is more powerful, running a 3
GHZ Intel ® Pentium 4 ® processor, for a price of 499 €. We hope that,
like the two preceding offers, it will meet a great demand. The last
two were aimed at cost-conscious customers (they were priced
respectively at €299 and €329). With this new offering, we're
extending our range to meet the needs of our more
technologically-oriented customers".
Linux's future as a desktop operating system seems bright. A modern
Linux system such as Mandrakelinux has a number of purely
technological advantages: better stability and security, to name but
two, however, cost is also an obvious advantage. Hardware solutions
running Linux and open source software are highly competitive. For
€299, Planete Saturn customers could acquire a system that has a
complete Office suite and powerful tools for Internet and Multimedia
applications. Linux can thus be used to drive down the costs of new
technologies.
"Linux has incredibly broadened its range of applications these last
few years", commented François Bancilhon, Mandrakesoft CEO. "The
success of Planète Saturn's Mandrakelinux PC's are evidence for how
adaptive our products are. Offerings of this kind have very good
prospects."
More information about Planete Saturn is available (in French) at
their website.
About Mandrakesoft
Mandrakesoft is the publisher of the popular MandrakeLinux operating
system, one of the most full-featured and easy to use Linux systems
available. The company offers its enterprise, government and
educational customers a complete range of GNU/Linux and Open Source
software and related services. Mandrakesoft products are available in
more than 120 countries through dedicated channels and also from
Mandrakestore.com, the company's online store. Number 1 in several
countries, Mandrakesoft has won many awards for quality and technical
innovation. "Born on the Internet" in late 1998, Mandrakesoft has
offices in the United States and France. Mandrakesoft is traded on
Paris Euronext Marché Libre (ISIN Code: FR0004159382/MLMAN; Reuters
code: MAKE.PA) and the US OTC market (stock symbol MDKFF).
http://www.mandrakesoft.com
Press Inquiries
Gaël Duval / Simon Barthelmé
press at mandrakesoft dot com
+ 33 1 40 41 00 01
http://www.mandrakesoft.com
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