Mandriva
| Company type | Public |
|---|---|
| Industry | Software, Linux, Open-source |
| Predecessor | MandrakeSoft |
| Founded | 1998 |
| Defunct | 2015-05-22 |
| Fate | Liquidated |
| Headquarters | Paris , France |
Area served | Worldwide |
| Products | Mandriva Linux, Pulse², Mandriva Business Server, Mandriva Class |
Mandriva S.A. functioned as a publicly traded software enterprise with a focus on Linux and open-source technologies. Its headquarters were located in Paris, with additional development facilities in Metz, France, and Curitiba, Brazil. The company was responsible for creating and supporting the Mandriva Linux distribution as well as a range of enterprise software solutions. Mandriva was also among the founding members of the Desktop Linux Consortium.
History
The company originated in 1998 under the name MandrakeSoft. Due to a trademark dispute with the Hearst Corporation regarding the "Mandrake" trademark, MandrakeSoft underwent rebranding in February 2004. After acquiring the Brazilian Linux distributor Conectiva in February 2005, the firm adopted the name "Mandriva" on April 7, 2005, merging elements from both original brands.
On October 4, 2004, MandrakeSoft expanded by purchasing Edge IT, a French company specializing in professional support for corporate customers. Subsequently, on June 15, 2005, it acquired Lycoris (previously known as Redmond Linux Corporation). Later, on October 5, 2006, Mandriva reached an agreement to acquire Linbox, a company focusing on Linux enterprise infrastructure solutions, with a transaction valued at $1.739 million in stock plus up to $401,000 contingent on performance milestones.
In 2007, Mandriva secured a contract with Nigeria's government to deploy its operating system on 17,000 educational computers—a project that competed against Microsoft but ultimately resulted in Mandriva's favor.
On January 16, 2008, Mandriva joined forces with Turbolinux to establish Manbo-Labs, an initiative designed to pool resources and collaborate on developing a shared foundational system for their respective Linux distributions.
Despite gaining recognition within data center Linux markets, Mandriva faced persistent financial challenges due to narrow profit margins and neared insolvency by 2012. A takeover proposal was dismissed by minority shareholders in January of that year. By mid-2012, an agreement was reached among several investors to stabilize company ownership.
Mandriva entered administrative receivership at the start of 2015 and was officially liquidated on May 22 of the same year. The legacy of the Mandriva Linux distribution persists through projects like OpenMandriva Lx and notable derivatives such as Mageia Linux and ROSA Linux.
Mandriva Club
Mandriva distributed its Linux products through an online store and authorized resellers while offering subscription-based access via the Mandriva Club. Membership fees ranged from US$66 or €60 up to €600 annually (as recorded in 2007).
Subscribers gained exclusive benefits including additional download mirrors and torrents, complimentary boxed product downloads depending on their membership tier, early access to interim Mandriva Linux releases, and supplementary software updates. For example, only members with Gold status or higher were permitted to download Powerpack+ editions.
Certain commercial offerings bundled short-term club memberships; however, the core Mandriva Linux distribution remained fully operational without any subscription. Starting with Mandriva Linux 2008.0 released in October 2007, club membership was made free of charge while download subscriptions were separated into an independent service.
Additionally, Mandriva maintained a Corporate Club designed specifically for larger enterprises.
Products
- Mandriva Linux
- A distribution based on Linux
- Pulse²
- An open-source solution for application deployment, inventory management, and IT network administration; also available as a SaaS offering since November 2012.
- Mandriva Business Server
- A server operating system built on Linux
- Mandriva Class
- E-learning software facilitating distributed virtual classroom environments