The Paris, France-based company is moving to an annual release cycle for its Mandrakelinux retail distribution, and a new naming system based on year names. The company said the change was based on requests from partners and distributors for a more convenient release cycle, as well as requests from customers for greater investment of time in new features.
The changes will be fully introduced with the 2006 release, scheduled for the Fall of 2005, which will integrate technology from Conectiva and Mandrakesoft’s web services into a new product taking the best features from each of the distributions. It will be preceded by a transitional release, however.
Due in Spring 2005, Limited Edition 2005 will be based on the current Mandrakelinux development branch and will replace in lieu of the previously scheduled Mandrakelinux 10.2.
It will not include a number of open source software updates, including new versions of KDE, Gnome and Firefox but will not, however, be backed by support and services.
Meanwhile it has emerged that Mandrakesoft registered the domain names Mandriva.com and Mandriva.net at the end of February, while Conectiva registered Mandriva.com.br earlier this week.
A company spokesperson denied that it is preparing for a change of name, however, adding that it regularly registers new domains – many of which are never used – and that if it did want to change its name, Mandrakesoft would have a dozen in stock.
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