Moreno Valley, CA; Paris, France - October 14th 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 PCs sold in Planete 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 PCs 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 EUR . 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 EUR 299 and EUR 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 EUR 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 Planete Saturn's Mandrakelinux PCs are evidence for how adaptive our products are. Offerings of this kind have very good prospects."
More information about Planete Saturn: http://www.planete-saturn.fr
Press inquiries
Gaël Duval / Simon Barthelmé
press at mandrakesoft dot com
+ 33 1 40 41 00 01
http://www.mandrakesoft.com/
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 March Libre (ISIN Code: FR0004159382/MLMAN. Reuters code: MAKE.PA) and the US OTC market (stock symbol MDKFF).
