Gaël Duval, the founder of the popular MandrakeLinux (later MandrivaLinux) project, was fired from Mandriva last spring in an effort to cut costs. Almost immediately afterward, Duval began work on a new GNU/Linux distribution, Ulteo. As of this writing, Ulteo has not yet released its first beta edition, but it should be available soon. While we’re all waiting, I figured I’d ask Mr. Duval some questions about Ulteo, Mandriva, and starting GNU/Linux projects in general. Answers are below.
It’s been six months since you left Mandriva and started the Ulteo project. Has the transition been going well? Any hard feelings for Mandriva?
Gaël Duval: Well… You know, when at 25 you create a new product, then create a company to support the development of this product, and the company becomes quite successful, when finally the person who took over control of that company decides that it’s time to say “bye bye” in the most hypocritical way it could ever be, it’s very hard to accept.
My relationship with Mandrakesoft/Mandriva has been really more than a “job” thing. It was something very special for me, a big part of my life. I’m afraid I will never have harsh enough words for this guy and for what he’s doing with the company. It’s still a very sensitive question for me. I prefer not comment further.
What is Ulteo exactly? What is its target market?
GD: Ulteo’s purpose is to address several issues:
- How to free the user from traditional system administration and system upgrades.
- How to free the user from application installation.
- How to bring open source applications to Windows users without them having to install Linux.
- How to improve the security and privacy.
- How to address modern nomadism needs.
The target market is individuals for the first step, but the concept is certainly also good for corporations, so the second target market will be small and medium businesses.
What lessons did you learn from founding and developing MandrakeLinux that you have applied to the founding and development of Ulteo?
GD: I think that the key is to delegate the work to trusted people as much as possible, when possible. But never give over the control, even if you are young and not experienced. You need experienced people at some point, but never to tell you what you should do. They should just give their best effort for your plan and vision.
In fact, (so-called) experienced people should just tell you about this point, but of course, they don’t.
That’s something I say to all young people who are starting a project or a business, because I wouldn’t like them to commit the same mistake I did.
On the Ulteo Web site you say that a portion of the profits will go to “humanitarian and ecological organizations.” Which organizations in specific?
GD: That is still to be defined, I have some ideas though. Look at the world where we are living in. Isn’t there a problem? If I can start a successful business again, I want it to help with the problems that are ruining the planet and humans. I think that all managers and entrepreneurs should think about that. The economical and financial powers, by giving just a small part of their benefits to humanitarian and ecological organizations, would certainly help things to go much better on earth.
What’s the question I forgot to ask? What do you want readers to know that other journalists never seem to say?
GD: Eh eh 
Maybe you could ask: “how are you going to address the real market, which is the Windows end users market?” That’s certainly where “we,” the Linux vendors, have really failed so far because we made the mistake of thinking that all Windows users would just eventually install Linux on their PC instead of Windows.
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Copyright 2006 Jem Matzan.
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