Software Vending Machines

anubis__ writes "CNN details a sort-of software vending machine named 'SoftwareToGo' that CompUSA is testing out in their Seattle, WA, Dallas, TX, and San Francisco, CA stores. The upside to this vending machine is that your CD is burned when you request it, so the latest patches available for the software you're buying might already be included with the installation. The downside, like anything requiring some level of technical aptitude in the US, is that the machines are avoided by the masses of shoppers." This has been in the works for a year or so.

Comments

Why not download?

[JoScherl]

IF I want some burned software I can download it from the net - even after paying for it ;-)
But if I go to a shop I want a pressed CD - these hold longer.

Will it be Anti-Open Source?

[SkiddyRowe]

You know those little stickers...

"This machine will not release free product"

Then a little picture of the machine falling on a stick figure. Maybe it'll be a Penguin?

USENET has been a software vending machine forever

[Anonymous Coward]

There's just no coin slot to insert your payment.

Exactly what software will be on this?

[stratjakt]

Not games, or most desktop-targetted apps, because you can't burn their precious anti-copying schemes.

And if it was going to be higher-end office type stuff, like OS's or DVD authoring, or ANYTHING that costs 19.99 or higher, and people are going to want the box, the official CD, and most of all - THE MANUAL.

Dead tree manuals are easier to read than some .pdf or README file.

One problem...

[hbean]

I'm a very active CD archiving person, with live music (think phish/dead/etc, its all legal, but thats really beside the point). In the long term, say 6-8 months, I find that alot of my burned disks become unreadable...which would annoy me alot more if my 400 dollar copy of windows XP pro was burned onto it. I wonder if this is addressed at all by this system, or is the buyer just screwed?

Re:This might work out for the rare stuff

[willy134]

I remember when the local kinkos copy center had a shareware vending machine. For one dollar you could get a floppy disk with several shareware games on it. It was great when the local bbs didn't have the games and they kept it farely well upgraded.

The RIAA should take note....

[JustDisGuy]

This is the technology that might replace their obsolete distribution model.

--
Ride, shoot straight & speak the truth.

great idea!

[dark404]

now instead of kicking a machine for your $0.65 snack getting stuck, you can get really mad when your $60 game gets stuck!

Profit Opportunity for Linux

[RailGunner]

How much money do you think one of these could make if it looked like a soda machine, only the buttons said:

"Debian Linux - 6 CD's, $6.00"
"Mandrake Linux - 3 CD's, $3.00"
"Fedora Linux - 3 CD's, $3.00"
"Gentoo Linux - 1 CD, $1.00"
"Knoppix Linux - 1 CD, $1.00"
"Vector Linux - 1 CD, $1.00"
"Peanut Linux - 1 CD, $1.00"
"Microsoft Windows XP Home - 1 CD, $89" This actually might be a good way to get novices to try Linux, especially the Knoppix (or the BitDefender Knoppix based "Linux Defender", which makes an excellent recovery disk)...

Re:Profit Opportunity for Linux

[MikeXpop]

1. Grandma Notech (get it? no tech. stay with me here) needs to buy an operating system
2. Grandma Notech sees how expensive Windows is, and instead chooses a linux distribution instead
3. Grandma decides she likes the logo of Gentoo better than all the others and buys it
4. Grandma boots up Gentoo and attempts to install it
5. Grandma's head explodes. Now there's no more grandma
6. ???
7. Profit

Re:How is this better?

[Penguinisto]

"I really don't see the market unless you are stuck on a 56K modem"

...considering that 80% of the users online are stuck on a 56K modem (usually running at a way slower speed), I'd readily call this a nice-sized market.

The only real problem is that the one thing that would benefit the most from patching (OSes) will most likely be missing from the selection.