Slashdot Mirror
Best Buy Is Selling Ubuntu
SirLurksAlot writes "It appears that Best Buy is now selling Ubuntu, both through its Web site and in its brick-and-mortar locations. Going by the release on the product page, Ubuntu has actually been available for the low, low price of $19.99 since May 6th of this year. It is being packaged as the 'Complete Edition.' While they don't specify on the site what version is being offered, a quick call to a local store revealed it to be Hardy Heron, the latest Long Term Support version. How did this development fly under the radar for over two months without anybody noticing?"
GPL says they can do anything with the code as long as it remains GPL. That includes selling it.
Or am I missing something?
Shareware shows that sometimes you can get people to pay more for free software than for pay software.
What do you mean? Shareware is not free software by any definition of free.
wtf? I thought you weren't allowed to actually "sell" Ubuntu for money? (Besides, of course, ordering the cd from Ubuntu for like $1)
Break out the beer folks, this one's gotta be good.
Absolutely nothing in the GPL states that you couldn't sell it (as long as you include the source code). So keep your beer and actually read the terms you are talking about next time.
Yes, No , Yes, Yes (from Ubuntu wiki/forums)
as predicted the break down of posts so far is
- idiot! why would I buy anything I can download for free
- doh! they'll return it when they realise that Windows SW does not work
- how can you sell something when it is given away freely?
They can sell it for as much as they want as long as they preserve the license - they are only selling the CD manufacturing and packaging as a service.
Ans I think this has all been a little unsupportive.
Frankly I support any and all efforts to make Linux more widespread, and a great many people will feel happier with a pressed CD instead of a cheapo burnt one. Yes we can download it, but we are NOT the target audience here.
And, to be honest, I'm just happy enough that it is now considered possible to sell it in best buy - that would of been unthinkable a few years ago.
If this caters for a new audience, or gets even a few thousand more people using it - then fair play to them.
because verily nobody is stupid enough to buy something they can download legally! Right? Right!? I mean come on, people don't even buy stuff they can download illegally anymore ...
They're not just selling Ubuntu. They're selling Ubuntu with support. The support is what people are paying for.
ValuSoft is a division of THQ. They publish and distribute (usually inexpensive and crappy) games and software. I would imagine they are the ones that produce the disc, box, and booklets that come with this Ubuntu package and they handle distributing it to stores. I'd be interested to see if the box has anything on it about the sort of tech support you can get. I kind of doubt ValuSoft is handling tech support for Ubuntu. That seems beyond their scope.
1 (short ton / firkin) = 89.1432354 slugs / keg
No charge. Keep the change and go buy yourself a new haircut.
Valusoft is a division of THQ (game publisher) that sells cheap software which includes both games and productivity software. I'm assuming they've arranged some sort of deal to be able to distribute Ubuntu to retailers.
AFAIK, it's not only being sold at best buy but at Amazon and other places.
They're not just selling Ubuntu. They're selling Ubuntu with support. The support is what people are paying for.
Maybe this is a level, but from all indications this is standard Ubuntu with standard support (i.e. go look it up on the forums).
I would assume that, since the blurb says it's "the latest Long Term Support version," it includes some form of long term support.
No, Long Term Support (LTS) refers to Canonical's commitment to supporting a major release (which are only released biannually) for 5 years, mostly, AFAIK, through patches. It does not refer to Canonical or Best Buy's commitment to offering other kinds of tech support.
That first episode of Wolfenstein 3D was a full game in and of itself. I'm sure they made a lot of sales of the rest of the episodes just based on that free version. Same goes for Commander Keen and Duke Nukem. Give people are really good experience with the "demo" and they are a lot more likely to go out and buy the full version.
Anthropic principle: We see the universe the way it is because if it were different we would not be here to see it.
That's great. As long as they don't own a laptop (laptop audio and wireless support is still problematic out-of-the-box), run into any other unsupported software, or need to install anything. Otherwise you'll probably end up setting it up for them.
I recently switched from Vista to Kubuntu (8.04), and the process was anything but smooth. Getting full audio support working required me to write custom bash scripts to handle volume changes and muting. Wireless is still iffy, as it required ndiswrapper, doesn't work with the built-in wireless tools (custom configs required), and even still has a hacky DHCP setup that fails if it takes longer than 5 seconds to associate.
Weeks later, I'm still running into things that just don't work properly, requiring me to write scripts, edit config files, and generally muck about with things.
Oh yeah, and my printer, a $100 Canon (MP470) requires a $45 proprietary print driver (which is 32-bit only). Fun.
In short, while Ubuntu and Linux have made great strides on the desktop, I still wouldn't want my parents using it. I'd have to spend tens of hours setting things up for them, and even then it wouldn't necessarily "just work".
If you have a slow connection or you don't have a burner, you can get a pretty looking CD from Canonical by mail. They don't even charge for shipping. https://shipit.ubuntu.com/
(for those outside of Canada and didn't get the joke...)
Future Shop is essentially identical to Best Buy. They sell the same products (audio/video, computers, appliances, music/games), with the same huges floor spaces and the same useless staffs. Same shit, different interior design.
Future Shop has been around for a couple of decades here, then Best Buy moved in as competition several years ago. Shortly thereafter, Best Buy bought out Future Shop, but didn't merge the operations. In fact, they still "compete", oftentimes with brand new stores being built directly across the street from each other.
Look at the tomato! Isn't it sad? He can't dance! Poor tomato!
Let's face it -- if it isn't something that comes in a colorful box with a nice shiny-paged booklet and screenprinted CD, some folks won't touch it. Case in point is my uncle. He's somewhat computer savvy but doesn't trust anything that you can "just download off the intarnets" -- to his way of thinking it's not legitimate software unless it comes in a professionally produced package.
:) ), but that mythical "average computer user" we keep hearing about will probably find it comforting to get their dose of Ubuntu through a "legitimate" source, like Best Buy (meh).
I "get it" of course (and have since 1998...
Frankly, anything that will show the suits that Linux (pick your flavor) has sufficient market-share and penetration on the desktop is a Good Thing -- sales equals maturity/legitimacy.
Cheers,
BeerGeek
-- If it won't move, get a hammer. If it breaks, it needed replacing anyway.
Who buys stuff they don't need?
A wise man once said: "It's amazing the things people would rather have than money."
=Smidge=
FTP. HTTP. eDonkey.
Do you even lift?
These aren't the 'roids you're looking for.
Most of Walmart goods are from Communist China and manufactured with borderline slave labor so yeah, Walmart products ARE 2nd rate.
"...a civilian some of the time, a soldier part of the time and a patriot all of the time." -Brig. Gen. James Drain
You just described RedHat's business model. RedHat has been a very successful distro for about a decade (although they've sunk a bit beneath the radar these last couple years), and all they sell is tech support. Works great for them, too.
Are you happy that best buy is sanitizing the customer reviews to prevent anyone mentioning that it's freely available elsewhere?
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?type=product&tab=7&id=1211587312374&skuId=8888563&childSku=null&count=null#headerCustomerReviews
I'm not.
"Question with boldness even the existence of a god." - Thomas Jefferson
Who buys stuff they don't need?
In this case, I would guess, people wanting to try out Linux who are still on slow dialup.
Someone like... Canonical? http://www.canonical.com/services/support
They're selling the LTS edition - meaning it will be supported (by the Ubuntu community) long term. I see nothing that shows Best Buy is selling any kind of support with it. They are celling DVDs/CDs....that's all.
Do not fold, spindle or mutilate.
They don't even have to include the source code in the box as long as they provide a way to download it from somewhere.
[alk]
Cool! Where can I get one?
But there's a page on Ubuntu's site where you can fill in a quick form and they'll send you as many copies as you like - for free.
+1 IDisagreeSoHeMustBeATrollOrAnAstroturferOrAShill
You don't actually have to have the source code on the CD with the software. All you need to do is provide a way for the user to acquire the source code for free. So they could just include a slip of paper and say "Just go to ubuntu.com and look for it".
It's actually legal to have it only available by request.
It's actually only 50 MB (damn small linux, that is). Just wanted to comment because it makes it even more incredible.
It is by my will alone my thoughts acquire motion; it is by the juice of the coffee bean that the thoughts acquire speed
GPL is not an end user license agreement though. It doesn't grant you permission to use the software, it spells out the terms under which you may distribute the software. You can ignore the terms and distribute copies or derivative works, but if you do, you're violating copyright, because following the GPL was the only method that gave you permission to do so.
Best Buy has been selling Linux distros for close to 10 years. They had SuSE on the shelfs for years and even had DebIan and slackware box/book combos for awhile. Every article talking about this is making it sound like linux is finally making a toehold on the shelf. Maybe this is Ubuntus shelf debut? It is definitely nothing new for linux.
*DrugCheese rants*
I bought my first copy of redhat at best buy many years ago (I think 5.0?). I was still on a modem and I don't think I had a burner yet so for $50 I thought it was a great deal.
People say my sig is the best thing about me.
I wouldn't say that their current Enterprise line of products is for the weekend hobbyist or small business only. I would agree that their Fedora line is targeted at that market, but their Enterprise line is targeted at long, stable, high availability deployments.
Unlike with the Fedora line, the Enterprise line sets a baseline and through all the updates doesn't stray from it. Security updates are patched/backported into the baseline versions, and great detail is paid to not changing API calls or other things that might cause incompatibility problems with existing software built on the platform.
Ok, I'm not an MS basher, I use both Linux and Windows and have nice legal copy of Windows for all my computers at home - two XP Pro for me (laptop and desktop), and XP home for the wife and two kids... 5 total. I built all my computers and installed the OSs on them...
Ubuntu is NO harder, and easier in fact, to install on my laptop and desktop than Windows is. No drivers to install (they're all "magically" on the Ubuntu disc). Adding/removing programs is as easy as... selecting Add/Remove from the main menu, just like Windows.... only there's a whole lot more there.
So, I don't know where you've been, but Linux installation has come a long way.
Stupid sexy Flanders.
I have a friend with a pet monkey who seems to be able to install Ubuntu.
-- -- Warning. Do not stare directly at the sun.
Then why would they have an entire site dedicated to it?
https://shipit.ubuntu.com/
Huh? You've always been able to get free disks. When the first LTS came out, they decided to only stamp those versions, so you couldn't get 7.10 sent to you, but you could get 6.06.
Now, at the moment, you're limited to one disk, unless you can write a convincing essay. It's still pretty amazing that they do that, though.
Can you be Even More Awesome?!
Actually no. I just requested 10 Cd's for my LUG. you have to click on the "custom request" to request more of them and why you are requesting more than 1.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
All the info you want: http://princessleia.com/journal/?p=1262
Because it isn't in any of the three Best Buys closest to my home. I have learned from my experiences trying to find an eeepc that Best Buy cannot be relied to carry items in their stores, even when they are advertised in the local paper.
If I am not for myself, then who will be for me? If I am only for myself, what am I? If not now, when?
It's been done.
I'm picking up the sarcasm, but for what it's worth, Ubuntu do provide & ship CDs for free...
Between the falling angel and the rising ape
I just got 10 CDs in the mail. Well, I guess they're fake.
Why not combine a singing rubber fish and Rick Roll: http://youtube.com/watch?v=H9JBxf_HG_Y