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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?"
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 ...
'Cons: Doesn't come in Ultimate and Premier editions'
Ha ha.
.
Why not have them get Ubuntu for $20 at Best Buy? The fact that you can buy it at a brick and mortar store increases it's apparent validity as an operating system, and it has open office and firefox right out of the box, so the functionality they're used to is still there.
Another point: Why not buy a copy of Ubuntu yourself to drive up support for Linux? If sales analysts see that X number of Ubuntu boxes were sold from Best Buys than it's likely we'll see more and more vendor support for linux coming out.
Customer Rating: 5.0
Worth every penny and then some 07/08/2008
By StarReviewer from Moronville, KY Read all my reviews
Pros: Cheap, includes office software, robust
Cons: Doesn't come in Ultimate and Premier editions
"I could go on and on, but Ubuntu Linux is the way to go. I have been using Windows XP for at least 3 years and when Vista was released, I went and upgraded to Vista Ultimate.
Even though Vista Ultimate has some really good features, I had to purchase Office software separately. Total cost of software: ~$1000.00!
That is when I said enough is enough I need to look for a new Operating System. A friend of mine pointed me to Best Buy's site and send me a link to Ubuntu. I purchased the OS and also Installation by Geek Squad for only $150.00. Even though I paid $170, I can tell you the included software was worth it. It includes office productivity software similar to Word, Excel and Powerpoint. Not only that, updates are free. Which means when they come out with a new version of Ubuntu, I don't have to pay more money - which I gladly will if I had to!
I would highly recommend this product. My only question is why doesn't it come in different flavors? I would be willing to pay for features like Media Center and stuff like that.
--Grateful computer user."
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.
Non-techies are in general scared of downloading programs from the internet.
In my experience if software is available in a package with a reasonable price tag people feel better about using it. It may be worth $20 to someone to not have to download and burn the software, the package may also contain information on how to find support.
I don't give a damn for a man that can only spell a word one way.
Mark Twain
The store version makes a better Christmas present than a downloaded-sharpie version.
Now if they can start selling computers without the Windows tax, we'd be all set.
A linux distro I can pirate.
Take the cheese to sickbay, the doctor should see it as soon as possible - B'Elanna Torres, "Learning Curve"
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/
Comment removed based on user account deletion
This reminds me of something that happened this very week at work. Local Windows Admin came by my desk and asked me for a copy of Linux, he's never tried it, wants to start learning it and playing around. I give him a copy of my Ubuntu CD and he's off an running.
He comes to me the next day disappointed. He continues to explain, "This sucks... I installed on my laptop with zero problems. First thing to tackle was an AIM client.. but it was already installed. So then I decided I need VNC for work, but it was already installed to, along with a terminal services client. Finally, I realized I needed a VPN client.. DAMMIT! It was there too! I heard all these stories about tinkering around and getting stuff to work.. I WAS LOOKING FORWARD TO THAT! "
He then asks me if I have another version of "Unix" that is more difficult.
Linux has come a loooooong way since I was playing with 1.0.xx kernels on Slackware.
Awesome!