Canonical Halts Ubuntu CD Free-for-all

Barence writes to tell us that Canonical plans on limiting the number of "free Ubuntu CDs" that people can mooch from the company. The growing popularity of Ubuntu has seen a dramatic increase in the number of CDs being shipped via the free "ShipIt" scheme. The only people able to take advantage of this program now will be the usual community teams, contributors, and first-time Ubuntu users. "'While these CDs are often referred to as 'free CDs,' they are of course not free of cost to Canonical. We want to continue this programme, but Ubuntu’s growth means that some changes are necessary. Therefore we are adjusting how we handle CD requests to try to find the right balance between availability of CDs and the continued viability of the ShipIt program,' [Canonical's chief operating officer Jane Silber] adds. Extra CD copies of Ubuntu will still be available for purchase through the Canonical store, although they need to be bought in bulk. Five copies of the open-source operating system will cost £5 exc VAT and shipping."

Comments

Probably people abusing the system

[jittles]

I once got flamed on Slick Deals for asking people to show restraint and common sense after someone posted a deal for a free CD from Project Gutenburg. People were ordering tons of disks as if they were getting some special deal. I don't blame Canonical at all for placing limits.

Ubuntu seems to have hit the big time

[Ynot_82]

Ubuntu seems to have hit the big time, riding off the Win7 release.
There's half-a-dozen mainstream news sources that are mentioning Ubuntu in their coverage of Win7, some are even holding it above MS's OS

Eg.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/oct/26/kellner-linux-hits-user-nerve/

Why not start a donation fund for these?

[King_TJ]

I would think they'd have some success starting a fund people can optionally donate a few bucks to, to help offset shipping and production costs on the free CDs they send out. Then simply tell people that if the fund runs dry, shipping of CDs gets halted until more donations are made.

I suspect the majority of people requesting the free CD are doing so because they're in a situation where downloading and burning the ISO image is too troublesome (limited bandwidth like some corporations have, or someone using satellite broadband where they have a transfer cap before getting charged per K downloaded, etc.). Asking them to kick a few dollars back into the fund after they install and start using the product doesn't seem like a big deal.

Obviously, it'd still be a good idea to track addresses and enforce a "one copy per mailing address, per release" rule....

Re:Well just download the ISO.

[Lumpy]

Because handing a screen printed real CD in a full color printed sleeve looks far more professional than some dork giving you a burned one with marker writing on it.

Honestly, when you introduce a new os to someone, making it look really professional goes a very long way.