Comments on: Selling Ubuntu for Profit?

By: UbuntuRocks

UbuntuRocks — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 19:21:25 +0000

It’s ok to sell the cd’s, the license allows for that. There are valid reasons why someone would pay 10 or 15 bucks, too.

As far as eBay goes, they’re a bunch of arrogant, rip off, bastages, anyway, and should be put out of business by the market.

DAVE PAGE: Ubuntu does not include any non free software by default or on the cd. There are some drivers that are non free, as in open source free, but those are included with permission from the owners. Even at that, you have to install them yourself, and click off on the eula statement before you can.

I would like to see more legitimate businesses sell Ubuntu and offer Linux services. People need to be made aware of the fact that they have a comparable choice now.

By: admin

admin — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 17:50:39 +0000

Thanks Math Teacher. What’s worse: I used to teach math.

By: Dave Page

Dave Page — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 17:36:20 +0000

Selling free software has always been possible - see http://www.fsf.org/licensing/essays/selling.html for a very old essay on the subject. The free of “free software” refers to your freedom to use and modify and redistribute it, not its price.

I’m pretty sure however that Ubuntu includes some non-free software by default, so it’s dubious as to whether you can redistribute an Ubuntu CD in the same way that you could a GNU/Linux distribution like gNewSense.

By: Math Teacher

Math Teacher — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 17:31:13 +0000

Wouldn’t 3.90 and 6.90 add up to 10.80?

-
A concerned Ubuntu-using quasi-geek

By: Jim Oksvold

Jim Oksvold — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 17:30:57 +0000

Pricing seems fair. What is the problem? There is actually a lot of people out there unable to download an ISO and burn it to a CD-R or DVD-R. It happens all the time. Cheapbytes have sold CDRs with Linux for ages. If people pay 40 dollars for a antivirus program, then why not 11 dollars for Linux?

By: Peter Cooper

Peter Cooper — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 16:16:07 +0000

It’s totally legal, and even encouraged! There is nothing wrong with this. In fact, it’s more likely to be helping the spread of Linux, as Ubuntu ShipIt themselves say that their discs can / will take “6 - 10 weeks”. It certainly took a few months when I got one a few years ago! If someone wants to pay a few measly bucks (I mean, come on, a McDonalds costs more than $6!) to get Ubuntu on CD within a few days, that’s not bad or wrong, as long as it’s legal.

Besides, I can’t imagine the people selling these are making much money. They’re only making a few bucks. It’s most likely kids and teenagers getting a little extra income. Jeez.

By: gozargozarian

gozargozarian — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 15:50:37 +0000

That is why I think Ebay needs to be shutdown until they agree to protect their customers. As it is now, why would you ever buy something from someone that doesn’t care about your security. It’s like shopping in an unprotected black market.

By: michael

michael — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 15:22:39 +0000

It’s hardly a scam. There are people out there who would rather pay someone else to do their work for them. And as another person pointed out, it is within the licensing guidelines for not just Ubuntu, but most Linux distros.

As for selling it under the Windows XP category, why not? If that gets people to switch, more power to them.

By: Mark Harrison

Mark Harrison — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 15:15:03 +0000

Why wouldn’t eBay allow it?

You may be outraged, but Canonical, the company who produce Ubuntu aren’t.

They DELIBERATELY released Ubuntu in a way that explicitly ALLOWS this reselling.

By: admin

admin — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 17:28:24 +0000

Yes… although it is within the guidelines of the licensing for the operating systems, it still seems wrong as it is so easy to get a CD shipped to you for free.