Selling Ubuntu for Profit?
Wow. So here I am, taking a look at my own site when I see an advertisement appear on the right-hand side that shows someone selling Ubuntu for money:
Hold up a second. This is just sick and wrong!
Apparently there is a new generation of eBayers that are feeding on those that are fed up with Windows. Here’s a screen shot of the auction:
So, this person is charging $3.90 plus $6.90 shipping (that’s $10.80) to give you something you can get for free just by packaging it with some screen shots? That just seems wrong. I am surprised that eBay allows this kind of behavior on their website.
Not only that, but check out where it is listed:
That’s right: under ‘Windows XP Professional‘.
It’s a straight up scam.
If you want a free operating system shipped to you, they are out there for everyone and easy to get.
Here’s a link to the auction in question:
UBUNTU LINUX 7.10 OPERATING SYSTEM STABLE & EASY TO USE
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January 18th, 2008 at 8:03 pm
I guess that some people are either too lazy or too dumb to burn their own CD .
January 21st, 2008 at 10:28 am
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.
February 6th, 2008 at 8:15 am
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.
February 6th, 2008 at 8:22 am
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.
February 6th, 2008 at 8:50 am
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.
February 6th, 2008 at 9:16 am
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.
February 6th, 2008 at 10:30 am
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?
February 6th, 2008 at 10:31 am
Wouldn’t 3.90 and 6.90 add up to 10.80?
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A concerned Ubuntu-using quasi-geek
February 6th, 2008 at 10:36 am
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.
February 6th, 2008 at 10:50 am
Thanks Math Teacher. What’s worse: I used to teach math.
February 6th, 2008 at 12:21 pm
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.