Ubuntu Linux To Be Sold At Best Buy For $19.95

This news is so two days ago lol,

http://www.lockergnome.com/it/2008/07/07/ubuntu-at-best-buy/

The reason the packed version cost money is because they have to pay for the packaging lol. Ubuntu is still free and will continue to be so. This is for the newbies who would rather purchase it instead of actually burning a CD and so forth.

Is this the end of free Linux ? I don’t think so - what a lot of people are missing is that you aren’t paying for the software - you’re paying for the 60 days support, and a saving in your time and effort versus downloading it yourself.

And why haven’t people flocked to Linux ? Simple really - it is difficult to buy a PC that doesn’t come with Windows on it; it is impossible to buy a Mac that doesn’t come with MacOS on it; and people will tend to stick with what they know. And this is why people pay for operating systems - because they effectively have no choice at the point of sale.

What’s changed recently is that Ubuntu has reached a level of maturity on the desktop that makes it a very easy installation for a large number of people, plus Vista has turned out to be enough of a turn-off that the alternatives start to look more interesting.

Putting Ubuntu on the shelves of a major retailer for $20 is really just a marketing exercise - if you can get the name into people’s heads, when they next have a spyware-ridden Windows machine finally nose-dive into oblivion, that twenty bucks is a throwaway price for something that might just solve their problems for them. The truth of it is that booting Ubuntu after struggling with either Vista or an old Windows install is going to make your old computer look like a teenager again!

Where am I coming from? I’ve used Linux on servers for years (and some of those servers haven’t been rebooted for years, either!). I recently had to buy a new laptop, and after struggling with Vista for a month, I tried out Ubuntu and decided to switch. It has all my familiar applications (Firefox/Thunderbird) and comes with OpenOffice which does all I need to do in office applications. Plus - and this was the big one for me - it supports my cheap bluetooth dongle which Vista didn’t.

If we’re looking at the end of anything, I personally wonder whether it’s the end of the pay-for operating system….

Hi,

It’s definitely _not_ the end of free Ubuntu. We’ve always promised that Ubuntu will be available for free, which it is as a download. In fact we go further and will pay for the production and shipping of a CD anywhere in the world.

However, you have to know about Ubuntu to actually be able to use it. One piece of ammo companies like Apple/Microsoft have is large budgets to get in front of lots of consumers. We don’t have that sort of money, but we can reach more new users who many never have heard of Ubuntu by reaching out through the retail channel.

So not the end of free Ubuntu, but perhaps the beginning of another set of new users!

The 60 day support it comes with makes this a compelling deal.I spent a few hours getting Nvidia to play ball, and I still can’t get voice recording to work.

What will cause Linux to soar is if something, ANYTHING can mess up M$’s OEM deals with the PC makers. If Vista was offered as an optional install CD instead of being pre-loaded, Linux would be in double digit usage within six months.

Alas, the Nortons, AOL’s, and PC-Cillins out there who pay bucks to have crapware preinstalled on grandma’s new computer are a further hindrance to choices offered to consumers that DON’T cost more than just leaving Vista on.

Thanks for the comments.

Hi Steve,
I am glad to hear that Canonical will continue to provide free Ubuntu as well. I can see where attracting new users will benefit your company and Linux itself.

I want to wish you and Canonical the very best and hope that the retail version is successful.

Best Regards, Ron

Ron:

Do a search for Envy in Synaptic and install Envy GTK, then Applications/System Tools/Envy

There you can tell it to grab the latest Nvidia or ATI and keep it updated for you (remember to remove it before upgrading to 8.10 or whatever)

As far as selling a box set, thats nothing really new, I’ve bought sets of Linux from Staples and Best Buy before back when they carried Mandrake Linux Powerpack (Mandriva).

Of course I could have gotten what amounted to the same thing with do it yourself codecs and video drivers on their website, but 10 years ago I was on dial up and didn’t feel like spending all week downloading the ISOs.

There’s another thing to be thankful for, you no longer have to deal with all kinds of weird funky dial up “winmodems” that may or may not have any kind of Linux driver, and abusive ISP’s like AOL, Earthlink, etc. that made you install software that was only for Windows, and maybe Mac.

Ethernet is practically guaranteed and wifi either works or isn’t all that difficult anymore.

As far as the price and the boxed set, it’s more of an “educational” campaign, people associate free of charge as “worthless” and have no concept of software freedom thanks to brainwashing from Microsoft and Apple, so the $20 is for the convenience of having the CD, the education from the manual, and the support line in case the user just doesn’t understand something.

It’s a good thing for all involved, maybe Linux gets into a few homes that never would have considered it, maybe the $20 support/convenience makes new users feel less terrified, and maybe Canonical gets $5 off every set and that will help bring Ubuntu closer to self sufficiency.

It never ceases to amaze me how many people use Mac or Windows and pay hundreds of dollars a copy, and how few that actually depend on anything they provide.