Will Ubuntu be always free of charge?

[Linux_Noobie]

Oh i think ubuntu has to stay free because its the only way to get people to use linux. otherwise people will use *******

[skymt]

Oh i think ubuntu has to stay free because its the only way to get people to use linux. otherwise people will use *******

I have both, and prefer Linux. Most people get Windows for effectively free, it comes with almost all computers. The competition is one of merit, not price.

[tenshi-no-shi]

I hope it stays free for one reason, because not all people can afford to pay for an os.

In fact I have heard that linux in general has been making great progress in areas of the world that do not have the money to afford to buy software.

what I wouldn't mind is if they opened up a way to donate money to helping the development of ubuntu, that way if you want to give them money for their work, then great, but if you can't afford to that that's fine to.

[xmastree]

what I wouldn't mind is if they opened up a way to donate money to helping the development of ubuntu,

You mean something like this?

Clearly linked from www.ubuntu.com , how did you miss it?

[emontalv]

You are right, it they charge for Ubuntu (huge mistake) another Linux version will arrive

[chajuram]

I hope it is. i really like it. but in case it is no longer free, I will have to move, may be to debian, that should always be free, right? my experience with ubuntu should help in migrating to debian.

[qamelian]

Although it is made clear on the Ubuntu site that the distro is and always will be free, I would still support it if it became necessary to have version with a reasonable fee attached. Ubuntu has been a pleasure to use compared to the others distros that I have actually purchased, such as Mandriva, Red Hat, and SuSE.

[ChadMMc]

I have both, and prefer Linux. Most people get Windows for effectively free, it comes with almost all computers. The competition is one of merit, not price.

Actually, ******* is NOT effectively free. When you buy it with a computer, The computer price is effectively higher because the people who put the ******* on the computer, still have to pay M$ for it and that is passed down to the consumer. As far as merit? To me Linux beats ******* hands down. (******* is second hand everything).

I do believe Ubuntu will stay free. There may be (already is) paid support though.

[maniacmusician]

If they ever charge money for ubuntu...let's see...I would probably go try some other distros. but i have no doubt that I wouldn't be as satisfied, and would probably come crawling back to ubuntu. i don't mind paying for a product. I'll avoid it if i can, of course, but I don't really mind it. Especially a product like this.

In a way, Ubuntu is already being sold. Mark shuttleworth invests in projects like Impi Linux, and part of his investment is the Ubuntu legacy that he has built. Impi Linux is based off of Ubuntu, and anyone using it can get customer support from canonical. without the existence of ubuntu, this wouldn't really be possible...

[justin whitaker]

Shuttleworth has always said that he plans on keeping Ubuntu Free, but charging for commercial support. That seems like a very fair way of doing it.

I disagree with the assessment that other distros have declined because they are not free.

SuSE, for example, has only gained strength under Novell-and the core difference between OpenSUSE and the SLED is support (and some proprietary goodies). OpenSUSE is GPL'd-you can go and modify it if you like, you just won't get any support from Novell.

Mandriva was never truly free: Gael Duval set it up as a business from the start. You could always get the core distribution for free (as you can now), but it was the updates and the official boxed sets you had to pay for. I guess they see updates as a service...I do not. You do get support, though.

Red Hat seems to be overlooked, which is fascinating, since it is both open (Fedora) and proprietary (RHEE), and does quite well financially-again, it's services.

Yes, there are free alternatives, hundreds of them, in fact. So what? If you really get down to it, each of these distributions, and Ubuntu, offer something that hobby distros cannot: a stable, usable base of code, that in many ways makes the desktop user, developers, or server admin's life easier through their own tools and distribution decisions.

Would I pay for Ubuntu? For ease of use? Speed? 6 Month Releases? To keep the lights on?

Sure. I'm just glad I do not have to.