[ubuntu] Is this legit? [Archive]

yeats

January 19th, 2009, 03:07 AM

Actually, as I understand open source licensing (which I'm learning about in-depth), there is nothing stopping anyone from selling Ubuntu or any other open source product, as long as they adhere to the terms of the original license.

So legit? probably
Classy? absolutely not! :-)

metallicamike

January 19th, 2009, 03:26 AM

i hate when people write in all caps like that, so unnecessary...

albinootje

January 19th, 2009, 03:36 AM

http://medford.craigslist.org/sys/998205247.html

With a lot of Linux distributions you are allowed to sell cdroms against a reasonable price.
Reasonable in the sense that you need something for the costs of the empty cdroms, and the effort you put into it.

Here's a cheap Linux cdrom company, they already existed several years ago :
http://shop.cheapbytes.com/cgi-bin/cart

Bachstelze

January 19th, 2009, 03:52 AM

With a lot of Linux distributions you are allowed to sell cdroms against a reasonable price.
Reasonable in the sense that you need something for the costs of the empty cdroms, and the effort you put into it.

No. If it's free, you have the right to sell it at any price you want.

presence1960

January 19th, 2009, 03:52 AM

Legit or not, the question is why pay for a Linux CD when you can download an image and burn one yourself? Unless you have dial up-yikes! Even if you are so broke you can't buy Cds just borrow one or two from a friend. Case closed!!

redseventyseven

January 19th, 2009, 03:54 AM

No. If it's free, you have the right to sell it at any price you want.

...but another person has the right not to buy it at that price, and buy it from the cheaper, more reputable place instead.

All in all, it's totally legit (in the sense that it's not illegal), just very very stupid.

albinootje

January 19th, 2009, 03:57 AM

No. If it's free, you have the right to sell it at any price you want.

I seem to remember years ago that the price should not be unreasonable.
But I cannot find a source for this right now :(
Maybe it was just RMS talking about Debian cdroms.

And, to be more precise, I meant selling cdroms without any manuals etc. which the ad link in the OP was most probably about.

Bachstelze

January 19th, 2009, 04:01 AM

I seem to remember years ago that the price should not be unreasonable.

Actually, the "reasonable price" thing applies to redistribution of source code.

Basically, when you redistribute GPL'ed software in binary form, you must also make the source code available gratis or for a reasonable fee. The binaries, however, you can distribute at whichever price you want (and you can also put any other restriction you like on them, as long as the source code remains free. That's what XChat is doing with their Windows binaries, for example).

Kellemora

January 19th, 2009, 04:03 AM

Actually, in this PARTICULAR CASE, It IS NOT LEGIT!

It falls under the category of FALSE ADVERTISING!!!!!

The 2009 edition of Ubuntu WILL NOT BE RELEASED UNTIL April of 2009, so HOW can this guy be selling a NEW 2009 Release?????

Sounds fishy to me!

TTUL
Gary

handydan918

January 19th, 2009, 04:04 AM

...but on the other hand....
What if one out of a thousand Linux users did this?

Wouldn't take too long before a lot of people had at least HEARD of Linux.....

albinootje

January 19th, 2009, 04:06 AM

Actually, the "reasonable price" thing applies to redistribution of source code.

Basically, when you redistribute GPL'ed software in binary form, you must also make the source code available gratis or for a reasonable fee. The binaries, however, you can distribute at whichever price you want (and you can also put any other restriction you like on them, as long as the source code remains free. That's what XChat is doing with their Windows binaries, for example).

Right.
Thanks.

DGortze380

January 19th, 2009, 04:36 AM

The 2009 edition of Ubuntu WILL NOT BE RELEASED UNTIL April of 2009, so HOW can this guy be selling a NEW 2009 Release?????

TTUL
Gary

Either he's not ... or it's an Alpha, which is for development only and not even a remotely stable release.

As far as 'legit' ... it's not illegal ... it is a horribly misinformed sales scam ... you decide if it's 'legit'.

caulktel

January 19th, 2009, 04:00 PM

I wonder, did somebody email him about it? Here is the new and improved ad:

http://medford.craigslist.org/sys/998438488.html

Sprut1

January 19th, 2009, 04:12 PM

Bet he's making tons of money.

niteshifter

January 19th, 2009, 05:03 PM

Hi,

He just might be making some money. For some folks "anything free is worth what you paid for it" - so they view GNU/Linux as worthless.

He's using one of many business models - the "throw up an ad and wait for the money to roll in" model, aka the P.T. Barnum model. The question is who's the sucker ...

PeterCat

January 19th, 2009, 05:33 PM

It's already gone. Craig probably uses Ubuntu as well.

Sidewinder1

January 19th, 2009, 05:37 PM

Yeah, it's gone. Did anyone save a copy to post here? Would love to read it... Thanx

happycodemonkey

January 19th, 2009, 05:38 PM

donkyhotay

January 19th, 2009, 06:04 PM

There are many companies that 'sell' linux, just look at red hat as an obvious example. Generally though the reason companies pay despite it being a free download elsewhere is because of the support that comes with it. In regards to someone just selling versions of linux without offering any support, well... so long as he abides by the term of the GPL he isn't doing anything illegal but people would be stupid to buy from him. Course, given many people's lack of knowledge about open source chances are there will fall for it.

stchman

January 19th, 2009, 06:22 PM

As I read it, you can sell Ubuntu if you wish. You are not going to make a lot of money as most people know that Ubuntu is free. I see lots of folks selling Ubuntu CDs on eBay and with what appears to be a 10% success rate.

Now there are a lot of people that offer paid support for Linux. You can do that as well.

caulktel

January 19th, 2009, 06:34 PM

Here is my browser cache:

"Linux ubuntu operating system - $15

Reply to: sale-998438488@craigslist.org [?]
Date: 2009-01-18, 9:17PM PST

load this operating system on as many Pc's as you want or run it from the cd

it's NOT ok to contact this poster with services or other commercial interests
PostingID: 998438488"

Real professional isn't it? His first attempt was all caps, now he can't figure when to use them at all, oh and he called me a retard, that means he under 16 years old.

albinootje

January 19th, 2009, 09:02 PM

Why buy it from some Craigslist dude when you can just saunter down to Best Buy and put down $20 for it (http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8888563&st=Ubuntu&lp=1&type=product&cp=1&id=1211587312374)? I'm sure they're not overcharging, it's Best Buy!

Interesting link, peculiar description..

Both for pc and mac (but Intel macs only mentioned later on).

Mentions Openoffice and .. Koffice (Kubuntu) .. and StarOffice (commercial, from Sun MicroSystems, not included in Ubuntu by default).

And 60 professional support for only $20 ? Wow..