What is the goal of free distros like Ubuntu?

[Boomy]

So Ubuntu is totally free, even the shipping on the CDs is free. So the profit has to be completely negative, a money pit, correct? What is the aim of this? Is it just a labor of love, or is there a goal to one day profit from Ubuntu? Personally I think it would be cool to offer free downloads, and also offer a paid for version that comes in a nice box with some nice documentation books/manuals.

[RAV TUX]

It is a labor of love (or atleast an avenue for enjoyment) or none of us would be here.(This is a bit of over simplification, there is much more to it)

for your second request:

go to Amazon.com for a nice DVD version.

while there also buy The Official Ubuntu Book and Ubuntu Hacks

and have fun

[Lord Illidan]

Most Linux distros are what you say, a labour of love. They get their money from donations and other stuff like that. If they are lucky, they get sponsored.

They then use different measures to minimize their costs, like using bittorrents for download.

Canonical however, can make money from Ubuntu.

1. Paid support.
2. Canonical also has another commercial distro, forgot it's name...they don't advertise it much.

[aysiu]

Ubuntu makes money off of support.
http://www.ubuntu.com/support/paid

Its goal is to fix "bug #1": https://launchpad.net/distros/ubuntu/+bug/1

[RAV TUX]

Most Linux distros are what you say, a labour of love. They get their money from donations and other stuff like that. If they are lucky, they get sponsored.

They then use different measures to minimize their costs, like using bittorrents for download.

Canonical however, can make money from Ubuntu.

1. Paid support.
2. Canonical also has another commercial distro, forgot it's name...they don't advertise it much.

ImpiLinux

[RAV TUX]

Ubuntu makes money off of support.
http://www.ubuntu.com/support/paid

Its goal is to fix "bug #1": https://launchpad.net/distros/ubuntu/+bug/1

off topic: aysiu can you please PM or email me, I would like to ask you something;)


back on topic: much of the money made by support, is from server support for corporations.

[Rhubarb]

Canonical are the lead sponsors of Ubuntu (http://www.canonical.com/).
They make money by providing support services to government / schools / businesses and the like.

[DoctorMO]

For me it's a labour of compassion. I'm quite happy using Linux in it's current form but I don't want others to suffer proprietary software so I continue to develop Linux the best way I can. gratis.