n00b Question

[Muhammad]

How come the (K)Ubuntu makers don't charge us for this piece of art while Billy does for his piece of trash???

[weekend warrior]

Ah.... so many mysteries in the universe, and precious few answers. ;-)

[az]

http://www.catb.org/~esr/writings/cathedral-bazaar/cathedral-bazaar/

http://www.gnu.org/

http://www.fsf.org/

http://www.us.debian.org/


That should get you started.

[Kvark]

A shoestore charge you because it costs to produce each shoe.

Ubuntu doesn't charge you because it doesn't cost them anything that you use Ubuntu. At the most it might cost the mirrors a litte bandwidth when you download or shipit a buck for pressing CDs and a little for shipping when you order from there.

Billy charge you because there is no better way to make money then to sell something that costs a buck a piece to produce but people pay $300 a piece for.

[odin]

Ubuntu doesn't charge you because it doesn't cost them anything that you use Ubuntu.

Well I dont know much about all that licences thing but I dont agree with you at that point cause there was someone spending his/her time developing ubuntu and everything that involves this distrubution and many people would say that it could cost something because of that.
So dont know if many people says this as many times as we should but:

THANK'S UBUNTU DEVELOPERS AND LINUX IN GENERAL!!!

anyway ubuntu OS is a very good OS still improving and bill's.... well people is free to choose what they want,or not....

[Kvark]

Well I dont know much about all that licences thing but I dont agree with you at that point cause there was someone spending his/her time developing ubuntu and everything that involves this distrubution and many people would say that it could cost something because of that.
So dont know if many people says this as many times as we should but:

THANK'S UBUNTU DEVELOPERS AND LINUX IN GENERAL!!!

anyway ubuntu OS is a very good OS still improving and bill's.... well people is free to choose what they want,or not....
True it does cost to develop software. But thats no reason to pretend that it costs to let people download and use software that already exists. If some company or group of individuals really wants a new program to be developed then let them pay someone to program it. If nobody asks for the new program then nobody's gonna force anyone to spend time developing it.

Let's say you want a gnome panel applet that displays what programs are on TV right now and can't find anything like it. - Well, then there would be a cost in time to make it so you'd have to pay someone for the work.

In Ubuntu's case the guys developing it are payed by a rich dude called Mark Shuttleworth who wanted a distro and was willing to pay 10 millions for it. So my way of thinking really does make sence in this case, they got payed to make Ubuntu by the guy who asked for this distro in the first place, and after that it doesn't matter to them if only Mark uses it, or if millions of others download and use it too.

[earobinson]

different software ethics plane and simple

[mstlyevil]

True it does cost to develop software. But thats no reason to pretend that it costs to let people download and use software that already exists. If some company or group of individuals really wants a new program to be developed then let them pay someone to program it. If nobody asks for the new program then nobody's gonna force anyone to spend time developing it.

Let's say you want a gnome panel applet that displays what programs are on TV right now and can't find anything like it. - Well, then there would be a cost in time to make it so you'd have to pay someone for the work.

In Ubuntu's case the guys developing it are payed by a rich dude called Mark Shuttleworth who wanted a distro and was willing to pay 10 millions for it. So my way of thinking really does make sence in this case, they got payed to make Ubuntu by the guy who asked for this distro in the first place, and after that it doesn't matter to them if only Mark uses it, or if millions of others download and use it too.

Mark Shuttleworth, Is not losing a dime on Ubuntu. For one thing his bussiness model relies heavily on companies, schools, govt's and other institutions to use his paid support services to help setup Ubuntu desktop and servers customized for each ones perticular needs. Also, If you look on the Ubuntu web site, you will notice a tab called the STORE tab. you can purchase merchandise that the proceeds helps go to support the development of Ubuntu. I guarantee it cost more than a dollar a copy to produce Windows. If you ever have been in businness you would understand the cost associated with hiring employees, paying taxes, manufacturing cost, development cost, human resources, the cost of facilities, shipping cost, and many other expenses. The attitude it doesn't matter to these people who develop Ubuntu if it is used by anyone is laughable. Mark Shuttleworth would not keep paying them if they did not put out a good product that people wanted. It very much matters to them that they keep their jobs. I am sure you would be upset to lose your job. There is nothing wrong with MS getting paid for windows. What is wrong is the longstanding practice of MS trying everything it can to block competition on all fronts. That is why I favor MS being broken up into several companies and Bill Gates forced to sell off half of his shares so he will have a say so no more in the way MS is run. then Others may have a chance to compete.

[N'Jal]

Don't that Steve Balmer guy own 51% of MS now and not Bill?

[mstlyevil]

Don't that Steve Balmer guy own 51% of MS now and not Bill?


Nope Balmer does not own 51%. Bill owns more. but I don't know if he owns 51% either. I think he and Balmer team up on everyone else.

[N'Jal]

Ah i just heard somewhere that Balmer was now in charge. Didn't know how realiable it was though.

[mstlyevil]

I thought Balmer was too busy buying Sports Franchises and enjoying his early retirement.

[Kvark]

Mark Shuttleworth, Is not losing a dime on Ubuntu. For one thing his bussiness model relies heavily on companies, schools, govt's and other institutions to use his paid support services to help setup Ubuntu desktop and servers customized for each ones perticular needs. Also, If you look on the Ubuntu web site, you will notice a tab called the STORE tab. you can purchase merchandise that the proceeds helps go to support the development of Ubuntu. I guarantee it cost more than a dollar a copy to produce Windows. If you ever have been in businness you would understand the cost associated with hiring employees, paying taxes, manufacturing cost, development cost, human resources, the cost of facilities, shipping cost, and many other expenses. The attitude it doesn't matter to these people who develop Ubuntu if it is used by anyone is laughable. Mark Shuttleworth would not keep paying them if they did not put out a good product that people wanted. It very much matters to them that they keep their jobs. I am sure you would be upset to lose your job. There is nothing wrong with MS getting paid for windows. What is wrong is the longstanding practice of MS trying everything it can to block competition on all fronts. That is why I favor MS being broken up into several companies and Bill Gates forced to sell off half of his shares so he will have a say so no more in the way MS is run. then Others may have a chance to compete.
As for the cost for the developers to copy and distribute software, it varies a lot. I'm sure it can be anywhere from cost free (let others, download sites, BT seeds etc take care of it) to pretty expensive (shrinkwrapped with a teddy Tux and all) depending on what method you use.

As for the other costs you mention, that was exactly my point. That it is possible to, if you so wish, distibute gratis copies of software because the big costs are not copying and distrubuting, but in other areas such as development and the things you mention. As opposed to traditional products such as vacuum cleaners where the big cost is in producing more 'copies'.

But you are very right in that the more wide spread Ubuntu becomes the more support and such will Canonical be able to sell. So therefore it's not only possible, but even a smart thing to distrubute gratis copies.