Linux Economics 101

[Bartender]

I understand how part of the Linux economy works, but there's a big part of it that I don't get.

It's the hardware part that's puzzling to me. It costs money to run and maintain the servers and networks that always - well, most of the time anyway - seem to be there, waiting to fulfill our requests for free software.

I notice that some of the repos are hosted by universities. Do they donate resources?

What about when someone sets up a distro that runs off the Ubuntu core, like Mint. When a Mint user asks for software, don't they use the Ubuntu servers?

It can't all be "free as in beer"

[new2*buntu]

What about when someone sets up a distro that runs off the Ubuntu core, like Mint. When a Mint user asks for software, don't they use the Ubuntu servers?



I believe that Mint has its own repos and Ubuntu repos. The mint repos only have specific items, such as artwork. While everything else is from the Ubuntu repos, such as the terminal.

[dnns123]

I think Canonical is paying the servers to host the Ubuntu softwares. Its just a hunch.

[az]

I understand how part of the Linux economy works, but there's a big part of it that I don't get.

It's the hardware part that's puzzling to me. It costs money to run and maintain the servers and networks that always - well, most of the time anyway - seem to be there, waiting to fulfill our requests for free software.

I notice that some of the repos are hosted by universities. Do they donate resources?

What about when someone sets up a distro that runs off the Ubuntu core, like Mint. When a Mint user asks for software, don't they use the Ubuntu servers?

It can't all be "free as in beer"

Free and Open Source software is commercial software. The software is free of cost and free as in freedom, but there are commercial interests in providing the software.

Yes, Canonical underwrites Ubuntu. The goal is for the services that they can provide, such as paid support to end-users or software customizations and translations to be able to sustain the costs of providing the software for free.

[DoctorMO]

The cost of running 100 servers isn't as high as you may think, the computers today are powerful and the internet lines are quick.

Canonical can earn many times the cost of running the servers by converting 0.01% of the ubuntu user base into paying support customers or businesses.

[Xbehave]

The cost of running 100 servers isn't as high as you may think, the computers today are powerful and the internet lines are quick.
What about bandwidth costs, i agree that it would be easy to recoupe server costs but its not cheap to fun a very active server!

[DoctorMO]

i agree that it would be easy to recoupe server costs but its not cheap to fun a very active server!

What makes you think it costs so much? do you think they pay per KB?

[LookTJ]

What makes you think it costs so much? do you think they pay per KB?Hmm, I thought all servers pay off a plan from web hosts or use their own, not by bandwidth.