I don't get how ShipIt works!

[Lord DarkPat]

Well, how does shipit work? First, I thought it was all a scam.
How can they afford it? I get that it's open-source and stuff, but HOW?

[Steveway]

Mark Shuttleworth is a multimillionair/billionair (depending on the used currency).
He has put a lot of his money into canonical to support all this.
Also more money is made by professional support from Canonical.
It's not Scam, I ordered 20 CD's when the Gutsy ones were avaiable for shipping and I got them. (I gave most away at my new work.)

[~LoKe]

I've ordered over 100 CD's from them already. The shipping alone could get costly (IIRC they shipped to Canada from the Netherlands). The CD's themselves aren't that expensive. But yeah, they eat the cost themselves (just like they eat the $10m/year for Ubuntu).

[bufsabre666]

cause shuttleworth has alot of money, and they make money by selling support of their product, they use shipit for things like schools and people who have no other means to get it

[some_random_noob]

they use shipit for things like schools and people who have no other means to get it

But what about those lazy-asses who just can't be bothered making their own copies? I've always wondered if ship-it could be wasting their money like that, but I doubt it because most people would just download and burn their own CDs anyway (It's faster).

[~LoKe]

But what about those lazy-asses who just can't be bothered making their own copies? I've always wondered if ship-it could be wasting their money like that, but I doubt it because most people would just download and burn their own CDs anyway (It's faster).

They probably have a contract with a shipping company, so I imagine it makes little difference. Plus, you're forced to order like 10 CD's or more, so it's getting the word out there in one way or another.

[Dale61]

Just received my 2 copies of 7.10, and was surprised as I only ordered them on Dec 23.

I'll be keeping one copy pristine for my personal use, whilst the other will be used for installation on other pc's. Not taking the risk of damaging the only copy I have.

[brunovecchi]

I too was amazed. I ordered 2 Desktop Gustys and got them in a couple of weeks (note: I live in ARGENTINA. If you care to look at an atlas, it's far far away, where ogres and donkeys dwell). I already had installed it and I kind of did it just to see what happened. It's really something else.

I heard that you can order hundreds of CD's if you are planning on distributing them at a convention. Last year there was an open source convention here and they were giving away original Ubuntu cds...

PS: you also get cool stickers to show off :guitar:

[bobbocanfly]

I always order one or two copies a few weeks after a release comes out, just so i have a proper copy for other installations, to replace my dodgy CD-Rs i make the second it comes out. Quite tempted to get about 20 copies and see if one of the local computing shops will give them away.

[Christmas]

No, not a scam. I ordered twice. First, when I switched to Linux I ordered 5 Ubuntu Breezy CDs and they came and the second time I ordered 6.06, both Ubuntu and Kubuntu (5CDs) and they came. ShipIt is just great.