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July 9, 2008 1:37 PM PDT

Ubuntu being sold retail by Best Buy. But will it stay?

The news is out that Best Buy is selling Ubuntu Linux retail for $19.95. It's a nice step forward for Ubuntu, but not for Linux. It used to be possible to buy Red Hat Linux and SUSE Linux retail. That's actually where I bought my first copy of SUSE Linux while working at Novell.

So, the real news isn't that it's being sold retail. The real news will be if it stays. Red Hat didn't see the value in keeping a retail distribution of Linux. Will Ubuntu?

Matt Asay is general manager of the Americas and vice president of business development at Alfresco, and has nearly a decade of operational experience with commercial open source and regularly speaks and publishes on open-source business strategy. He is a member of the CNET Blog Network and is not an employee of CNET. Disclosure.
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Add a Comment (Log in or register) 32 comments (Showing first 20 comments)
by Penguinisto July 9, 2008 4:22 PM PDT
Funny enough, Canonical will ship you the same CDs for free if you go to their website and ask them to. IMHO, What they should have done is to ship Ubuntu in a box w/ a decent manual (not big, just precise and sueful), and sell it for the cost of the materials, the book, and 1 year of free phone tech support - call it $89.99 or so. The price range shows otherwise blind consumers that the thing is worth something (I know, strange, but ordinary consumers don't consider software valuable unless it has a somewhat good-sized pricetag on it - a perception thing), and it would provide the things that ordinary users would need the most - a helping hand towards transition.
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by ArtInvent July 9, 2008 4:25 PM PDT
Well, the real real news would be if Best Buy is gonna do a lot of business selling for $20 something you can download for free in about 20 minutes and burn on a 5 cent CD.
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by russkeller July 9, 2008 5:39 PM PDT
Ya know what I find funny. If it was sold for 100 bucks instead of 20 the public would probably take it more seriously. They can't wrap their heads around the idea that it's both free and quality. In normal life that just doesn't compute.
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by feranick July 9, 2008 6:13 PM PDT
It's called visibility. It's true that you can download it for free, but honestly how many people actually know that? The casual shopper will find it in the store and might give it a try. I think this is a good thing. (As a side note, you get a manual together with the CD).
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by amarkj July 9, 2008 6:37 PM PDT
How many "casual" shoppers will want to install Ubuntu on a computer?
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by rcardona2k July 9, 2008 7:26 PM PDT
What games come with Ubuntu, again? Are there FOSS versions of Solitare, FreeCell and minesweeper? That's worth $20 ;)
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by brass2themax July 9, 2008 7:39 PM PDT
This is a good way to get the word out about Ubuntu, but it also means BestBuy makes money on the deal, and it goes against everything the open source community stands for. It's a double-edged sword.
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by carltonleesg July 9, 2008 8:02 PM PDT
As long as Canonical puts a flier in the box explaining that you can get newer versions for free by downloading from the internet or by requesting a mailer I think its a good thing.

("BestBuy makes money on the deal, and it goes against everything the open source community stands for.")

Nothing quite like being wrong!
I don't believe Best Buy is changing any code. The full source is available on the Internet. Minimal charges for distribution is happening.
All within community standards.
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by slickuser July 9, 2008 10:02 PM PDT
LINUX SUCKS BIG TIME. Once everyone said its going to kill Microsoft and crap like that.

It didn't do a s&*#!!

Linux is for geeks!
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by anon8mizer July 9, 2008 10:49 PM PDT
It's just a way to lure consumers to pay Best Buy's GeekSquad to install Ubuntu for them.
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by bobsligh July 10, 2008 4:57 AM PDT
It's good to see it available in a retail location! I think it is just the correct time for it to be on the shelve for the general population. MS Vista dont have the best name for itself and this will be a welcome choice for consumers who don't want to hassle with all the MS registering and big business attitude. It's cheap it works and it will allow the public to go on line and do what ever is needed to do . I use it :o) I like it . Anyone who dont have it should get it and see for them selves!. down load it free or dont hassle with down load go to store and buy it . Cheers
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by inachu July 10, 2008 5:31 AM PDT
If all flavors of Linux were on retail shelves I would buy them all just to get the experience of each. I bought Suse when it was on retail shelves and would love to see it back in retail again.

I would like to see a gaming version of linux made just for hardcore gamers.
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by Seaspray0 July 10, 2008 6:40 AM PDT
Ubuntu can be downloaded for free. But the funny thing... it's worth more than the $20. I'll even tell you how you can try it without "wiping out" your current operating system. Download software to create a virtual machine (even microsoft makes one you can use for free). It's not hard to use. Create a virtual machine and put ubuntu (or any other operating system of your choice) on it.
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by bluemist9999 July 10, 2008 7:00 AM PDT
It's definitely promising to see Ubuntu at Best Buy. But, as other posters observed, it can be very confusing for non-technical users. The most frequent question will be "Why won't XYZ run on Ubuntu?"

I would put a blunt warning on the box "You CANNOT use this with any PC programs --- only with the thousands of free programs available with Ubuntu"

While I know that, technically, that's a lie, it is less confusing to Joe Sixpack than trying to explain "Well, you can run these programs but not these other programs."
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by rossstock July 10, 2008 8:40 AM PDT
If people walk into Best Buy and pay someone to install Ubuntu, then we're seeing real progress ... Vista is $4 gas -- it's hit a point where you're ready to do something different.
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by gnomerules July 13, 2008 4:53 PM PDT
Most smart people won't buy Ubuntu at Best Buy. They'll shop at book stores instead. There are many books for Ubuntu or any other Linux distro, and most have a free install CD of the OS inside the book.
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About The Open Road

Matt Asay brings a decade of in-the-trenches open-source business and legal experience to the Open Road, with an emphasis on emerging open-source business strategies and opportunities. Matt is general manager of the Americas division and vice president of business development at Alfresco, a company that develops open-source software for content management. He is a member of the CNET Blog Network and is not an employee of CNET. Disclosure.

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