Different OS's? Marketshare

[Anthony Atkielski]

Andrew L. Gould writes:

> You can still find FreeBSD at Fry's Electronics and MicroCenter.  I
> don't know if CompUSA still carries it.  I have mixed feelings about 
> FreeBSD 5.0-5.2.1 being sold in the retail market.

How so?  Seems like it would be a good idea to me.

I see that one can still order 5.3 over the Internet.  Since I burned my
own CDs I don't necessarily need it (although a more permanent CD would
be nice), but if I did buy it it would be mostly to support the project
(provided that the project got the money).

> I see no similarity between Microsoft and Open Source OS vendors on
> either of these points.

Perhaps the similarities will become more obvious with time.

> Let's face it, without commercialism, Linux development would not have
> benefited from the likes of IBM or HP. Likewise, without
> commercialism, there would be very few, if any, *BSD or Linux
> developers performing open source development for a living. The money
> has to come from somewhere.

True.  It's virtually inevitable.

> Fourth, I appreciate all the hard work that goes into developing and
> packaging an operating system and its related applications.  I am happy
> to pay for the convenience of an operating system on a DVD.  It's only
> fair that the vendor be able to recover cost.  If earning a little 
> profit motivates them to continue providing a great service, all the 
> better.

Fine.  Except that distributors are barely doing anything more than
repackaging someone else's work.  They didn't write Linux.

-- 
Anthony