US retailers start pushing $20 Ubuntu

Great

I'd like to buy the boxed copy. It looks nice on the shelf plus you are helping them out.

Paris as she likes helping out Ubuntu Linux

Probably worth it

After going through the sheer hell of installing and configuring Linux for the first time last year, I would have been happy to pay £10-odd for unlimited support for the first couple of months - as long as it really is unlimited support, and they're willing to talk me through setting up networking, drivers and the like.

'Free' and 'value' are relative terms.

$20 gets...

the user a printed manual and 60 days' support, and for Canonical, shelf space in PC shops.

Paris? Because she'd like the support.

Nothing New

This is nothing new, vendors have been selling Linux for years. I have a boxed copy of SUSE 6.4 that came with a number of (very good) manuals, a lot of extra software CDs and even some Geeko stickers.

I suppose it's less relevant than when the majority of people were limited to dial-up, but a lot of people like having physical media and some printed docs.

As long as they make it harder to download the free version, all credit to them!

Humans are so silly

Some people see ubuntu and linux/open source as being inferior because it is free. They think the more you pay for something the better it is.

I expect this to sell rather well.

hmm

Lets say you know jack shit about computers and so you go to the shop to buy one cos your kids say they're handy.

So you go to the shop and buy a cheap machine. The salesman says "well you can replace the OS for $20." How many people are going to do that? And how many more are going to think "$20 ? I depend on it, and it only costs $20? How rubbish is it going to be for that money?"

How many other people are going to go to the shop to upgrade their OS. One on sale you've heard of - vista lets face it -for X, the other for $20. now, X is a lot more but you figure "$20?" Well, if you get what you pay for?" You might figure "60 days of support? So they think I need it do they? Do I want to pay so little and then spend days on hold talking about computers? Don't think so"

Good plan

And, I'm not being sarcastic.

A printed manual and support goes a long way with a lot of people, £10 a pop doesn't sound to bad for 60 days support either.

Plus, if it's in a box on the shelves it's what we in the trade (okay, I'm not) call simple advertising. Making people hunt for a product needing to know it's name stops people finding it by accident. Wandering into a store and seeing it there, well - 'nuff said!

How long until it happens with OpenOffice (although, for the love of all things chewy, lets bleedin' trim it back a bit first - flame me if you will for not volunteering the efforst myself, but as a superhero I regularly spend my evenings flying around the world plucking lost babies and kittens from the trees...).

Fair enough,

more exposure, a nice box and a paper manual. I download and find my own support from forums and the such like. But any approach that exposes open source systems to those that are not even aware of an alternative to the closed and tightly controlled software/spyware that m$ punts is a good thing, a very good thing.

Hey, Adrian

Donned our flame-proof suit and troll hat and gone out baiting Linux users I see?

@Darren

Given that Canonical will be getting a lot of support calls along the lines of "I installed Windows Ubuntu and I can't find my Start button! Help!", and "How do I install World of Metal Gear Damarcy 4? What do you mean, Windows Only? Ubuntu is an OS so it must be based on Windows!", this is a brave move.

In the UK, $20 is £10. This buys you two Zinger Tower Meals at KFC. 2 months support for the price of 2 burgers? I'd say that this is not "a touch steep", but an absolute bargain.

By putting Ubuntu in a box and getting it on a shelf next to Windows in physical space, it's putting it in the same mental space in the customer's mind, and raising awareness that there is an alternative, and OSs don't have to cost $200.

Don't Forget!

For a mere $129.99, you can have the Geek Squad install it for you! What a deal!!

$20 is not bad at ALL

SUSE used to be US $40 to $60.

And I agree the brainwashed masses that continue to let Beastly Buy rip them off and abuse them need a break too! I'm hoping that a retail presence will make more people aware of Linux, as most of them ask "What's Linux?" when I suggest it as an alternative to Windows.

@AC

So who are you helping out by ponying up $20? Surely not Canonical.

Tell you what - I can do it for $15. Although if you want for an additional $5 I'll upsell you to the "green" version where I omit the packaging, dead tree documentation, and the carbon-heavy shipping (oh my how can you live with yourself!). I will securely deliver you a link to a server with the ISO on it. Tsk tsk how completely irresponsible you would be if it wasn't for me.

And just think - you get the satisfaction of knowing that you're helping ME out!

$20 for 60 days is cheap

When you compare it with the £1+/minute that you pay for some of the isp or pc world helplines!

@Adrian - Can't say I've had any problems with 8.04, seems almost rock solid so far.

Err, what's the problem?

Why is this a problem? I can see some people WILL want a manual, and a bit of hand holding to get them onto Linux (or in this case Ubuntu). Sure, not everyone will - I downloaded mine, and I'm quite happy with that process and installing it onto a system. But I'm not everyone, I see no contradiction with Canonical offering this and their "always free" stance.

Essentially they are charging for the manual and the support, Ubuntu itself IS still free. If you are happy to download it (or get them to ship a free CD) and you don't need support then you don't need this product.

Did you know they sold badges, stickers, clothes, bags etc with Ubuntu printed on? Is this a problem? (Actually the messenger bag looks quite spiffy)

If it is, then why does El Reg do this (charge for shirts) when they don't charge for access to their site?! Now stop trying to turn a profit and send me my free shirt!!! <grin>

@Sean Ellis

"By putting Ubuntu in a box and getting it on a shelf next to Windows in physical space, it's putting it in the same mental space in the customer's mind, and raising awareness that there is an alternative, and OSs don't have to cost $200."

SUSE and Mandrake have been available for years in PCWorld and look how far that's moved things forward?

No, linux still ain't ready for the average Joe user yet, if it were then it would've happened a long time ago. And before anyone makes a comment, I'm talking about installing linux yourself here, i.e. replacing Windows on your own PC, not customised solutions all ready and working a la eeePC etc.

Ubuntu 8.04

Works well on reasonably up to date hardware, one of mine is running on a dual core AMD 5000+ BE on a NV7025 chipset board, all hardware detected and installed correctly. Only thing I had to do as far as drivers were concerned was the allow the use of restricted NV drivers. Only issue I have come across is SAMBA browsing in Nautilus is busted, ok if you know the IP number and share name but otherwise its busted. But SAMBA issues in an OS are not unknown ask any Apple fanboi about Fix/Delete alias and SAMBA error 36 and watch a grown black Polo Neck cry.

Efros

Free for some... pay for others

This is a clever move by the Ubuntu crowd. One of the things that puts people off Linux is the lack of support (and by that I mean someone you can ring rather than the millions of wikis and forums that you can search if you have the time).

MySQL only started getting taken seriously in the enterprise market when they started charging for the product and offering professional support because a lot of CTO's just don't want the exposure when they can offload the responsibility to Microsoft for four hundred bucks per support event.

In terms of the $20 for 60 days, that's pretty cheap because 60 days gets you installed and up and running, all for the price of a few lattes (and a shed load cheaper than Microsoft's support)

Don't see the problem

It costs money to print up manuals and box blanks, print CDs,build and stuff the boxes, and get them distributed.

As others have commented, shelf space means visibility, which exposes Ubuntu to a whole new market that hasn't seen it before, and a UK tenner for two months' newbie support is an absolute bargain - I have to wonder how Canonical expects to afford to provide the support.

Whichever way you look at it, Canonical isn't likely to be making much, if any, profit, and they're following the Open Source model completely by profiting from support not content sales. What's not to like?

I fully expect Microsoft to be leaning heavily on Best Buy (etc.) to remove Ubuntu, or give it shelf space somewhere near the rafters or the floor sweepings.

This will be interesting.

$20 for 6 months is a rip off

Retail Price:

Windows Vista Home = $200

Canonical Ubuntu = $20

Included Support:

Vista = till 2014

Ubuntu = 2 months

Average cost for support:

Vista = $4.5 per month

Ubuntu = $10 per month

Wouldn't that make Vista cheaper?

(Flame-proof suit and troll hat most definately on! ;-)

Absolutely

This is totally a necessary move to get Linux out into mainstream usage. As others have already pointed out you need to get it out onto shelves at big name stores so people can stumble across it. People will want the choice once they realize that they do have one; but they won't realize that choice is available if they don't know what they're looking for.

As far as the 60 days unlimited support goes..... awesome. That should be more than enough time for the uninitiated to either get it up and running with all their favorite crap or to give up and run crying back to microsoft.

Plus, having the physical packaging and manuals does go a loooong way in alleviating a lot of people's fears concerning Linux. They just don't want to start their experience by having to troll message boards or hunt down texbooks on the topic.

Beer as in three, three as in beer.

I agree with Jon Green above. Calling this a rip-off demonstrates a serious lack of proportionality. The admin, materials, and distribution alone will probably soak up much of that $20.00. As for the amount being a rip-off for 60 days of support, c'mon peeps, again a sense of proportion please, you can't buy three beers in a London pub for that! It's a bargain, however you look at it.

I recently donated five times this amount to Canonical, and I still feel like I'm freeloading (I don't contribute to the code-base). People complaining about Canonical covering their costs are just ungrateful. If Ubuntu (or any other distro/OS) isn't worth $20.00 to you, seriously, don't use it. The community is unlikely to miss you.

...'Adrian', is that Oliver Jones in disguise?

Microsoft has let loose it's legion of naysayers (lol, sounds like they are characters that belong in World of Warcraft) to launch couterstrikes against the approaching Linux usurper.

With Ballmer's Churchill like speech in their ears and the Microsoft EULA in their hearts they shall do battle for the veneration of Gates and to the glory of all Redmond kind.

'Anonymous Coward' has a manifest destiny to liberate all those heathens that have accepted the penguin. No more shall they offer such alien concepts like 'value' and 'freedom'. The traitors must be made to pay for their crimes against capitalism.

And lo, Ballmer stretched forth his hand of doom ready to unleash the most terrible of weapons...poised to strike...waiting until the time is right...then as thunder his words echo 'Developers, Developers, Developers, Developers'...and the Chair of Mass Distraction did follow...

Common Ploy

Why would anybody pay anything for something that's free? Well, it's human nature for people tend to believe what they get free is of low quality. So, raise the price above free and sell all you can. From a business perspective there is nothing either illegal or immoral here. But what we need to consider is who are the sheep (to be fleeced) who are willing to pay for free goods?

I know many people whose personal comfort zone does not include downloading and installing any programs, much less an OS that powers their entire system. To me computers are just toys to be played with, broken, fixed and broken again. But a lot of people are simply not that adventursome.

Several years ago, my former company wanted to transition to a "paperless" environment and actively promoted viewing documents in electric format. I was astounded at the number of reasonable, educated, competent people who simply refused to read letters, memos, and the like on their monitor. They printed every email, every letter, every notice .... everything, and read the paper copy. They simply weren't ready to move to paperless. Paper usage actually increased since now instead of circulating a paper memo for each drone to read and pass on, each printed their own. As Art Linkletter said, "People are Funny". And scammers know it and bilk from people millions of dollars (Pounds?) every day.

There's a buyer for everything. And I need to more aggressively market that bridge I have for sale in Brooklyn, NY.

The average computer user

never reinstalls their operating system. They don't even know what "operating system" means. When their computer seems sluggish and is over a certain age (2 years?) they buy a new one. Or perhaps they get their chump^H^H^H^H^Hmate to fix it. But they never reinstall Windows.

This move will, sadly, change nothing.

@AC

"No, linux still ain't ready for the average Joe user yet"

You forgot to mention that "Joe Average user" Can't install windows either.

@$20 for 6 months is a rip off - By Steve

Err, try again.

Your retail package of Vista doesn't get you unpaid support until 2014.

"Mainstream Support

Mainstream Support is the first phase of the product support lifecycle.

At the supported service pack level, Mainstream Support includes:

* Incident support (no-charge incident support, paid incident support, support charged on an hourly basis, support for warranty claims)

* Security update support

* The ability to request non-security hotfixes"

The OS is supported until 2012. But free? - No (apart from the online KB options)

http://support.microsoft.com/gp/lifepolicy

Great Idea and a Very Low Price for 60 days support!

I am running Ubuntu Hardy Heron 8.04 and I have had no problems.

I think 60 days support for £10 is incredibly good value.

I wouldn't think of supporting anyone for less than £10 per hour.

Its another choice, which is what FOSS is all about.

Great advertising as well.

Hopefully a lot of people will give it a try now that tech support is included.

Constructive criticism

I use Win98 on two of my boxes, one for old Win3.1 software that's never been superseded, one for more recent Win32 software. Ubuntu (Feisty) runs on a third box.

All three machines are underpowered by any reasonable standard.

I use Ubuntu for most stuff these days, but I wouldn't say it's ready for prime time. Here's some reasons:

1. Far too often, problem resolution demands use of the command line or editing a config file. People, if you are going to flog a system with a GUI, for God's sake make sure it's *all* guified.

2. Very slow application load times in comparison with Win98. Open Office is a swine. ABIWord is much more nimble but less functional.

3. Important programs for interacting with Windows, viz. Samba and Wine, are a pain in the ass to use. [This is much the same bitch as #1.]

4. While I fuckin' love having a fully Unicode system, why on earth are there 39 Arabic fonts installed? And why do some of the "standard" Linux fonts have funny gaps of a character here, a character there in non-Latin scripts?

5. Applications are inconsistent in the details of their GUIs. Some use Windows style menu activation (depress alt and release), others what I presume is Unix style (depress alt and old down). Some dropdown lists reposition themselves as you key in the object of your desires, others don't. (Character map script selection is an example of the latter.)

6. Bug reporting and discussion is a nightmare of endless forums, repetitious reports of problems, vaguely described solutions only comprehensible by engaging the Geek lobes of one's brain, etc. I dislike MS, but I have to admit that life is easier when all reports of the same problem end up as one entry in their Knowledge Base.

OTOH, relative freedom from security issues and more or less consistent implementation of open standards (esp. ODF) remove certain headaches tha plague Windows. Also, support for older hardware is better in at least some cases.

Done to generate discussion as much as anything else....

So, the sort of person who would try Ubuntu is probably the sort of person who would be comfortable downloading & installing it for free, anyway. But don't forget the publicity this will get them - I suspect a couple of articles in the Journal or the NYT (or the Independent or Times, depending on your location) will discuss this). Always good to raise 'brand awareness', even if the boxes aren't flying off the shelves...

I reckon Cannonical need to make a 'notebook PC for your gran' (trademark pending), allowing web surfing, email, webcam-ing, DVD & CD playback(-ing), and other general internet-y stuff. Running on (pre-installed) Ubuntu, with hardware all tested to work, no worried with drivers, hardware conflicts.

Then - sell it in Wal-mart as an easy way to get online, without having to worry about viruses & the like...

Rising to the bait...........

In my experience most average computer users wouldn't know an ISO file if it fell on them from 40,000 feet. This is aimed at average users, not experienced ones.

I don't see what's wrong with lobbing a few on the shelves. 20 bucks is nothing in the scheme of things, especially if you are rich enough to shop in PC World ;-)

If it encourages a few extra users, then what's the harm - unless you say that if they have problems installing etc, they may well never try it again and slate it to all & sundry. At least it gives users some choice.

Adrian, I wonder how stable 8.04 would be in say 5 years time and after 3 major services packs, 40 million patches, hacks, fiddles et al ???? Maybe nearly as stable as XP I guess....

IE7. Don't make me laugh......

And don't get me started on Windows & system security. Most people I know using Vista just turn off the warnings (it's usually the first question they ask, and perfectly possible in linux as well, if you really feel the need and can read), and there you are, back to square one - administrative user, full rights and no security. And they are the ones least likely to know a scam from a slap in the face with a wet fish. Why can't they write software for Windows that runs in user space and doesn't require full admin rights ? Or am I being completely stupid ?

And no, I'm not a fully licenced linux druid - I use MS on the desktop for work most days because some software I have to run won't easily run under linux. I don't think Linux is quite the full ticket yet for desktop mainly due to lack of some main stream applications. But I can't wait for the day that it is, so at least I have some choice.

@Roger

You can get 4 pints of Alpine lager, or 5 pints of Old Brewery Bitter and stlll have a quid plus out of a tenner in London.

Where? Any of the several Sam Smith's pubs dotted around the centre.

My favourite is Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese on Fllet Street, rebuild in 1667.

Ubuntu piracy?

How long before we see torrents of these Ubuntu boxed set CDs on the net? Better fire up the BSA party van, because $20 is going to look awful cheep when you can download it for free off teh Intarwebs.

Good idea

I like it... despite running a better distro....( distro flame wars :- how linux nerds amuse themselves when theres no m$ fanboys to bait :+) )

You get a disc with an OS on it ... much better than downloading an ISO file via torrent then hoping it burns to disc correctly.

A nice shiney manual with clear and concise instructions on howto set your PC to boot from DVD and howto partion your windows infested hard drive .

And finally 60 days free support for when it all goes belly up(like every linux install) so you dont have to spend 3 days trawling linux forums full of postings like "rtfm newb" and incomprehensible geek speak relating to doing something in the terminal

But I'm sure there's someone in redmond calling all the major software sellers saying "Remove Ubunto or we'll remove all our products from your chain"

I'll come quietly

@ Beelzebub

It's a fair cop. Please stop spoiling my rants with the facts :-)

Basic manuals are good for noobs

I generally recommend new users spend the extra money the first time on a version with the manual. I got into Linux back in the late '90's with a $10 RH book+CD from the local newsagent I bought on spec after I got jack of Steve Jobs. I am vary glad I had the manual to get started, though haven't needed one since.