[CoLoCo] Ubuntu at Best Buy

[David L. Willson]

> Yeah, it's only $20.  It must not be very good.  I think I'll buy 
> Vista instead.  I mean, sure, it costs a lot more, but that's 
> because it's a *real* OS.
> 
> ...
> 
> The retail price for Ubuntu really needs to be higher...  they 
> could sell a super-deluxe server edition for around $300 
> (including regular and "alternate" CDs for a few architectures), 
> and a home version for at least $100.  It would be the same as 
> what you can download, but people would think it's worth more.
> 

Best Buy shoppers won't buy expensive server OS's or expensive uber-geek versions of
desktop OS's, and Best Buy won't waste shelf-space on a non-selling items.  A better
approach would be to sell Linux with basic support, or Linux with a nice book, for $50
to $80, like Red Hat used to.  Few people will spend money for what they can download
for free, and if someone does it accidentally, that person will feel like they got
screwed.  About the version at Best Buy, what is the customer getting for $20 that they
can't download?  There'd better be a book or something.  If there ~is~ a nice book in
the box, this is an ideal package for Joe or Jane to get some Ubuntu.  But, why does it
say "Official" when it's not from Canonical?  Is this a Canonical-blessed deal, or just
a random company with a printer?  Is this going to force Canonical to do with Ubuntu
branding what Red Hat had to do with Red Hat branding, that is, protect it?  I am
hesitantly happy to see Ubuntu on the shelves.  I hope to see Red Hat back on the
shelves next to it, one day, or SUSE, I suppose.

--David