In article <1992Aug11.152247.5160@cs.wisc.edu> djansa@aphrodite.cs.wisc.edu (Dean Jansa) writes:
quoted text
>In article <BstKFM.Kzz@acsu.buffalo.edu> jmsimon@acsu.buffalo.edu (JMS) writes:
>>
>>Why should anyone buy more than 1 copy from you? If everything is freely
>>distributable, they could arguably spend  for a copy, then make their
>>own copies to sell; total Linux anarchy :)
>>

A very good point.  

quoted text
>>This is where I have a problem - as a student, I'd hate to think that
>>*any* student (or anyone for that matter) had to pay for Linux or the
>>related tools and utilities; that is, in my mind, against the total
>>"spirit" of what Linus Torvalds has sparked, and I would hope most of
>>the independant developers would see it this way. If someone (-especially-
>
>I have to agree 100% with you.  The main reason I am so excited about
>Linux is thats is free, and the best damn OS I have ever used on a PC!!
>Linus and Co. worked hard to get this project going, and it has lit
>a fire under me!!  I tell everyone about it, and help them get it if
>needed.
>

Me too.  But we cannot supply the world, and the faster linux spreads,
the more people who use it instead of MS-DOG, the better off the whole
world is.  (yes, I have a high opinion of linux :) )

I disagree with you 50% :).  Linux is by far the best os around for
the pc (well, I haven't tried Next 486 yet), and the fact it is free is
one of the big reasons I am so excieted about it too.  But, if a commercial
company can fill a niche by selling a freely available product to those
unable or unwilling to get it off the internet for free, then more power
to them.  The gnu copyleft does allow remarketing of the software FOR A
PROFIT, as long as the copyright notice is included, and the buyer is
informed that the source is freely available.  Many ports of x-windows are
sold along similar lines.

Some companies (such as the one I've interned for several summers in a row)
have an almost pathological fear of "freeware" -- with the notion that most
viruses are passed in PD and SW software (which is actually untrue, but that
is another story).  If such companies would like to try Linux, but are
afraid to do so if the don't "pay something" first, then by all means, let
others take their money.

One very valid point, was made however: linux is still in BETA test, and
is not a release product.  While marketing Ver. 1.0 is, IMHO, a good idea
to fill the cracks missed by BBSes and the internet, selling a BETA version
with no support is probably a bit premature, and perhaps detrimental to the
whole linux project (if the happy anarchy surrounding linux can be termed
a project :)).  

In short, I think inexpensive, commercial marketing of linux (especially if
support were to be offered) would help to spread linux to a wider range of
people, much like similar efforts have spread the gnu utilities and 
x-windows.  If I don't have access to the internet when I move back to
Germany (a destinct possibility - the internet is widespread, but not very
widely available to most non-academics), I would rather be able to purchase
linux updates than not get them at all.                                

quoted text
>
>Let's keep Linux alive and well, and FREE!!

Here here!  Let's keep it free, like gnu and X11, but lets also enourage
its use as widely as possible, by also supporting its commercial use once
it is no longer in beta.  After all, those selling it have to tell their
customers that they can get it for free.

just my dime's worth,

Jean.
-- 
Jean Liddle                                 | == Bill Clinton for President ==
Computer Science, Illinois State University | 
e-mail:  jliddle@ilstu.edu                  | - Carol Mosley Braun for Senat -