>In article <3480@key.COM> rburns@key.COM (Randy Burns) writes:

[description of Linux disk distribution]

jmsimon@acsu.buffalo.edu (JMS) writes:

quoted text
>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 :)

jmsimon neglects to quote the following from Randy Burns' article:

quoted text
> Our intent is to make Linux available as a low-cost diskette
> distribution with some of the same niceties that commercial
> customers are used to(i.e. updates could be automatically sent,
> faulty diskettes replaced, and eventually we may produce some glossy
> manuals/packages that would be suitable for display in a typical
> computer store and provide some of the support institutional
> customers need/expect from software).

This way you can buy a product for $40, sell it for $60, and forget
about it. The alternative is to make a bunch of copies for maybe $5-$10
a set, and then either sell them cheap (no manuals, support, or updates)
or try to provide those services yourself.

Randy Burns should be forwarned, however, that what little I know of
software marketing (from Midnight Engineering magazine :-) seems to
indicate that software resellers might want a steeper discount than 33%
from list price.

I wish Randy luck. Actually, if I get around to upgrading my PC, I'll
probably order Linux from him for two reasons: (a) it would take over 5
hours to download 19 disks worth of data, and (b) my department gets
charged by the megabyte for network traffic to/from the Internet.

                                Peter Desnoyers
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