<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN">
<html>
<head>
<meta content="text/html;charset=ISO-8859-1" http-equiv="Content-Type">
</head>
<body bgcolor="#ffffff" text="#000000">
Elizabeth Stark wrote:
<blockquote
cite="mid:%3C55bea5620904041520v31520b8bhef72dbe78faef25f@mail.gmail.com%3E"
type="cite">Charging for such services is widely seen as a valid means
of establishing revenue models around FOSS. Remember, it's free as in
speech, not necessarily beer. They might want to do a better job of
clarifying the aspects of free software in offering the service,
however. <br>
<br>
<div class="gmail_quote">On Sat, Apr 4, 2009 at 7:13 PM, Tony Biondo <span
dir="ltr"><<a moz-do-not-send="true" href="mailto:tonyb@tonybox.net">tonyb@tonybox.net</a>></span>
wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote"
style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;"><a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://hhh.freeculture.org/2009/gnulinux-installations/"
target="_blank">http://hhh.freeculture.org/2009/gnulinux-installations/</a><br>
It seems they plan on charging for GNU/Linux installations.<br>
<br>
I'm not saying this is a bad thing, I'm curious of other people's<br>
opinions.<br>
<br>
On one side, its bad and is charging for something that is free, and not<br>
teaching them about the value of free things. On the other side, it<br>
could produce money for the cause, and satisfy the people who insist<br>
'nothing of value is free' (and then shock them after they realize it<br>
*was* free).<br>
<br>
Anyway, what are your thoughts on this?<br>
<font color="#888888"><br>
-Tony Biondo<br>
</font><br>
p.s. Sorry about blank email before, accidentally hit send.<br>
<br>
<br>
_______________________________________________<br>
Discuss mailing list<br>
<a moz-do-not-send="true" href="mailto:Discuss@freeculture.org">Discuss@freeculture.org</a><br>
<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://freeculture.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/discuss"
target="_blank">http://freeculture.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/discuss</a><br>
<br>
</blockquote>
</div>
<br>
<pre wrap="">
<hr size="4" width="90%">
_______________________________________________
Discuss mailing list
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:Discuss@freeculture.org">Discuss@freeculture.org</a>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://freeculture.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/discuss">http://freeculture.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/discuss</a>
</pre>
</blockquote>
I think they should provide the installations for free and then
politely request suggested donations. Charging for these installations
makes it seem that Linux is something that isn't easily installed by
someone without a lot of computer experience. The fact that there is a
mandatory charge is discouraging to the FOSS and GPL community and it
makes it seem that Linux is something that you have to pay for. People
think that you need to pay for good software and a good OS. Not
charging for these installations is the perfect opportunity to educate
people and break that closed-mind and Microsoft-encouraged way of
thinking.<br>
</body>
</html>