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Date:      Wed, 23 Feb 2005 11:41:19 -0600
From:      Jacob S <stormspotter@6Texans.net>
To:        freebsd-questions@freebsd.org
Subject:   Re: Different OS's? Marketshare
Message-ID:  <20050223114119.0e37b8e7@jacob.6texans.net>
In-Reply-To: <1393306385.20050223174955@wanadoo.fr>
References:  <!~!UENERkVCMDkAAQACAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAABgAAAAAAAAAkUru9e0Xgkm1jphiEj0758KAAAAQAAAAVNKPkcwi5Uq3w6wWDp/biAEAAAAA@video-phones-evdo.com> <LOBBIFDAGNMAMLGJJCKNIEHPFAAA.tedm@toybox.placo.com> <20050223104134.56e8e73b@jacob.6texans.net> <1393306385.20050223174955@wanadoo.fr>

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On Wed, 23 Feb 2005 17:49:55 +0100
Anthony Atkielski <atkielski.anthony@wanadoo.fr> wrote:

> Jacob S writes:
> 
> > You must be looking at a different Linux community than the one I'm
> > familiar with. I thought boxed sets of Linux had gone out of retail
> > stores years ago.
> 
> I bought a copy of Mandrake Linux in a retail store yesterday.  I saw
> SuSE in the store, too.  Computer stores have a wider choice.

Good. I'm glad to see the average Windows user looking around the
computer store still gets to see an alternative once in a while.

> > I'm having too much fun with downloading versions and upgrading over
> > the internet - yes, for free.
> 
> That says a lot about the type of user you are.

True, but I still see a lot of new users on Linux e-mail lists that are
downloading it for free.

> > Linspire and Redhat tend to be Windows-like, in hiding their free
> > releases or not releasing them until the next version comes out,
> > etc., but they're generally considered the exception in the Linux
> > community.
> 
> I've looked at a fair number of Linux Web sites over the past few
> days. Almost all of them seemed to be trying to sell something.  It
> was often extremely hard to find links pointing to downloadable free
> versions of anything.

So, where on www.debian.org do you see them trying to sell something?

> > I understand there's some competition between FreeBSD and Linux, but
> > Linux doesn't have to be considered evil just because they're not
> > FreeBSD fans.
> 
> It's not evil to sell software.  But it's not free software, either.

But Linux was compared to Microsoft, which would indicate that some
consider it to be giving in to evil influences.

Or we could get into the whole free-as-in-speech or free-as-in-food
debate. There is a reason that you can buy legal copies of Linspire on
E-bay for $3/each. But I definitely think it's better when it's
free-as-in-food, too. 

Jacob



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