[sclug] Using open source to make money on generic PCs (article)

[Alex Butcher]

On Mon, 12 Jun 2006, Roland Turner (SCLUG) wrote:

> On Mon, 2006-06-12 at 10:04 +0100, Alex Butcher wrote:
>
>> As far as I'm concerned, as a 'volunteer', if you sell FOSS, you support it
>> (or offer something of equivalent or better value). RH and SuSE/Novell both
>> 'sell' FOSS, but they also put plenty of development effort into the
>> community, so I'm quite happy for them to coexist. A box-shifter simply
>> loading Linux on their machines, selling them at 5% above cost and expecting
>> the community to pick up the slack is Not Playing The Game, in my book.
>
> Erm...

Before I answer, I'd like to thank you for asking these questions as they
made me think about where my objection lies. In essence, it's with the issue
of *leverage*; is the vendor just acting as a distribution vector and taking
their 5% for doing so, or are they selling FOSS as a way of leveraging sales
of other (usually more profitable) products.

Anyway, to answer your questions...

> Do you object to a bookstore selling boxed copies of SuSE?

No. I don't think there's a serious issue of leverage going on here.

> Do you object to parts suppliers providing all of the parts for a machine,
> sans Microsoft tax (perhaps assembled, perhaps not)?

Nope. That's entirely their business.

> Or do you only object when the same vendor does both and additionally (a)
> sources parts that are readily supported by Linux (no dependence upon
> closed drivers)

OK, they're leveraging but they're also (if they're Doing It Right) adding
value by shipping compatible hardware and, arguably more importantly,
sending signals through the market to the manufacturers that FOSS
compatibility/support is a Good Thing. I'd like to see them documenting the
systems they sell (at least a parts list, even better if they write
linux-laptop.net-style HOWTOs). If they were just shipping any old
half-arsed barely-functional crap in a beige box, then they're extracting
the urine, doubly so if the markup approaches or exceeds 100%. :-]

> and (b) saves you the effort of installing and configuring the OS by
> pre-loading and configuring it? What if they saved you even more money and
> more time by installing and configuring Debian instead - a more
> challenging task than installing and configuring SuSE, in anyone's
> language? Would you be more relaxed about it if they offered an option (as
> do most of the Debian CD sellers) to collect a donation from you on SPI's
> behalf?

I'm not especially a Debian-ite, so my opinion on the above matters even
less than my other opinions. :-)

> - Raz

Best Regards,
Alex.
-- 
Alex Butcher, Bristol UK.                           PGP/GnuPG ID:0x5010dbff

"[T]he whole point about the reason why I think it is important we go for
identity cards and an identity database today is that identity fraud and
abuse is a major, major problem. Now the civil liberties aspect of it, look
it is a view, I don't personally think it matters very much."
  - Tony Blair, 6 June 2006 <http://www.number-10.gov.uk/output/Page9566.asp>