Sometimes selling free software is a good thing!
All of the usual suspects are up in arms over the fact that Best Buy is (and has been) selling Ubuntu Linux for $20 on their website (and instore at most of my local stores). They even sell an installation service for it for $130 through their Geek Squad service. A lot of people seemed to be completely outraged by the fact that Best Buy would dare to charge for Open-Source Software. Hell, Ubuntu is free for download and you can even have Canonical send you a free copy. So why would anyone ever possibly buy a copy of Ubuntu in the store and why shouldn’t people be outraged that Best Buy is selling it? I think it’s great that Best Buy is doing this for a few main reasons: This program helps grant legitimacy to Ubuntu in the eyes of the average user. The partnership with Geek Squad for installation is also good, and you can’t discount the fact that even if a user doesn’t buy it, they very well may be intrigued by this weird software called ‘eww – bun- two.’