{mosimage}

Not too ago, I stumbled onto a post that was created by a rather irate blogger who felt that Ubuntu was getting the shaft. Apparently someone had decided to "sell" Ubuntu CDs, with packaging, on eBay. In this article, I want to seriously examine what, if any, harm was done here.

(Column) – Not too ago, I stumbled onto a post that was created by a rather irate blogger who felt that Ubuntu was getting the shaft. Apparently someone had decided to "sell" Ubuntu CDs, with packaging, on eBay. In this article, I want to seriously examine what, if any, harm was done here.

Get Angry the Right Way. Getting upset when someone sells an open source product is beyond stupid. As long as trademark, copyright and other licensing requirements are being met, then there is no problem. One example is Open Office. Last time I checked, as long as you used approved marketing materials with approved logos, they couldn’t care less how much you sell their CDs for. Why? Obviously because it means one less copy of MS Office in the hands of the user, that’s why!

Now we come back to the angry blogger and the sale of Ubuntu on eBay. If the blogger in question wanted to tackle the issue with any intelligence, they should have considered the obvious trademark violation and contacted Canonical about the matter. Looking at the eBay listing told me instantly that this was blatant trademark infringement.

Still think I’m splitting hairs on this issue? Think again. The fact is that the trademark argument will hold up a lot better than simply arguing that re-selling something is wrong based on the fact that it is otherwise available for free.

Click here to get the latest prices on Asus Eee Linux notebook!

{mospagebreak title=2. Continued…}

The Larger Issue At Hand. Not too long ago, I remember how people used to get upset over Linspire and Xandros selling copies of their distributions, while Novell, among others, were getting a free pass doing the same thing. All of the groups involved offered support for their products. And today, no one can seriously argue that Novell is less Microsoft-friendly than Linspire – they signed on similar dotted lines with Microsoft, people.

So why does it seem like Novell (SuSE) ended up off the hook? Simple, because at one time, Freespire and Xandros Open Circulation Edition did not exist – OpenSuSE did. What is interesting is that I’m 99 percent sure that at some level, this existed, as did the source code for Xandros. So could it be that the only real difference is that completed distributions of each release were not actively being given away? Think about it.

Let me provide you with another highly controversial example. Let’s say I take XYZ Distro, re-master it, verify that I’m in compliance with the GPL, any applicable trademarks and copyrights. Can I sell it? Of course I can. The real trick, however, is extending value far enough that a buyer interested in making the purchase.

In many cases, like selling Open Office, for example, it is merely making the potential buyer aware of the product. Lame? Of course, it is a weak sales model – sleazy even. Immoral? That is debatable. Considering the buyer is going to end up with a fantastic product, and that they are made aware of its free availability at the appropriate URL, nothing wrong has actually taken place here. The buyer has knowingly decided to go with the bottled water concept, instead of getting it for free from the "tap," so to speak.

Top 4 Browsers for Linux Reviewed

Bottled Water, Anyone? As many of the pre-installed distro options showing up in the big box stores have shown us, in this country, for non-geeks, Linux adoption means coming off the high horse and joining the bottled water crowd.

Obviously, other projects like PCLinuxOS and Ubuntu will attract many Windows converts with their own merit. But this is generally going to be a bigger hit with the Windows power user. Joe Average couldn’t care less about licensing, open source or other items of importance. Joe Average belongs to the bottled water crowd and will go for the path of least resistance. They want it easy, ready to go and lacking lame rubber stamps placed on anyone that disagrees with the elite, such as the term "FUD."

Commonsense users coming off of Windows are all too happy to drop their hard earned cash on a "made easy" distro that has everything working. And if that means having the hardware bundled along with it, from businesses like Best Buy, then all the better.

Personally, I’m happy with Ubuntu and Debian. Both serve me well, but at the same time, I will always be open to new distributions offering to make the lives of beginners easier. It’s not for me, but it’s for people that are reading this from IE7 on Windows Vista. That, my friends, is where the real growth market is.

Click here to get the latest prices on Asus Eee Linux notebook!