by Forrest Sheng Bao http://fsbao.net
I went to BestBuy store (BestBuy is the largest consumer electronics and computer retailer in US and Canada) today. I heard Ubuntu Linux installation CD with technical support subscription is sold in BestBuy. So I checked with the operating system shelf. Next by dozens of boxes of Windows XP/Vista, was the Ubuntu disks.
I couldn't find the version information. So I asked one sells man in the store. He said the version should be Hardy Heron, which is the code name of Ubuntu 8.04 LTS. I was surprised to hear that he knew Ubuntu and the version number. He even told me since the Ubuntu Linux is open sourced, you can upgrade it to the latest version for free from the Internet. Wow! Linux now at least make sells men know her.
I was so excited to see Ubuntu being sold in the top 1 computer retail store and being put together with Microsoft Windows. This is a great victory for us, the open source community, which includes many industry leaders, such as IBM, HP or Google. You know, you could not imagine this 10 years ago.
I really have to say that after Ubuntu was born, the position of Linux in desktop market has been changed a lot. Before that, the opem source community doesn't care much about common users. They just care making things work in their own geeky way. But Ubuntu even provides better experience than Mac and much more convenience features.
So, I bought the pack, though I know I can download the ISO and burn the disk for free, legally. It's so exciting. After coming back, I took some pictures for that box. Here it is:
The cover and the bar code:
The inner page:
The back side:
The technical support registration code
See the $19.99 item :
7 comments:
How many years ago did they stop calling it "Gaim" and started calling it "Pidgin"? :)
You bought this at:
Store: 226 Lubbock, TX 79424
I'd blur the line:
0226.XXX.XXXX.12/12/08.
Anyone familiar with Best Buy can use that information for evil doings.
To Marc: Yeah, I didn't notice that.
To Mockidol: Thanks for you comments.
anyone familiar with evil can use Best Buy for doings
@ Marc
As of 2007-04-24 13:58, Gaim has been renamed to Pidgin.
http://sourceforge.net/projects/gaim/
Looks like this is being done by ValueSoft (an "official re-distributor of Ubuntu") which is owned by THQ, a game maker from Southern California. Could explain why they weren't up-to-date on the Gaim/Pidgin transition (they probably just update the CD and use the same packaging).
What's strange is that if you go to Valusoft's web site and search for Ubuntu, it can't find it. According to the package, "Email ubuntusupport@valusoft.com to get started". I would have thought you would be able to use their on-line regristration.
Just what victory are you talking about? How is this a "great victory" for anyone but the people making off money of something that should be free as in freedom? Sure ubuntu attracts a lot of users, but that is not necessarily a good thing. Ubuntu already affects the way linux is seen just because so many people use it. You could say, there's a monopoly forming. A monopoly like microsoft has one in the proprietary software world. Linux isn't about unification, it's about diversity and choice.
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