[wplug] suse

Rafael E. Herrera raffo at neuronet.pitt.edu
Wed Feb 5 23:38:18 EST 2003


Vanco, Donald wrote:
> 
> You folks realize that your comparing prices on FREE software - right?  
> 
> When you pay for RH or Mandrake or SuSE what you're paying for is the box,
> the media, the books, and whatever support the particular package has with
> it.
> The $40 version of Red Hat has the EXACT same install binary disks as the
> $200 version - the difference is the inclusion of the garbage application
> CDs and the SUPPORT.

Wrong. You pay for someone having put it all together, created an 
installer, etc. In short, making sure all works. You think integrating 
thousands of programs together is done by four geeks in a garage? Try 
installing Linux from scratch yourself and you'll probably become 
productive and do actual work in a few months.

> ...
> If you _need_ support that's fine, but choosing a distro based on price is
> not good reasoning.  It's Linux - it's Free.

Linux and most of the software that comes in a distribution is licensed 
with the GPL. To learn what it is intended when that software is 
referred to as "free", check this link 
http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html.

-- 
      Rafael




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