/facepalm

Fail

No wait, they're making money off something thats free...

Still, fuck Bestbuy.

[irresponsible activist]

Get a new username if you wanna be taken seriously.

[Prometheum]

There's nothing "fail" about this. Part of freedom is the ability to redistribute the software for any purpose. If you can't redistribute commercially, the software isn't free.

Originally Posted by 449

Fail

No wait, they're making money off something thats free...

Still, fuck Bestbuy.

Uh, you can still sell GPL'd software, the GPL gives the users freedom, it doesn't force the software to be free of price.

lol ive never seen anything like this in my entire life....dont people know that you can get a LCD from ubuntu site anyways?

i guess bestbuy is capable of making money off of stupidity....it is a free market in the end.

[Kamisama]

This is an issue of ethics and honor.

First of all, the linux community helped build the linux kernel. The debian community helped build debian, which was used to help build ubuntu. And the ubuntu community helped stabilize Ubuntu and create documentation/manuals for it.

BestBuy is acting a little like McDonald's in the sense that it's stealing the competition's hardwork and claiming it as its own. McDonald's didn't use to sell most of its crap until it figured it'd take items from taco bell, burger king, etc. in order to make its customer's happy.

Secondly, I don't believe BestBuy should have the right to sell free things with added cost. They should only have the right to charge for the CD/DVD the information comes on and the shipping+handling. Any further than that and it starts to become outrageous and they are simply stealing from the free world.

Why is this an issue?

This is an issue primarily because BestBuy has begun to monopolize the computer market. It has taken down a variety of public vendors via competition. And I also believe getting people to use Ubuntu will only force people to use their "geek squad" to solve Ubuntu issues. Have you asked for a price estimate for what the Geek Squad can do? It's total robbery. Things that BestBuy does is a ploy for it to get more money. That is, of course, how business works. But I don't think this is how the GPL should work. I think BestBuy should be allowed to charge for what it costs for them to put it in the store, but they have no right to cause incremental costs upon the product, in my opinion. I do not consider it wrong, under the premise they are simply selling the product WITHOUT INCREMENTAL COST, for them to use the geek squad to help others with Ubuntu.

At the minimum, BestBuy should make VERY apparent to the users that the OS can be downloaded elsewhere for free, instead of buying it.

Even further, I can read the "reviews" on their website. After taking courses in rhetoric and argumentation, I can easily tell that these are false reviews. People are either paid to do it, are doing it for some evil reason to support BestBuy (maybe they were told to do so by managers or higher-ups), or it is the managers themselves that are trying to sell the things from their shelves.

In a land where it is not illegal to rape a child, most people would refuse to do so out of honor, culture, and ethic, but BestBuy is raping the child.

[deus-redux]

Originally Posted by 449

they're making money off something thats free...

Sounds like good business to me.

-deus-

[Prometheum]

Originally Posted by Kamisama

This is an issue of ethics and honor.

First of all, the linux community helped build the linux kernel. The debian community helped build debian, which was used to help build ubuntu. And the ubuntu community helped stabilize Ubuntu and create documentation/manuals for it.

BestBuy is acting a little like McDonald's in the sense that it's stealing the competition's hardwork and claiming it as its own. McDonald's didn't use to sell most of its crap until it figured it'd take items from taco bell, burger king, etc. in order to make its customer's happy.

Secondly, I don't believe BestBuy should have the right to sell free things with added cost. They should only have the right to charge for the CD/DVD the information comes on and the shipping+handling. Any further than that and it starts to become outrageous and they are simply stealing from the free world.

Why is this an issue?

This is an issue primarily because BestBuy has begun to monopolize the computer market. It has taken down a variety of public vendors via competition. And I also believe getting people to use Ubuntu will only force people to use their "geek squad" to solve Ubuntu issues. Have you asked for a price estimate for what the Geek Squad can do? It's total robbery. Things that BestBuy does is a ploy for it to get more money. That is, of course, how business works. But I don't think this is how the GPL should work. I think BestBuy should be allowed to charge for what it costs for them to put it in the store, but they have no right to cause incremental costs upon the product, in my opinion. I do not consider it wrong, under the premise they are simply selling the product WITHOUT INCREMENTAL COST, for them to use the geek squad to help others with Ubuntu.

At the minimum, BestBuy should make VERY apparent to the users that the OS can be downloaded elsewhere for free, instead of buying it.

Even further, I can read the "reviews" on their website. After taking courses in rhetoric and argumentation, I can easily tell that these are false reviews. People are either paid to do it, are doing it for some evil reason to support BestBuy (maybe they were told to do so by managers or higher-ups), or it is the managers themselves that are trying to sell the things from their shelves.

In a land where it is not illegal to rape a child, most people would refuse to do so out of honor, culture, and ethic, but BestBuy is raping the child.

One of the main points of free software is that you can redistribute for any purpose, including making yourself richer. If you can't, the software is not free. Best Buy is fully compliant with the letter and spirit of the GPL, and great for them for making money off of free software. They had to eventually, a lot of other people are.

As for them "monopolizing" Ubuntu: Another great thing about the GPL is that it enables you to remove things like DRM, or anything that would force the customer into using Geek Squad. You can't monopolize Gnu support. This is a major reason to switch to the GPLv3, however, because under the GPLv2, such removal of DRM could be considered illegal under the DMCA and similar laws.

[23]

Oh stop bitching. Stupid people deserve to be parted from their money. Just be thankful you're not that stupid.

[psycho_8b]

I just want to be able to read about the retarded questions people ask...

"But where's the Windows start button?"
"Ma'am this isn't Windows...It's Ubuntu Linux...."
"Yeah but with my old computer I could press a thing and see my things...."
"'/facepalm'"