Would a pay-only distro survive?

[NeoGeo64]

Say a company came out with a really user friendly / commercially supported distro. The only thing, however, was that the distro cost $100. Would it survive? Or, does the Linux community think everything should be free?

[jimallyn]

Xandros managed to survive for about 6 years, if I remember correctly, during which time they had four releases. All of which I bought, at about 80 bucks a pop. It was the best distro I've ever used. Everything just worked, and everything worked well together.

[Pjotr]

As a desktop home user, I wouldn't mind paying for a distro, provided it would only be a small sum (5 - 10 dollars, for example). But then again, why should I? There are so many excellent free distro's around....

If you're thinking about starting a company that produces a paid distro, I think you should carefully consider what market you're targeting and what exactly will distinguish your distro from the big free ones (Mint, Ubuntu, openSUSE, ....). Your distro would have to have certain aspects that would make it appealing for your potential customers, more appealing than the free alternatives.

For example: the paid enterprise distro's Red Hat and SUSE have found this market appeal in the support they provide for businesses. Among home users, I think it'll be much harder to get market share for a paid distro.

[Pierre]

something like Zorin does?

- they have a free version, used to promote their O/S,
& a paid version(s) that are more customised.
http://zorin-os.com/premium.html

[NeoGeo64]

What ever happened to Xandros? I haven't heard about that Linux distribution in a long time.

[DrHu]

Linspire begot Xandros

• On July 1, 2008, Linspire stockholders elected to change the company's name to Digital Cornerstone,[3] and all assets were acquired by Xandros.[4]

--linspire link..

It's been tried and failed

• Corel Linux
• Smaller companies such as Librabnet
  --family owned
• Linspire, I guess they were in that business
  --but Freespire ate their own

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corel_Linux
https//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libranet
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linspire

There were also third party Linux support (Software as a Service style business), such as Linuxcare
--now if Linux at that time had the impetus it does now, may have been a company that could survive as a service; whether or not home users would be interested is another question

• Business user's of Linux, and there may be more now, despite the obstacles and the exec's preference for other options can be (still) a possibility

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linuxcare

[Bolle1961]

Say a company came out with a really user friendly / commercially supported distro. The only thing, however, was that the distro cost $100.

Depends how long you get support. If it's 3 years or more why not, I sure would buy it (if it's Debian based )

Btw, openSuse sells boxed versions for €45 for years, so yes there is definitely a market
https://en.opensuse.org/Buy_openSUSE
I still have my box from 1999 / 2000 some where

[DeMus]

Like Pjotr already wrote, paying a small sum of money is okay. Small, probably because we are both Dutch and you all know where the phrase "going Dutch" comes from, right? If something has to be paid we all say: who will pay, and keep a hand on our wallet, a bit like Alan Harper in 2 1/2 men.

I mean, spending some money on something you like is okay, if that means the survival of that something. Now I have to admit until now (and I use Linux since 2008) I have never ever paid for it nor did I donate money to, for example Mint, for using this great distro. I know I should and I will. Yes, I will donate money to help Mint survive. I benefit from it every day and it is worth a donation, especially since also my wife has (finally) made the jump and left Windows 7 behind. So now the only Windows in our house are the ones we use to look outside.

A pay-only distro will probably not survive, except for distro's used by companies who need support and pay for that (Red Hat, Suse for example). As we say here, the "home, garden and kitchen" distro's (the general use distro's) will not make it if they could only be used when paid for. They will end up in the dark side of the internet (usenet, torrents) and so they will be used probably, but not the way it was intended.

No, money has to come through donations (and yes I will still make a donation, don't worry), sponsers and advertisement on the webpages. Now, once again, I have to admit something, I use Adblock to filter every advertisement there is. I simply hate them. On TV when the commercials start we use the remote to zap to a different channel.
When I read my own story I am a bad one for the community. I have to change. Well, let's start with the donation so my conscience is a bit cleaner than what it was.

Who will follow?

[killer de bug]

As a desktop home user, I wouldn't mind paying for a distro, provided it would only be a small sum (5 - 10 dollars, for example). But then again, why should I? There are so many excellent free distro's around....

It's free but it doesn't mean it was free to develop!

[Pjotr]

As a desktop home user, I wouldn't mind paying for a distro, provided it would only be a small sum (5 - 10 dollars, for example). But then again, why should I? There are so many excellent free distro's around....

It's free but it doesn't mean it was free to develop!

No, so I contribute voluntarily.... Mostly by supplying Dutch translations for various projects and by helping people with Linux problems, by the way. But I am not *obliged* to do so, which is what's being discussed here.

[killer de bug]

Now I have to admit until now (and I use Linux since 2008) I have never ever paid for it nor did I donate money to, for example Mint, for using this great distro. I know I should and I will. Yes, I will donate money to help Mint survive.

I have paid for it. It was not as expensive as a Windows license, but I made a donation to the team. Did I pay enough? Probably not. The quality of this distro makes it much more expensive than a Windows license.

But contributing is not only a question of money!
1) you can use yahoo and duckduckgo with the right address and this will provide revenues to the team.
2) You can help other users on the forum. Increasing the user base increases the incomes.
3) Install Linux Mint on other users laptop. See point 2 for consequences.
4) Help the team. Code new features or test new features/RC iso... and provide feed back to the team. Increasing the quality of a release will increase its user base and the incomes to the team.

[killer de bug]

No, so I contribute voluntarily.... Mostly by supplying Dutch translations for various projects and by helping people with Linux problems, by the way. But I am not *obliged* to do so, which is what's being discussed here.

No ones, especially me, has said otherwise!

[DeMus]

Now I have to admit until now (and I use Linux since 2008) I have never ever paid for it nor did I donate money to, for example Mint, for using this great distro. I know I should and I will. Yes, I will donate money to help Mint survive.

I have paid for it. It was not as expensive as a Windows license, but I made a donation to the team. Did I pay enough? Probably not. The quality of this distro makes it much more expensive than a Windows license.

But contributing is not only a question of money!
1) you can use yahoo and duckduckgo with the right address and this will provide revenues to the team.
2) You can help other users on the forum. Increasing the user base increases the incomes.
3) Install Linux Mint on other users laptop. See point 2 for consequences.
4) Help the team. Code new features or test new features/RC iso... and provide feed back to the team. Increasing the quality of a release will increase its user base and the incomes to the team.

Well, I have installed Mint on other computers as well, read for example my story:!!! YES !!! http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?f=60&t=190629
I do help out as much as I can on the forum, I am often here and not only for asking questions how to do this or that, but when I can help somebody (and others who read the thread) then I do that. Coding is something I can't do since I have no idea how to do that, translating I have tried when I was still using Ubuntu but it was not my cup of tea (didn't like the way things were going). Testing is something I could do, so yes, I think I will try that. Have an extra computer on the table so my own system can stay the way it is.
Thanks for the idea.

[killer de bug]

My statement was general and not only for you. Just some general ideas on how to help Linux Mint.