[ale] SUSE 9.2 Pro free from Novell

[Greg]

Well, the motivations can include :

	1. The GPL stipulates that they have to make any improvements available
anyway.
	2. They are fighting MS, RH, Fedora, Sun, HP, IBM, and others for market
share.  Giving stuff away for free can help (remember MS Internet Explorer
?)
	3. Corporations and first time users will buy the boxed set (which normally
includes 2 manuals that are pretty comprehensive and really helpful).
	4. The folks who won't buy the boxed sets will get it from other places
anyway (CheapBytes, bit torrents, etc...)
	5. Folks who use it at home will want to use it at work.
	6. You keep ticking your customer base off and they will leave and never
come back - as either a personal user or in the workplace (like RH probably
did to many).
	7. Those who believe in supporting Open Source companies will buy the boxed
set regardless.
	8. I think the boxed set comes with some support for a limited period while
other sources don't include this.  This is important to many folks - See #
3.
	9. You catch more customers / supporters with honey than vinegar - this
kinda ties in with #2.
	10. To make up for no Personal version (just joking).

	That's all I can think of at the moment.

	Greg




-----Original Message-----
From: ale-bounces at ale.org [mailto:ale-bounces at ale.org]On Behalf Of
Parker McGee
Sent: Friday, January 14, 2005 10:18 PM
To: habieb at myrealbox.com; Atlanta Linux Enthusiasts
Subject: Re: [ale] SUSE 9.2 Pro free from Novell


My first reaction to this is, why would they do it?  Was 9.2 Pro such
a flop, or are they relying on people wanting to buy the box for the
manual and disk?  I just don't understand the motivation.


On Fri, 14 Jan 2005 22:13:33 -0500, H. Bieber <habieb at myrealbox.com> wrote:
> I just received this email from Novell....
>
> Harold
> +++++++++++++++++++++++++++
>
> SUSE LINUX Professional 9.2 free download available
>
> WALTHAM, Mass. * January 14, 2005 * Novell today announced the
availability of it's highly acclaimed consumer product, SUSE LINUX
Professional 9.2, as a free download at ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/i386/.
This free offering will enable Linux users to trial the latest open source
desktop, server and application functionality that has become the hallmark
of the SUSE LINUX consumer distribution. As opposed to the LiveDVD version,
which will boot directly from the DVD without modifying the hard disk, this
is a fully installable version and is not time limited.
>
> This free offer of SUSE LINUX Professional 9.2 provides a perfect starting
point for many individuals to use and get to know a Linux distribution
better. Novell provides the latest and greatest Linux technology available
to a broad audience by bringing together thousands of open source software
packages into an ideal Linux operating system.
>
> Customers who are looking for additional installation support,
comprehensive manuals and the software in a conveniently packaged media kit
can obtain a boxed versions at all major retail outlets or visit our
homepage http://www.novell.com/products/linuxprofessional/
>
> ###
>
> Press Contact:
>
> Jasmin Ul-Haque
> Novell, Inc.
> +44-01344-326-966
> juh at novell.com
>
> Registered Linux User #277269
> http://counter.li.org
> _______________________________________________
> Ale mailing list
> Ale at ale.org
> http://www.ale.org/mailman/listinfo/ale
>


--
Parker McGee
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