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Light and Cheap, Netbooks Are Poised to Reshape PC Industry (New York Times)Light and Cheap, Netbooks Are Poised to Reshape PC Industry (New York Times)Posted Apr 4, 2009 8:10 UTC (Sat) by boog (subscriber, #30882)In reply to: Light and Cheap, Netbooks Are Poised to Reshape PC Industry (New York Times) by pzb Parent article: Light and Cheap, Netbooks Are Poised to Reshape PC Industry (New York Times)
I think the post is maybe referring to the difference between free as in cheap and free as in freedom, but the comment did leave me wondering whether my coffee was working.
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Free and cheap Posted Apr 4, 2009 9:48 UTC (Sat) by man_ls (subscriber, #15091) [Link] Yes, it is hard to see the point without further explanations. I understood the original post as saying "Linux is not $3, it is $0 since it is free", but that would be misguided since Xandros and Ubuntu will charge something to the manufacturer anyway. Your interpretation ("Linux is cheap and libre too") makes more sense.
Free and cheap Posted Apr 4, 2009 19:34 UTC (Sat) by jiu (subscriber, #57673) [Link]
Actually... I meant it both ways: the article never mentions freedom of modification and redistribution, and I didn't know that Canonical or Xandros would make hardware makers pay for their distros (thought it was $0). Is it because they're including non-free components specially for them?
Free and cheap Posted Apr 4, 2009 19:48 UTC (Sat) by man_ls (subscriber, #15091) [Link] Xandros is indeed a non-free distribution (you cannot redistribute it freely). Ubuntu is mostly free (except for branded components I guess). I am not sure about the netbook distro, but it is probably the same; in any case a hardware maker could download a copy, remove all proprietary components and add back whatever they like. But OEMs pay for customization and integration anyway; in the end it is a per-unit fee quite similar to a license, albeit (in this case) much lower.The above is pretty much speculation, but the real picture should not be too far off.
LWN bug? Posted Apr 4, 2009 10:55 UTC (Sat) by boog (subscriber, #30882) [Link]
The subject "Free and cheap" was given to my first comment above (changed in preview), yet it only appears on the following reply. Possibly a bug in the LWN comment code?
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