Re: SUSE sales price

From: Tom Emerson (x_at_y.z.com)
Date: 04/25/04 

Date: Sun, 25 Apr 2004 17:09:36 GMT

Nathan wrote:

> I've been using Linux distros for about 6 years now, and have been
> willing to pay for them, ... I feel as though by paying
> for them I'm contributing to the Linux community in a positive way.

There are some interesting threads that have spun off of this, but most seem
to have missed a couple of fundamental points

> ... what has concerned me of late, the price of Suse 9.1: ...
> From $30 for the personal to $90 for pro!!!!!

which is an apples-to-oranges comparison. If you've been buying the distro
for this long, you know there has been two versions for quite some time
now. The price has generally been $40 for personal, $80 for pro (and $50
for the upgrade, plus the cost of shipping since [generally] the upgrade
version isn't sold "off the shelf" at Fry's) In any case, this isn't much
of a difference in pricing.

> I've never liked SUSE personal editions...sure they come with SOME
> of the bells and whistles but like every good Linux hacker, I want ALL
> the bells and whistles. So I usually pick up the professional edition.

What I *do* find annoying, however, is that they've been dropping more and
more "essential" stuff from the "personal" edition -- I just grabbed the
9.0 box to compare, and the one that strikes me as "odd" is that SAMBA is
not included in the personal edition! (not even the "client" tools) I
realize that Samba is something you would find more in a business setting,
but nowadays more and more homes are becoming a "two computer" home, with
some fundamental networking between them.
 
> I'm not a cheap *** but $90 is a real turn off. Sorry.
> You can find Windows Xp on Amazon for $178:
> Okay, I know I'm not making the finest of points here but I'm sad to
> say that SUSE 9.0 will be the last version that I pay for

as others have mentioned, the "upgrade" version is targeted for folks like
you -- while I suppose "technically" you should have bought a prior
version, "realistically" you don't -- you get the "full" pro package, but
without the 400+ page "user" guide. They save money by not printing it,
and you save money by not being "forced" to buy it. 

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