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Canonical asks desktop users to “pay what you think Ubuntu is worth”

arstechnica.com

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Re: Canonical asks desktop users to “pay what you think Ubuntu is worth”

#4
Holy freakin' hell that is an awful headline. This is a DONATION, nothing more. Canonical is not asking people to pay, it is asking people to donate if they are so inclined. The press releases states that Ubuntu is and always will be free.

Use Ubuntu and want to give some money for it? Great. Donate. Now there is a way where previously there was none.

Use Ubuntu and don't want to give money? Great. Don't donate.

Don't use Ubuntu? Carry on.

Re: Canonical asks desktop users to “pay what you think Ubuntu is worth”

#5
Presenting this screen before you can actually get the OS does not make much sense for new users. They won't know if "hardware support on more PCs" or "performance optimisations" will be any important for them. It'd be more sensible for this to show up as a built-in screen after you've used Ubuntu for a few months.

Re: Canonical asks desktop users to “pay what you think Ubuntu is worth”

#6

So, the tricky question is - what if we can't afford that? Does that mean that, ethically, I should no longer use the product if I want to honor Canonical's request?

The donation step is optional, so I see no "ethical" dilema here. If you can afford to donate some money to the project you could do it. If not, no problem you should use the product as you see fit.

I suspect that most Ubuntu users can donate 16$ for the project.

Re: Canonical asks desktop users to “pay what you think Ubuntu is worth”

#7

Holy freakin' hell that is an awful headline. This is a DONATION, nothing more. Canonical is not asking people to pay, it is asking people to donate if they are so inclined. The press releases states that Ubuntu is and always will be free. Use Ubuntu and want to give some money for it? Great. Donate. Now there is a way where previously there was none. Use Ubuntu and don't want to give money? Great. Don't donate. Don'…

According to the article (with accompanying screenshot at http://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/how-mu...), "Pay what you think Ubuntu is worth" is the text of an actual message (sometimes) displayed to users.

Re: Canonical asks desktop users to “pay what you think Ubuntu is worth”

#8

Holy freakin' hell that is an awful headline. This is a DONATION, nothing more. Canonical is not asking people to pay, it is asking people to donate if they are so inclined. The press releases states that Ubuntu is and always will be free. Use Ubuntu and want to give some money for it? Great. Donate. Now there is a way where previously there was none. Use Ubuntu and don't want to give money? Great. Don't donate. Don'…

The headline doesn't seem awful considering the actual screen which speaks for itself. http://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/how-mu...

Also, it's not a traditional donation in the Mozilla Firefox sense because you cannot deduct it from your taxes because Canonical is a for-profit commercial organization.

Re: Canonical asks desktop users to “pay what you think Ubuntu is worth”

#10

Holy freakin' hell that is an awful headline. This is a DONATION, nothing more. Canonical is not asking people to pay, it is asking people to donate if they are so inclined. The press releases states that Ubuntu is and always will be free. Use Ubuntu and want to give some money for it? Great. Donate. Now there is a way where previously there was none. Use Ubuntu and don't want to give money? Great. Don't donate. Don'…

It's not a stretch at all, considering it's a partial quote. Read the article before getting into a knot.

If you scroll down you will see a screenshot from Ubuntu which says, "Pay what you think it's worth" which is followed with subtitle text of, "Millions agree that Ubuntu is a great piece of software. But how much do you really think it's worth?"

Nowhere does the article or title imply that you cannot download Ubuntu regardless of your donation. However, Ubuntu themselves has chosen wording which alludes to asking people to pay.

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