Re: freebsdmall.com prices

deeptech71@gmail.com wrote:
> I've just looked at the prices at www.freebsdmall.com, and found that 
> they are overwhelming. A full FreeBSD release costs like 40$. 40$?! 
> HOLY SHIT! Who would buy it for that much money when you can download 
> it for free? Now you might think that giving 40$ is a great way for 
> supporting the project. But is freebsdmall associated with the core 
> team in any way? OK, even if it is, I think there would be more 
> income, if there were a reasonable price. Or does mailing a 4 CD set 
> or a DVD really cost that much money?! Either way, I think it is still 
> more financially efficient if users download a copy and donate like 
> 35$ via some online method. Don't give me wrong. Of course there are 
> people without online access or CD/DVD burners, but those are rare 
> case exceptions. Am I wrong? Is it not how this thing works? Are lots 
> of people really buying freebsdmall products keenly/willingly every 
> time for some reason?

Hi,

In fact, one of the core team members, Murray Stokely, is on the FreeBSD 
Mall payroll. Also, in the past few months alone, we've donated over 
$20k USD in modern server hardware for FreeBSD development, made 
possible in part due to the revenue generated by the mall. The FreeBSD 
Mall also provides us with merchandise that we use to promote FreeBSD at 
trade shows that we attend at a cost of several thousand dollars per show.

I think the $40 dollars for the professionally packaged 4 CD set is not 
only an inexpensive investment for a little piece of internet history 
for each FreeBSD release, but it is also a tremendous help offsetting a 
portion of the costs for our advocacy and hardware support efforts for 
the FreeBSD Project.

best,
-matt

-- 
Matt Olander
CTO, iXsystems - "Servers for Open Source"  http://www.iXsystems.com
Public Relations, The FreeBSD Project         http://www.FreeBSD.org
BSD on the Desktop!                             http://www.pcbsd.org
Phone: (408)943-4100 ext. 113                     Fax: (408)943-4101

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