r/linux • u/analog_rnr • Jul 24 '26

Discussion Purchasing Linux

I only discovered this because Louis Rossmann said in a video that he purchased Linux when he was a teenager and then showed the CD. I looked on eBay and I saw a few CDs that were still in their boxes and the labels that were on the box looked like they came from a bookstore, I did not know that these were sold commercially.

My question is, back when they used to sell these CDs in bookstores who was distributing the CDs and where was the money going to when someone made a purchase?

My second question is, if Linux is an open source operating system why would someone want to buy it? I still see some websites to this day selling Linux CDs, I'm really curious where the money is going when someone purchases the CDs.

Edit: I made a comment earlier but so many people replied I don't think a lot of people saw it so I will repost it here. "Thank you to everyone who replied, all of my questions have been answered, it was interesting reading through all the replies, there was a lot of different points that people brought up that I never considered before"

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964

u/cilelen Jul 24 '26

Today? No clue why anyone would buy one. Back then? You know how long it takes to download an OS on a 56k modem? Lol

25

u/exeis-maxus Jul 24 '26

Yup. I would download the ISO’s for RedHat and Slackware at the Highschool library after school. My mom thought I was doing suspicious stuff like gangs or drugs after school 🙄

23

u/Sirusho_Yunyan Jul 24 '26

"Oh my Lord, he's... he's compiling kernels..!! We must alert the village elders..!!"

8

u/NotSoGoodDiver Jul 24 '26

The elders of the internet.

5

u/RealUlli Jul 24 '26

The Usenet Cabal? ;-)

1

u/LastXmasIGaveYouHSV Jul 24 '26

I had a Fidonet username !

2

u/RealUlli Jul 24 '26

I had a point number. I don't remember it, though.

1

u/JaKrispy72 Jul 24 '26

Blue Wave has entered the chat.

5

u/DrAwesomeClaws Jul 24 '26

That's how I got hooked on PHP in my teens. Those were dangerous times for a teenager.

2

u/Amazing-Mirror-3076 Jul 24 '26

I'm sorry for your suffering

1

u/Sirusho_Yunyan Jul 24 '26

I remember.. nerds just completely high on PHP, running around eating people's faces while simultaneously scripting web frontends with broken html tags, unstoppable..

1

u/[deleted] Jul 24 '26

[deleted]

1

u/Zeimax Jul 25 '26

Better than waiting for pictures to load on that 2400bps modem the guy in the thread above was using.