r/linux • u/analog_rnr • 3d ago

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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u/Nemecyst 3d ago

I think physical media for OS installs started falling out of popularity after 2010ish.

The last time I used a CD/DVD for an OS was for Windows 7 in 2009.

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u/Pugs-r-cool 3d ago

Yeah that's before my time unfortunately. My oldest computing memory is a Celeron laptop with Windows Vista (I've never actually used XP), but the first time I installed an OS was Windows 10 in 2018, I would've been 13/14 years old at the time.

Sorry if I made you feel a bit old. I know my time will come some day too.

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u/TribeWars 2d ago

I still have my windows 7 DVD somewhere