Eight years ago, computer stores stocked a choice of GNU/Linux distributions -- established ones like Caldera, Red Hat, and SUSE, and newcomers like Corel, Progeny, and Stormix. Now, only Ubuntu and openSUSE offer box sets, and both face challenges that other distributions found unsolvable, ranging from reasonable prices and features sets through to getting into distribution channels and finding the right marketing approach -- all for an effort that may be only moderately profitable at best, and perhaps best undertaken for non-financial reasons.

Each vendor begins by learning from previous efforts to sell GNU/Linux in retail channels. Gerry Carr, a product manager at Canonical, Ubuntu's commercial side, suggests that past efforts "have been set at fairly unrealistic prices," by which he means $100 or more -- prices near to those for a Windows upgrade. "People need to see a significant price saving if they're going to make a leap from the known," he says, pointing out that the Ubuntu box currently available from Valusoft is on sale for a mere $20. He further suggests that, as a modern distribution that emphasizes usability, Ubuntu is a more attractive product than its predecessors.

At $60, openSUSE is more expensive than Ubuntu, but as a more established product, perhaps it can afford to be.

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