True, but here, you're paying for not just the hardware and the people who select and design and assemble it, but the development of a Linux distribution -- whi

True, but here, you're paying for not just the hardware and the people who select and design and assemble it, but the development of a Linux distribution -- which nobody seems to want (see above), and which we're told "well, you can just ignore it and use Ubuntu instead". I lived through Progeny Linux. Never again. Ubuntu is the one Debian fork that I've seen survive, and it began with a huge financial outlay from an individual. It's just like the old joke: How do you make a million dollars? Start with a billion dollars...