3 ms·

Debian did not send free CDs by mail

Wowfunhappy 7y ago
Did a large numbers of people use those? Legitimate question—it always struck me as a cool initiative for a very small number of people, but only that. I'd expect most people tech-savvy enough to install Ubuntu would also have a decent enough internet to download a ~700mb file.
- alyandon 7y ago
  I ordered a few back in the day - the sleeve design was really nicely done.
- zapzupnz 7y ago
  Back in the day, not much of my country, or even the US, had particularly fast internet. Nor did everybody have a disc burner in the days before USB booting being supported by the majority of computers' firmware.
- oarsinsync 7y ago
  If my memory serves correctly, this was 2004/2005, around the time I was discovering my home burnt CDs and DVDs were going bad. This was also around the time I would often brick my primary (only) workstation for whatever reason. Having a properly mastered Live CD was super useful. I would order at least two with every release cycle for a few years at least. Thankfully, I saw the light early with Ubuntu-server, and stayed with Debian. Ubuntu-desktop makes for a good enough live / recovery / troubleshooting environment, but not sure I’d use it for anything more.
- maccam94 7y ago
  The free LiveCDs were great marketing. As a teenage computer geek, it was way easier to convince casual computer users to try it out when I could lend them a nicely printed CD. And it looked way better than handing them a sketchy CD-R with some marker scribbles on it.
- jcelerier 7y ago
  > I'd expect most people tech-savvy enough to install Ubuntu we installed ubuntu with friends in freakin junior high school. it's not like it's rocket science... OTOH the village where I grew up as a child only got DSL > 512k around 2008 iirc.
  - jcelerier 7y ago
    Checked a bit, the figure I could find was an ubuntu employee estimating the figure to half a million in 2004, so at the beginning of the programme -> https://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1691&page=2&p=32556#post32556 https://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1691&page=2&p=3255... So yeah, lot of people got those.

Did a large numbers of people use those? Legitimate question—it always struck me as a cool initiative for a very small number of people, but only that. I'd expect most people tech-savvy enough to install Ubuntu would also have a decent enough internet to download a ~700mb file.

alyandon 7y ago
I ordered a few back in the day - the sleeve design was really nicely done.
zapzupnz 7y ago
Back in the day, not much of my country, or even the US, had particularly fast internet. Nor did everybody have a disc burner in the days before USB booting being supported by the majority of computers' firmware.
oarsinsync 7y ago
If my memory serves correctly, this was 2004/2005, around the time I was discovering my home burnt CDs and DVDs were going bad. This was also around the time I would often brick my primary (only) workstation for whatever reason. Having a properly mastered Live CD was super useful. I would order at least two with every release cycle for a few years at least. Thankfully, I saw the light early with Ubuntu-server, and stayed with Debian. Ubuntu-desktop makes for a good enough live / recovery / troubleshooting environment, but not sure I’d use it for anything more.
maccam94 7y ago
The free LiveCDs were great marketing. As a teenage computer geek, it was way easier to convince casual computer users to try it out when I could lend them a nicely printed CD. And it looked way better than handing them a sketchy CD-R with some marker scribbles on it.
jcelerier 7y ago
> I'd expect most people tech-savvy enough to install Ubuntu we installed ubuntu with friends in freakin junior high school. it's not like it's rocket science... OTOH the village where I grew up as a child only got DSL > 512k around 2008 iirc.
- jcelerier 7y ago
  Checked a bit, the figure I could find was an ubuntu employee estimating the figure to half a million in 2004, so at the beginning of the programme -> https://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1691&page=2&p=32556#post32556 https://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1691&page=2&p=3255... So yeah, lot of people got those.