Re: Question...

[bob@proulx.com (Bob Proulx)]

Hello Tony

I am not a representative of Debian.  But I am a user of it.  I am
responding to the note you posted to the debian-user list.

> I am trying to acquire a pricing quote on a single copy Debian/GNU Linx
> Open Source OS software, BUT I know I will need to go to a 3rd party
> vendor.

As you have already surmised Debian is not a company which sells
software.  Debian is an organization which develops and packages
software and then makes it available for free.  Here is a good
reference on Debian.

  http://www.debian.org/intro/about

Debian is a free operating system for your computer.  In this case the
part you care about is that the "free" means free of cost.  To us it
most importantly means free as in freedom, not price.  Without
constraints you are free to use the software without restrictions.
Please see this reference for a more detailed explanation.

  http://www.debian.org/intro/free

You are asking about a price quote for our free software.  It is free.
Really!  You may download it without cost from the many different
distributions sites listed.

However, manufactures of physical cdrom media may charge for their
costs of manufacturing and distribution.  You may buy a CD containing
Debian from one of the many vendors listed below.  You are buying the
media and the convenience of having Debian on it from a CD vendor.
This is not the same thing as buying Debian which may be had without
charge.  The list below is only a partial listing and other vendors
not listed also make media with Debian on it available.

  http://www.debian.org/distrib/

I understand that you may be requiring physical media instead of
downloading it for free from the Internet.  In which case I would
purchase a set from one of the many companies that sell cdroms.  Many
are listed here as referenced in the above page.

  http://www.debian.org/CD/vendors/

> My question is, do you know if your company, Debian, has done
> business with The Boeing Company before?  If so, can you please
> supply me with some information on previous orders, Thanks for your
> help!

Since CD manufactures will usually only charge a nominal fee the cost
of a box set of media is usually less than $20 dollars.  Though I have
never bought a set myself and different vendors vary in the costs they
charge.

Boeing is a large company and almost certainly Debian is in use within
your organization.  But because Debian is distributed free for anyone
to download and use it is not possible for us to know who is using it.

I can imagine that this message from you comes in response to someone
within your company specifying Debian and now you are needing to
deduce a cost for it.  But almost certainly whomever noted Debian
already has a copy of it and therefore has no need to actually obtain
it again.  Therefore perhaps you are already done.

Hope that helps.

Bob
Speaking only for myself.

-- 
Bob Proulx <bob@proulx.com>
http://www.proulx.com/~bob/
CP-ASEL-IA-Tailwheel-Glider