From: adam@netcom.com (Adam J. Richter) Subject: Improvements to Yggdrasil Linux/GNU/X CDROM offer Date: Tue, 1 Dec 1992 05:18:21 GMT
Last week, I announced the alpha test distribution of a turnkey
Linux/GNU/X11 unix clone on CDROM for PC's. To the best of my
knowledge, this is the first directly installable free operating
system CDROM ever. I think that this an important milestone in the
history of free software.
Reaction to the CDROM offer has generally been favorable, but
a number of people have expressed what I consider to be reasonable
concerns about support, documentation and price. As I promised
yesterday, here is a list of changes to my original Linux/GNU/X CDROM
offer, which I believe addresses all of the concerns that were raised.
If you think that there is something else which a $99 free unix clone
on CDROM ought to provide, let me know.
For the benefit of those of you who may have missed the
announcement while you were away for Thanksgiving, the deal is that you
get the alpha distribution (Dec. 8th), the beta distribution (January)
and the first production distribution (February) for the price for the
production distribution alone, which is $99 + $5 S&H (in the US and
Canada). For more information, call, send email or anonymously FTP
to netcom.com:~ftp/pub/yggdrasil.
Adam J. Richter
Yggdrasil Computing, Incorporated
Received: xxq
(510) 526-7531, fax: (510) 528-8508
PO Box 8418
Berkeley CA 94707-8418
IMPROVEMENTS TO THE YGGDRASIL LINUX/GNU/X CDROM OFFER
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
1. A modicum of support
2. A manual
3. A new option in the money-back guarantee
4. An inexpensive update plan for owners of the Yggdrasil
Linux/GNU/X CDROM's.
1. A modicum of support
The CDROM distribution now includes a modicum of telephone,
fax and email support.
phone: (510) 526-7531
fax: (510) 528-8508
email: richter@cerf.net
Use this service as a last resort. Before you call, first
check the list of Frequently Asked Questions for Linux, a printed copy
of which is now included in the manual (see #2, below). Second, try
to narrow the problem down as much as possible (for example, if
appropriate, see if the symptoms change when you remove some or all of
the nonessential cards from your system, or when you're logged in as a
different user, or when you recompile the program in question).
You can call from 9am to 5:30pm, weekdays. If you get the
answering machine, feel free to call back later or leave a message
asking me to call you back, but be prepared to accept the charges for
a collect call. Email is fine too, but please leave a phone number
where you'll accept a collect call, unless your question has a very
simple answer. It takes me quite a while for me to compose email.
This is low intensity support. I will happily share whatever
useful knowledge I can with you over the course of a few minutes, but
I may not be able to drop everything that I'm doing to champion your
problem, especially if it involves more than typing one or two
commands in a window. If the company takes off, maybe I'll be able to
hire someone else to handle support.
If you are interested in providing support for the Yggdrasil
Linux/GNU/X distribution, I would be happy to include a pointer to you
in the manual. I'll accept either full page of postscript or anything
up to a full page of ASCII text. Eventually, I'd like to have an
advertising section in the production release manuals, but you'll
still be able to have the contact information for you company listed
for free.
2. A manual
I'm assembling (as opposed to writing) a bound manual,
approximately 100 pages long, to include with the alpha Linux/GNU/X
CDROM. The manual will include the release notes, the Linux "info
sheet", the Linux FAQ and the GNU service listing. If there is some
other important document that you would like to see included, send me
email before Tuesday 12/1/92.
3. A new option in the money back guarantee
Heretofore, the refund policy has been that if you can't make
the CDROM distribution work, then you may return it within 30 days for
a refund of the purchase price and any sales tax, provided that you
deleted any files copied from the CDROM. (You also must call in
advance for return authorization.) The requirement for file deletion
is not a copyright restriction. It is simply part of a refund offer,
which you are under no obligation to use.
Nevertheless, if you feel that the requirement to delete the
files from the CDROM's is too bothersome, you now have a second refund
option for the alpha and beta distributions. If you buy an alpha or beta
subscription, you may also curtail your subscription, keeping whatever
CD's you have received, for a refund prorated according to how much of
your subscription remained.
4. An inexpensive update plan for owners of the Yggdrasil
Linux/GNU/X CDROM's.
In my original posting, I stated that I planned to offer a
$60/qtr. update subscription to the quarterly production distributions with
a minimum subscription length of six months. Instead, when you buy a
copy of one of the production distributions, you'll get a card that will
allow you to subscribe to the quarterly updates at $30/qtr. with no
minimum subscription length. I may reduce that $30/qtr. price even
more between now and when the 1st production distribution is made, in
February.
-- Adam J. Richter 409 Evelyn Avenue, Apt. 312 Yggdrasil Computing, Incorporated Albany, CA 94706 PO Box 8418, Berkeley CA 94707-8418 richter@cerfnet.com (510) 526-7531, fax: (510) 528-8508 (510) 528-3209 Another member of the League for Programming Freedom (league@prep.ai.mit.edu).