Debian.org上的一句话不错,用来解释软件公司如何挣钱

hyperslaver

Most software costs over 100 US dollars. How can you give it away?
A better question is how do software companies get away with charging so much? Software is not like making a car. Once you've made one copy of your software, the production costs to make a million more are tiny (there's a good reason Microsoft has so many billions in the bank).

Look at it another way: if you had an endless supply of sand in your backyard, you might be willing to give sand away. It would be foolish, though, to pay for a truck to take it to others. You would make them come and get it themselves (equivalent to downloading off the net) or they can pay someone else to deliver it to their door (equivalent to buying a CD). This is exactly how Debian operates and why most of the CDs are so cheap (only about $25 U.S. for 14 CDs).

Debian does not make any money from the sale of CDs. At the same time, money is needed to pay for expenses such as domain registration and hardware. Thus, we ask that you buy from one of the CD vendors that donates a portion of your purchase to Debian.

有可以翻译的可以后面跟帖,我累了.不翻译了.

waq

很多软件价值超过100美元。你们怎么能放弃？
一个好问题是一个软件公司如何成功“吃掉”那么多钱？做软件不同于造汽车，一旦做出一个软件的拷贝，再做一百万个拷贝也只要很少的费用（这就是微软在银行里有很多亿的好理由）。
从另一个角度看：如果你的后院有无尽的沙子，你可能希望送掉它。这是愚蠢的，因为你要付运费来运走它们。你应该让他们自己来带走（相当于从网上下载）或者他们付钱让某人送到他们家门口（相当于买CD）。这恰恰是Debian的运作方式及这些CD这么便宜（14张CD仅25美元）的原因。
Debian没有从卖CD中赚一丁点钱。现在，Debian却需要花钱于诸如注册域名、硬件等方面。因此，我们请求你从一个可以捐赠部分货款给Debian的CD商家那购买CD。
──大概意思应该没错吧，翻译还真不容易！不过我宁愿捐10块钱给Debian也不要买CD。

shooter

其实debian可以取消卖cd，只提供下载iso~不过这样日子就更揭不开锅了~

william_xuuu

像是和尚呀，依靠施舍。

springwind426

debian不卖CD

它说的是有公司卖Debian的CD，而这些公司会从收入中拿出一点儿银子捐赠给debian项目组

因此它建议你去买CD，毕竟，有人捐赠，开源项目组才能够做得更好

chezz99

支持哦,咋买啊,看不懂鸟文啊!