forums.xandros.com

[Albert]

A number of stores, including amazon list xandros 4 by CSDC. Could we get some official word on what this means, whether there are differences in the product and so on.

[mike80808]

I think CDSC is term Amazon uses for in-house distributed software.

It's an acronym for "Contingent Deferred Sales Charge".

The notes say it ships directly from Amazon. So I think Xandros must be doing something like shipping Amazon a couple of trailers of boxed X4 packages, and Amazon is handling the sales/distribution, taking them on contingency basis and deferring the sales charge until some sell-through criteria is met.
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Thanks for all the fishes, Xandros.

[Albert]

Thank you for the reply. It gives me a direction to do some additional research on this. Unfortunately xandros is very tight lipped about it. I contacted their sales department a couple of days ago and am getting no reply.

[Albert]

Some follow up info, or lack, for anyone else interested in this.

I contacted xandros about this, but they haven't even bothered to send a reply telling me to drop dead.

I contacted amazon after reading mike's post. They replied saying "we are unable to get any further details of the items for you" and saying that the only information they have is what the publisher gives them.

Now it is possible that the person who handled the ticket had no idea and no motivation to find out. I specifically mentioned that I had heard it was a reference to a sales arrangement between amazon and xandros.

It is also possible that they are expected to play dumb as part of any agreement they have with xandros.

I do note it says "we are unable to get details" and not "we are unable to GIVE details". If they knew but couldn't give me any information I would have expected them to at least admit that much.

I realize I can just buy it directly from xandros, but It just rubs me the wrong way that I can't get an above board answer from the horses mouth.

[woodsmoke]

I'm going to beat a dead horse again here...

but this seems to me to be one of those things that ANY body involved in marketing ought to know....

If they are going to try to "blow things out the door"...through Amazon...that is GREAT.... it gets a LOT of people "on board" very quickly".....

BUT in this "age of instant information"....they SHOULD have figured out that at least "some" of the "forum folks" would have ran across it even if only by "random motion"...Brownian Effect and all that...

Soooooo.....

Then the marketing people have to make another decision....

if they were smart enough to figure out that someone at the forums would see this.....

they had to make one of two decisions:

a) the forum people see it ....too bad....we have made a marketing decision....we think we will make MORE money by blowing them out through Amazon than we will LOSE by insulting folks at the forum

b).... duuuhhhhhhhh

either way.....

I myself, and I have manufactured stuff for sale through science catalogues for several years....some of it "blow out" and some of it "long term".....

I myself..... can only think that the marketing folks really didn't think that the loss of a few "disgruntled" people at the forum would in ANY WAY.... affect the HUGE money influx they would get from Amazon...

Now....it MAY be that Xandros is...... not on that all a good ground...financially...and they were willing to take the risk of "disgrunteling" some folks at the forum.....or....it may be.....


Or, it may be they are fine finacially...and

they just didn't think.....

ain't XANDROS great!
woodsmoke
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If the eco-ists would only shut up, I wonder if the sound of their droning would be replaced by the sound of normal people fitting solar panels and making soup from nettles and twigs.(J Clarkson)

[brashley46]

... And Amazon USA won't ship this to Canada.

Why am I surprised? I'll just have to buy direct, or buy from a Canadian partner like linuxcds.ca .
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B. Ross Ashley
http://brashley46.no-ip.info


Registered Linux user # 420119

[Davepet]

What's everybody upset about??

Xandros can't control what Amazon sells their product for, all they can do is decide how much they will charge Amazon for it. Apparently they gave Amozon a good enough deal that Amazon figues they can make a profit selling it $10 cheaper than you can buy it from Xandros direct.

Is that a problem? I don't think so, in my eyes that's just a good deal for those that shop smart. Buy it from Amazon & hope that the folks at Xandros are getting enough from the deal to survive. They wouldn't have agreed to sell to Amazon so cheaply if they didn't think they could make a living at that price.

Shop smart, folks.

Dave
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Friends don't let friends use windows
GLPW
Registered Linux User #301200

[mike80808]

I'm with Dave. Xandros is going to cut different distribution deals with different companies. What those companies choose to do in terms of pricing, markup, discounts, advertising, etc. is out of Xandros hands at that point.

Also, Xandros has a stated policy to never compete with its resellers. They're apparently setting up some sort of reseller channel (or revamping the existing one drastically).

http://www.xandros.com/partners/partners.html

Oh, and since we now know it's being sold over at Amazon, how about we put up some customer reviews while we're at it?
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Thanks for all the fishes, Xandros.

[Albert]

I think there may be some confusion about why I'm posting here. I'm sure I appear dimwitted being concerned about this. I think mike and the others are correct about what this represents, but I want a direct answer from the companies involved before I shell out money.

There are two versions of home edition 4 and two of home edition premium listed at amazon. For example(note the difference in "product by". There are similar CSDC listings at other companies like e-cost:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000G1GABQ/qid=1151071487/sr=8-27/ref=sr_1_27/103-8809054-0922238?%5Fencoding=UTF8&v=glance&n=229534

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000GCGR4K/qid=1151071429/sr=8-6/ref=pd_bbs_6/103-8809054-0922238?%5Fencoding=UTF8&v=glance&n=229534


I want a straight answer from one of the parties involved(amazon or xandros) confirming what mike has stated and assuring me that these two products are the same(i.e. that this is a sales arrangement/database entry matter rather than any actual product difference), that the cheaper product is not altered or neutered in some way, that I would be getting the same product as if I bought directly from xandros or bought the "by Xandros" version at amazon(which isn't available at present). I believe this to be the case, but wonder why I can't get a direct answer from either company(which makes me suspect that maybe there is more to it than that). Or maybe they don't think my $30 is worth bothering with.

[Albert]

Good News. I have just received a reply from xandros. I'm not going to copy the whole email exchange in here since I have not asked if they have a problem with my doing that.

The reply did say "CSDC is an authorized Xandros
Dsitrbutor", sometimes wrongly listed as publisher and that such products are legitimate and do not differ in any way from products listed as by xandros.

I am quite satisfied by this response and am going to go ahead and order the product.

[gjtoth]

[mike80808]

Hmmm. CSDC -- Canadian Software Distribution Corporation?

So, it's just a distribution deal, and Amazon apparently had both the MSRP listings from Xandros "direct" and with the discounted listings from CSDC.

Which is fine, frugal people will buy on price. And Xandros doesn't compete with its distributors.

And if you want the most of your money to go to Xandros, then buy direct.

Xandros has to give away a large portion to get distribution channels, sometimes 50% or more plus they may have to eat carrying costs too.

The economies of scale are completely different at different points in the manufacturing, distribution, and retail sectors.
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Thanks for all the fishes, Xandros.