I remember when I first installed Red Hat in 1998. Shortly after I managed to get X up and running (it took me over a week), I sort of “boasted” in an email to a friend overseas about my successful install of Red Hat Linux, also noting in same email that Red Hat cost me next to nothing ($5.00 for the CD or something from some adhoc supplier) and I even managed to get a copy of the printed manual (from another adhoc supplier) for something like $15.00 or so.
My friend wrote me back a deep philosophical email about openSource , about the need to support the open source software movement, chastising me for not purchasing the proper Red Hat version (cost around $100 US in 1998) and noted that the properly bound manual was practically worth the $100 price. After reading the email, I went out and purchased the proper $100 version of Red Hat (even though I had already installed a copy from elsewhere). That was over 10 years ago, but that email made a lasting impression on me, and ever since I have purchased the version of Linux, if it remains on my PC for more than a couple of weeks.
I think the participants in this thread are well aware of the openSource movement, … but if one looks at the capabilities of a Linux OS implementation in a distribution, and compares that to what one gets from a proprietary OS for home PC users (from MS-DOS and DR-DOS, and OS-2, thru to the latest MS-Windows Vista variants) I honestly can not see 60 euros as being too much. Just the contrary, IMHO openSUSE Linux could easily cost double that price.
IMHO its only because openSUSE is produced under the freedoms of the openSource movement (over the backs of many volunteers, and the free donations of many companies) that its price can be kept at the low level that it current is at. And IMHO if it were not for Novell acquisition/funding of SuSE-GmbH, there is a strong possibility openSUSE would have gone bankrupt by now.
Further (before I fall off my podium) I note Ubuntu is being funded by a multimillionaire, and it was VERY recently noted that Ubuntu does not have a positive cash flow. Just the contrary! How long will this multimillionaire continue to carry Ubuntu at a negative cash flow? Fortunately openSUSE has Novell providing the funding.
The point I am making here is to package an OS like Ubuntu, or like openSUSE, does cost money. It costs a lot of money. IMHO it behooves those of us who can afford, to contribute to the packaging of the Linux distribution we install and use for a sustained period of time.
Anyway, I’ll jump off my podium and stop my rant 
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