I do remember buying the install media back in the day, you used to be able to get RedHat, Suse, and FreeBSD (if you were a Unix purist) too. The problem then was the problem right now, you can't buy a pre-loaded Linux PC at the store.

Imagine if RedHat back in 96-97 could have got HP, Dell, Compaq, etc... to sell a pre-loaded product. How many more people would have been exposed to Linux. Good or bad, exposure is exposure.