Is the world ready for another community Linux distro? That’s the question being asked and answered today at the 4th Annual Desktop Linux Summit. Once known as a community-supported alternative to the Linspire distribution, the Freespire name is about to rise again from the ashes of obscurity — only this time as a distro completely sponsored and endorsed by Linspire itself. Editor’s Note: The Freespire website is online now as well.
Linspire Announces Freespire Distribution
About The Author
Adam Scheinberg
Technology Executive • Web Developer • Father • Foodie • Music Snob • OS enthusiast
Follow me on Mastodon @[email protected]
You’ve got to wonder; if one can get Linspire for free (or almost) without CNR subscription, where does Freespire fit?
I just checked the website, and it seems that Freespire, essentially, *IS* Linspire without a CNR subscription; correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t think there is a “Linspire” branded version without it.
Edited 2006-04-24 19:04
Even better, if you can get debian packages for free without CNR subscription, where does CNR fit? Why pay for something that you can get for free.
Granted, CNR is very simple to use and I applaud linspire for integrating it so well. However, gnome-app-install (Add Applications on the system menu) on Ubuntu is easier than CNR and it is free!
As great as it is that linspire is doing this, there isn’t much of a niche for it that hasn’t already been conquered by Ubuntu, Fedora, or SUSE.
Linspire should stick to their proprietary distro and continue to fund great open source projects such as:
-Lsongs http://lsongs.com
-Lphoto http://lphoto.com/
-AolDialer http://tinyurl.com/g55ea
-libipod http://libipod.sourceforge.net/
-nvu http://www.nvu.com
I don’t think you are going to see a lot of linux newbies convert over to freespire with other distros leading the way.
Unfortunately nvu at least hasn’t seen a bit of work since the 1.0 release, and this is an area where linux really is lacking, decent wysiwyg web editors.
Yeah cuz we all know nvu is the only wysiwyg web editor for linux right?
“You’ve got to wonder; if one can get Linspire for free (or almost) without CNR subscription, where does Freespire fit?”
Well over the last few weeks I’ve noticed comments on the Linspire boards that Linspire was geared toward OEM machines with Linspire pre-installed. Then yesterday’s announcement flat out says that in it. Linspire has everything to gain from this because they are far behind the other distros in terms of being able to support newer hardware. Their last “update” took them forever and a day to even acknowledge that they were behind and even that doesn’t work on a lot of hardware. So basically they’re hoping the community does their work for them and then the oem/retail versions will be based on what the community builds out of it.
Will it work? I don’t think it has a cold chance in hell. Linspire ticked off and turned away too many Linux purists that pointed out their problems early on that they couldn’t get them to hack on it if they paid them.
Oh please, it’s been said a million times by linspire that they make most of their money on OEM machines sold from WalMarts and Micro Centers etc.
http://www.desktoplinux.com/news/NS4429877679.html
That is nothing new. The reason they are making Linspire more open (Something that had been in the works for over a year anyway) is so people like you have nothing to now pick at.
They are now just as open as everyone else, they offer the same things as everyone else and ether people will like them more or they will go away, simple!
They are following the same track as Sun, Novell, Red Hat and others.
They aren’t supporting multiple architectures yet and think “PowerPC = Mac” in their documentation.
It will be primarily KDE at first and then Gnome based distros will appear.
Legal mainstream codec support will be out of the box or damn near indistinguishable from it. This is consistent with Linspire’s belief that proprietary software belongs in Linux.
They will join the DCCA and get LSB certification.
If I’ve misspoken, TIA to whomever corrects me.
I guess their business model is going through a slight change. They must’ve come to the conclusion that they can give the OS away and charge for the CNR subscription. This could be a very smart move, helping their distro by setting it into the wild free and than getting some returns ($) for unique features such as CNR. Their market share will hopefully increase… and if they play there cards right, could become the big player in the Linux world that they are dying to become.
IMHO Jb
Business models commonly evolve in order to take advantage of new opportunities.
I think this could be a good move. If the user likes CNR during the 30-day trial period with Freespire, they can opt to get a Standard or Gold CNR Subscription. If the user subscribes to CNR, that’s $ for Linspire.
If they really want to get some attention, they should have a bundle of CDs burned & distributed to stores like CompUSA, Best Buy, Staples, and others that sell computers & computer products. Since only a small percentage of people purchase s/w via on-line sales, a good way to get the word out could be as, ‘freebies,’ in the stores.
Do they have a VMWare image?
Would be nice if they did…
Considering it hasn’t been released yet, no. http://www.freespire.org/download.
…because the perspire.com domain name wasn’t available.
This is a good thing. Last time I saw Linspire was version 5.0, and I must say it had some very nice polish to it. Granted, it was too candied up for me to like it, especially I’m a Gnome guy here. But It did look nice from boot up to full use it just had a very nice all around look and feel to it that few linux distributions (including Ubuntu) don’t quite have yet.
The question is, will it literally be Linspire – CNR? If so that would be the best, since that’s the one reason I think Linspire is horrible. Apt was meant to be free.
Leech
I wonder if this is the first step of decoupling CNR from Linspire? Taken into account the discussions of moving CNR into Ubuntu, maybe they are focusing on a service oriented (CNR) business model?
A nice newbie Linux distro… BTW, you can still get CNR service, according to the FAQ. Also, it says that you will be able to get any FOSS program in the CNR warehouse using APT anyway.
You anti LinSpire guys (and girls) just don’t get it yet. And NO, Ubuntu is NOT easier to install software than CNR. Maybe for you but not for people that just came over from Windows.
I dont really see how it could get any easier in Ubuntu.
1. Click the Applications menu.
2. Click the Add/Remove… menu item.
3. Click a category (Games, Internet, Sound/Video, etc)
4. Browse the list of applications in that category. You can read about what each application does.
5. Click the checkbox next to an application you wish to install.
6. Click OK and enter your password when prompted.
Based on the screenshots of CNR on Linspire website, it does look “better” (more information, some screenshots of the app, etc).
I’m not sure that makes it easier to use though – I’d actually be inclined to think its harder for the new user, since it appears to have far more functionality than the Ubuntu offering and following Gnome’s lead*, we all know functionality is the first step towards confusion
* I am a Gnome user and prefer it like that
Edited 2006-04-25 00:08
Oh, we get it, all right. And PJ at Groklaw has it down fairly well, too.
“Oh, we get it, all right. And PJ at Groklaw has it down fairly well, too.”
*yawn* The great Linspire/Microsoft conspiracy. Microsoft has paid off Linspire to be a mole in the “linux community” to destroy from within. Neato.
F/OSS people get more crazy and less loveable by the day. I like the idea but some of the ideal is totally loathesome; equally so as the proprietary lockin that Microsoft espouses imo.
No, not a mole within the community. The abandonment of freedom for convenience, the compromising of ethics, the wholesale sellout that is being advocated, the attempt to coopt development for short-term gain.
What a load of codswallop.
Abandonment of freedom? Far OUT.
So you never use or buy anything proprietary? You don’t have a car or any electronics gear? What are you typing this on, I don’t recall much computer hardware being OS/Copyleft/IP-free.
If not then how the hell can you or the Groklaw weenie justify that kind of pointless superfluous idiotic attack on someone who is trying to advance Linux usage, and OSS as a whole.
They aren’t forcing anyone to go with them, but the ridiculous nearsighted self righteous bullshit that people like you come out with continues to hold it all back.
Ridiculous and counter-productive (is there any other kind) demagoguery.
So you never use or buy anything proprietary? You don’t have a car
You’re a bit confused about the concepts of property and freedom. I have a car, and I can tweak it to do anything I want it to. I’m also free to use it for anything, including commercial use. The seller of the car doesn’t get the right to impose restrictions on me.
“If not then how the hell can you or the Groklaw weenie justify that kind of pointless superfluous idiotic attack on someone who is trying to advance Linux usage, and OSS as a whole.” Perhaps the same way someone such as yourself can sell your soul for temporary convenience at the expense of true freedom when closed binaries are “good enough” in the near term for those of similar sight? Accepting whatever scraps are tossed your way to appease you is NOT the way to advance Free software.
On their forum, a script kiddie is registering dumb memberships one after the other: blablabla_AT_gmail.com
http://forum.freespire.org/memberlist.php
In a few moments the forums registered more than 600 registrations!
It is now impossible to register on the Perspire forums
I doubt they use scripts,it’s Linspire (remember ease of use) 🙂
I think freespire’s website is much better than linspire’s…
linspire products serve a niche. i am not that niche, but its nice to know someone is trying to capture the exceedingly novice users.
Lindows