Slashdot Log In
Linspire Announces Freespire Distribution
Posted by
ScuttleMonkey
on Mon Apr 24, 2006 06:27 PM
from the let's-muddy-the-waters-a-bit dept.
from the let's-muddy-the-waters-a-bit dept.
LinuxScribe writes "Is the world ready for another community Linux distro a là Fedora and openSUSE? We're about to find out, as Linspire used the Desktop Linux Summit to announce a community-driven version of Linspire, to be called Freespire. But here's the twist, Freespire will come in two flavors: a completely open source version and a version that includes all of the fully-licensed proprietary apps, drivers, and codecs in Linspire."
Related Stories
[+]
Linspire CEO dispels Linspire Linux Myths 278 comments
An anonymous reader writes "Chances are that you think Linspire lets you run Windows applications, that you have to run it as root, and that it's really not quite a proper Linux. Wrong, wrong, and wrong. At LinuxWorld in Boston this week, CEO Kevin Carmony explained what Linspire Linux is, and isn't all about. Carmony said that people are still getting these things wrong. Yes, in the beginning, Linspire had the goal of letting Linux users run Windows applications with WINE, but it dropped that theme years ago. As for requiring you to run as root, that was, Carmony said, only the case with an early alpha release that was never put in the public's hands. As for not being a real Linux, that's nonsense, too."
[+]
Linspire CEO Considers CNR for Ubuntu 92 comments
bored2k writes "Kevin Carmony, President and CEO of Linspire, Inc., is using the Ubuntu Forums to ask for input and explain why he thinks a popular and heavily focused on usability distribution like Ubuntu needs Linspire's $20 per-year CNR service. From what he says, both him and Mark Shuttleworth (Canonical/Ubuntu's founder) like the idea. Would CNR honestly help Ubuntu grow, or is it just a scheme to cash in on it's success?"
[+]
Kevin Carmony Responds to Criticism 300 comments
sharkscott writes to tell us that LXer's Don Parris took a few minutes to get Kevin Carmony's response to the large amount of criticism he has been taking over offering non-free software in Linspire. From the article: "Essentially, Carmony's position is that, in ten years of holding out, the FOSS community has made relatively few gains, in terms of convincing vendors to release libre codecs and drivers. In other words, the strategy doesn't seem to be working. Additionally, while some will be patient, most users would prefer to have something - anything - that works in the meanwhile."
[+]
An Early Look at Freespire Linux 171 comments
An anonymous reader writes "DesktopLinux.com takes an early look at Freespire Linux in a recent article. Linspire will be releasing their first version of Freespire, the first community Linux distribution to include many third-party proprietary codecs, drivers, and software. From the article: 'While I still have my doubts about the long-term wisdom of using proprietary software and drivers with Linux, I must say that if you feel you need to use such programs, Freespire makes it much easier than any other Linux distribution. And, when is all said and done, that's really what Freespire is all about -- making Linux as easy as possible for users.'"
This discussion has been archived.
No new comments can be posted.
Linspire Announces Freespire Distribution
|
Log In/Create an Account
| Top
| 223 comments
| Search Discussion
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
*~shudder~* (Score:4, Funny)
(Last Journal: Thursday October 13 2005, @09:01PM)
Well, you see, this works... (Score:4, Funny)
(http://hackwrench.tripod.com/ | Last Journal: Sunday September 18 2005, @02:32PM)
Free as in capable (Score:1, Interesting)
Second, I always felt that a good Web browser at its core should just be a simple file viewer but it has departed pretty far from that - it would be nice to have my Linux partition able to use/open/view as many or nearly as many types of files that my Windows machine can.
To beat an analogy to death (Score:4, Funny)
Re:To beat an analogy to death Word play? (Score:5, Funny)
(http://www.otanashide.com/ | Last Journal: Monday November 12, @08:54PM)
If it gets really HOT, it'll be FreesPYRE.
If it sucks the life from other distros, it'll be VAMpire.
If it flat-out dies off, it'll EXpire.
If it continues to live, it'll REspire.
If it has a kernel panic, it might PERspire.
If it woos it's intended audience, then may it TRANCEpire
But, hopefully, it'll be really NEAT, and good things will TRANSpire...
(C) David Syes, 2006-04-24 2025
I wonder what's up (Score:5, Insightful)
(Last Journal: Saturday February 03 2007, @01:16PM)
Linspire, in contrast, is rather staid and unadventurous. One questions whether a "bleeding edge" is even required for that distro.
So what is the purpose of "Freespire"?
Re:I wonder what's up (Score:5, Funny)
(Last Journal: Friday October 19, @09:21PM)
Re:I wonder what's up (Score:5, Interesting)
As in... (Score:1, Informative)
I don't get the point (Score:5, Interesting)
(http://www.keirstead.org/)
And before anyone says anything about CNR (click and run), I will point you to klik [atekon.de] - free open and wonderful, and not tied to any distro.
Enough said.
Mod Company -1: Troll (Score:4, Insightful)
This is about as newsworthy as a paid-software vendor announcing a free trial edition that replaces all the "good stuff" with reminders to buy the full version.
Re:Mod Company -1: Troll (Score:5, Insightful)
I really miss Lindows (Score:5, Interesting)
(Last Journal: Friday May 05 2006, @11:53PM)
Not that I'd want to see "Macrohard Windows", "Slack Windows", "Brown Dog Windows", "iWindows", "eWindows", "Turbo Windows", "IBM Windows", "Debian GNU/Windows", "Windows for Playgroups", "WindowsBSD", "ClearWindows", "Sunny Windows"...
Aw, yes I would.
Re:Mod Company -1: Troll (Score:5, Insightful)
(http://www.chriseineke.com/ | Last Journal: Friday January 06 2006, @04:23PM)
Tell me: When has selling Free / Open Source Software become a sin against humanity?
Hmm... Nice (Score:5, Insightful)
On the other hand, at least the "creating a user account so you don't run everyhing as root" step isn't optional [freespire.org] in Freespire. This "new" distribution is something that might be a good first step for newbie Linux users that want certain features (DVD/MP3 playback) immediately after install.
Oh My Gosh (Score:2)
(http://www.thecosmotron.com/ | Last Journal: Wednesday February 22 2006, @08:36PM)
No offense but... (Score:4, Insightful)
(http://slashdot.org/~Spy+der+Mann/journal/ | Last Journal: Saturday November 10, @01:50AM)
So if I had to choose between Freespire and say, Ubuntu Dapper, I'd choose Dapper all the way.
Nice... (Score:4, Funny)
(http://www.adamdoyle.net/)
Well, I don't actually... I just thought it would be cool to be the first to say that.
-Advs89
This is good (Score:3, Interesting)
Confusion is not really an issue, because anyone looking at Linux will be getting a friend who has a favorite distro, or will have a computer vendor with only one or two choices, which will likely be a choice between Freespire and Linspire or Fedora and Red Hat
I don't know about you ... (Score:2, Interesting)
(https://vehris.com/)
Re:I don't know about you ... (Score:5, Interesting)
(http://www.whiteboxlinux.org/)
Exactly. While all the FSF absolutists will flame away I say it is about darned time. Of course I wouldn't switch distros JUST for the DVD player or any of the other closed bits, but if I could buy em and run them on my preferred distro I'd get a P.O. to em.
You see, it is only by being willing to compromise (the minimum I can get away with) on the Free principles have I been able to deploy a linux based desktop into a public library setting. Just one example, we use Crossover Office to get IE running. IE isn't negotiable, the only question is Crossover, VMWare or which other method I was going to use to get it running. Too many sites just don't work any other way. For example, assume I'd brazened my way past all the other objections and deployed without IE. Last year wne the Katrina refugees flooded in and discovered they couldn't file an application with FEMA from our labs I'd have been tasked with getting XP installed on am post haste. Especially when Rita hit us directly, making it OUR patrons that we wouln't have been able to help get disaster assistance.
We don't have much of a need to play video DVDs thankfully, but it doesn't go down all that well when I explain that it would be illegal to do it. People just can't believe it and I really don't have the time to explain the complicated legal probems involved. At home I use libdecss and say "screw em if they don't like it." Hell, I have even mentioned it in protest letters to elected officials. But I won't deploy it at work, the legal liability is just too great. This isn't a problem Free Software can solve. We already HAVE the code but there isn't any path to lagalizing it. Same for Windows Media, Real, etc.
Re:I don't know about you ... (Score:4, Insightful)
Buy Microsoft and run IE or we won't help you. Holy crap, my taxes pay for this?!
Plan 9 is better (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Plan 9 is better (Score:5, Interesting)
Plan 9 is a research operating system. I like Plan 9's architecture, file system, and many other ideas. Plan 9's goal is to further extend the notion of Unix's "everything is a file" idea. Everything, even the windowing system (rio), is a file. Plan 9 also vastly simplifies systems programming (compared to Unix). Plan 9 is a wonderful research operating system that I would love to tinker with and explore.
However, it isn't a desktop replacement for Windows/OS X users or even for Linux or BSD users. There is no office suites (or even a word processor unless you love text editors and TeX or troff), no browser on the scale of Firefox or Konqueror, no music/video players, nothing that 99% of the world uses with a computer. Besides, I'm pretty sure that users are more comfortable using this desktop [kde.org], these desktops [gnome.org], or especially this desktop [apple.com] before they use this desktop [bell-labs.com]. For even the most ardent *nix hackers or computer scientists, Plan 9 would be something they played with on the side (kind of like Minix or an operating system that they're working on), and Linux/BSD is their main OS.
I like Plan 9, but it isn't a desktop OS; it's a research OS. However, Plan 9 is a very innovative operating system; I wish that the major OS sellers (I'm talking to you, Apple and Microsoft) would be a bit more cutting-edge in the architecture of their OSes rather than just appearances (even though Apple has done very well since the bought NeXT; they have a hybrid kernel, for one). Plan 9, L4, the MIT exokernel project, and other projects look very interesting, and I would like to see them in use.
And what if they hadn't changed their name? (Score:4, Funny)
(http://bipolar.longbros.com/)
openSUSE (Score:2)
(http://www.houghi.org/)
Evolution (Score:5, Funny)
(http://ret3.net/)
So, if they hadn't been forced to change, would this new distro be called Freedows? The mascot could have been the Freedow Bandido!
*yawn* (Score:2)
(http://slashdot.org/~nurb432/ | Last Journal: Friday August 27 2004, @03:24PM)
If it survives a year, then we can talk about it.
Here's the twist... but it's not a new twist (Score:5, Interesting)
(http://www.holoweb.net/~liam/)
Well, maybe, but they're hardly the first to do that: Mandriva (Mandrake) has been doing it for a long time, with the commercial version including extra drivers as well as applications. Probably others have too.
What makes a community effort stand or fall is how well the outside people are integrated, and how much voice they have.
One reason I the distribution I do is that it attracts both seasoned programmers and newcomers, and there's a good chance I can show my laptop to people and say, here, this is what it's like, you can use the same as me. It's not clear that I'll be doing that with Linspire, nor that a community-based version that's not as good will in fact help me. Who will it help?
Ubuntuspire... (Score:4, Funny)
(http://www.skintube.com/)
Re:Ubuntuspire... (Score:4, Funny)
Freespire = give up your freedom for a driver (Score:5, Interesting)
---
Stefano Spinucci
This is a good thing. (Score:4, Insightful)
(http://www.msgeek.org/ | Last Journal: Tuesday August 23 2005, @08:30PM)
With Lycoris by and large a dead issue, a Freespire might be just the ticket for folks who are just not ready for Ubuntu/Kubuntu yet.
There are some differences (Score:5, Interesting)
The indications are that they have thought this through quite thoroughly. The initial announcement and the web site are quite well done, I think. Considering it is still four months until the first beta, they have a good FAQ (here [freespire.org]) which is worth a read. I intend to at least give it a try when the time comes.
Han Solo: I've got a bad feeling about this... (Score:2, Insightful)
I really don't see people who use this only because of nebulous dissatisfaction with Windows XP who don't even know what DOS and Windows 3.11 were (or even ME) learning to get under the hood and tinker and learn Linux. CNR sounds nice, but ultimately the bag of hammers Unix lineage cannot be avoided and will hit them in the face like a 2x4. Back to Windows.
I think it is nice that they want to do this. I also think it is a sign of desperation. And an admission of how far Linux has to go before any sort of real desktop adoption. It took Apple to get a *nix OS on the desktop, not insignifigant backing. It's going to take the same sort of chutzpah and power and polish and support to get Linux out there. I don't see these people bringing that, Red Hat and Novell are rabidly corporate, and who's left to address the desktop?
First Beta in August 2006? (Score:4, Insightful)
They're announcing a Linux distribution that won't be available for download in BETA for another 4 months?
Very supprised (Score:1)
not *all* the codecs are included... (Score:3, Insightful)
How many PCs can this crash? (Score:3, Funny)
(Last Journal: Thursday February 15 2007, @08:40PM)
I think that really says all that needs to be said.
What about the hardware? (Score:2)
(http://recomp.tv/)
Their latest ones are quiet low power (think Watts) AMD Geode based machines. Who else is fighting against the MS tax in the large stores?
There's no market for more than 3 linux distro's (Score:2, Insightful)
(Last Journal: Sunday March 18 2007, @04:53PM)
The question is.. (Score:1)
(http://slashdot.org/)
All about the money (Score:1)
(http://folding.stanford.edu/)
Notes from the Freespire announcement (Score:3, Informative)
I thought that his positioning of Freespire and his reasoning behind it are worth sharing with Slashdotters. Linspire is, of course, a purely commercial effort, with the goal of selling a shrink-wrapped OS that looks externally as much like Windows as possible. His target audience is not the Slashdot crowd, but rather the people who buy their computers at Wal-Mart. Really! For them, it's all about the out-of-the-box experience, starting up a computer with preinstalled OS and apps and just using it. As someone who has recently installed Mandriva, Fedora 5, and Ubuntu Breezy on various machines, I think that the experience is much better than it once was, but still falls short of the "Wal-Mart" or even the Windows experience.
To listen to Kevin Carmody, Freespire is offered in the spirit of recognizing the contributions of the open source community, and giving people the opportunity to stay "pure", i.e., without licensed and proprietary pieces, or hybrid, where the user can choose to download and perhaps pay for the licensed and proprietary pieces. He gave an analogy with food, where the choices were Junk Food (Windows and proprietary software), Healthy Food, and Vegan. Open source vegans, of course, are those who would never want music in the proprietary MP3 format or images in the proprietary JPG format.
His belief is that most consumers and business people would like Healthy Food, which is some mix of Linux and those proprietary formats, plus some drivers for graphics cards, etc.. He and his company are actually going out to Fortune 500 companies and talking to them about why they should consider a move to something like Freespire rather than suffering the pain and expense of migrating to Windows Vista (if and when it ever ships). This is a fairly brave, not to say crazy, thing to do, and I think that they deserve some credit and support for their evangelism, even from people who don't care for the whole Linspire business. Getting 3-4% penetration of Linux (any flavor) on corporate desktops would be quite an achievement, and it won't come from Linspire on its own.
Carmody also said that they are going to open source Click N Run because they think that it is the best updating program, and are offering it to others for the taking. If I were responsible for Ubuntu or other Debian-based distros, I would be very tempted to take them up on their offer. I've done enough "apt-get"s.
Lindows, freedows, freeblows? (Score:1, Insightful)
People don't seem to get this (Score:3, Insightful)
(http://anthony.beardsmore.googlepages.com/)
I think it will be interesting to see how they integrate the proprietary stuff, (and how it's paid for, free as in beer is a big attraction of OSS, whatever the principles at stake).
ATI Radeon drivers work? (Score:2, Insightful)
(http://www.vgfort.com/)
Re:now more than 500 distros (Score:2)
(Last Journal: Wednesday June 09 2004, @10:06PM)
Re:now more than 500 distros (Score:5, Funny)
Re:now more than 500 distros (Score:3, Insightful)
I hate to break it to some, but a lot of the people working on improving the distros (as a hobby or a job) wouldn't be doing so if there was only 1, 3, or even 7 ultra-distros.
Especially the hobbyists. They'd feel like their voice wouldn't be heard, that they are just another cog in the machinery, or the distro doesn't go in the direction they want (can 1 distro satisfy the goals of LPS or Gentoo or Ubuntu or DamnSmall and an Embedded linux all put together?) - and out they'd be out the door, working on something else that interests them.
If someone wants monolithic, go Windows or MacOSX. For me, complaining about the amount of distros is like shitting on someone elses work...
Though I can sympathize sometimes:)
Re:now more than 500 distros (Score:1)
What was that?
Re:good! (Score:1)
(Last Journal: Sunday July 16 2006, @09:38PM)
Re:now more than 500 distros (Score:2)