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Linspire Announces Freespire Distribution
Posted by
ScuttleMonkey
on Mon Apr 24, 2006 07:27 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."
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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.'"
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*~shudder~* (Score:4, Funny)
To beat an analogy to death (Score:4, Funny)
Re:To beat an analogy to death Word play? (Score:5, Funny)
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
Parent
I wonder what's up (Score:5, Insightful)
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, Interesting)
Parent
Re:I wonder what's up (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
I don't get the point (Score:5, Interesting)
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)
Parent
I really miss Lindows (Score:5, Interesting)
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.
Parent
Re:Mod Company -1: Troll (Score:5, Insightful)
Tell me: When has selling Free / Open Source Software become a sin against humanity?
Parent
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.
No offense but... (Score:4, Insightful)
So if I had to choose between Freespire and say, Ubuntu Dapper, I'd choose Dapper all the way.
Nice... (Score:4, Funny)
Well, I don't actually... I just thought it would be cool to be the first to say that.
-Advs89
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.
Parent
And what if they hadn't changed their name? (Score:4, Funny)
Evolution (Score:5, Funny)
So, if they hadn't been forced to change, would this new distro be called Freedows? The mascot could have been the Freedow Bandido!
Here's the twist... but it's not a new twist (Score:5, Interesting)
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)
Freespire = give up your freedom for a driver (Score:5, Interesting)
---
Stefano Spinucci
This is a good thing. (Score:4, Insightful)
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.
Re:now more than 500 distros (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
Re:I don't know about you ... (Score:5, Interesting)
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.
Parent