The magazine of the Melbourne PC User Group A Linspire/Ubuntu Connection Major Keary |
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The vendors of two significant Linux distros have announced a technology partnership that, on the face of the press releases, will be to the advantage of home and small business users.
Linspire is a commercial Linux distro; it was originally called Lindows, but Microsoft used money muscle to harass the new company with legal challenges over use of the name, Lindows. The outcome was a change of name, but Linspire didn't miss a beat—it's user base continued to expand and large U.S. retail stores now sell computers with Linspire installed.
The company's tenacity and willingness to take on the big boys is not surprising. The founder is Michael Robertson of 3MP fame—remember the fight to put his music Web site off the air? The original Lindows concept was to create a Linux distro that would run any MS Windows application; that ambition was 'a bridge too far', but along the way Linspire developed an effective and user-friendly instance of WINE. References to running MS Windows applications were dampened and Linspire focused on Linux alternatives to applications written for Microsoft Windows. However, among the commercial products offered for sale is CrossOver Office — developed from WINE — which does a remarkable job of running many Microsoft Windows applications from Linux.
The company has introduced many technical and marketing innovations. Among those is a solution to a problem that vexes many Linux novices: installing or updating software.
Linspire has created a software 'warehouse' and developed a click-n-run (CNR) interface that enables subscribers to connect to the 'warehouse' web site, select software, and with a click have the program(s) downloaded and installed in one operation. The CNR interface is open source and Linspire intends to extend availability of the system to other distros.
The Linspire distro is a commercial product that is marketed using a 'subscription' model. Purchasers of Linspire have access to the software library as part of the package, which is offered in three forms: a box (US$59.95), download (US$49.95), and box with 1 year Gold CNR subscription (US$89.95).
As I read the Web site, purchase of Linspire includes free, ongoing access to the CNR warehouse in respect of open source software and purchase of commercial products at full price. The 'Gold CNR' subscription (US$49.95 p.a.) includes extra features and discounts on commercial products (such as StarOffice). For more detailed information visit to the Linspire web site http://www.linspire.com.
If you want a stable desktop operating system with as much software as you want, Linspire is a good deal. Even the commercial products sell at a fraction of the cost of Windows- based applications. Linspire is designed for desktop use and is pitched at users familiar with MS Windows. It is ideal for home and small office use and has a significant cost advantage: all the 'base' software needed by ordinary users comes free with the operating system.
Ubuntu
Ubuntu comes from a UK-based company with South African origins; it is a recent entry on the Linux scene and has rapidly become the most popular of the community-based distros. Ubuntu goes through fast (six-monthly) release cycles, and CDs will be sent—free—to anybody who requests them from http://shipit.ubuntulinux.org; orders for multiple copies are welcome, and there is no restriction on copying and redistributing the CD.
Ubuntu, like Linspire, is built on Debian; a particular difference is that Linspire uses the KDE desktop as its default GUI and Ubuntu uses GNOME. There is no space here to go into the technicalities, but the main issue is software compatibility. Kubuntu (also available under the free CD scheme) is a version with KDE as the default GUI, so any possible GNOME vs. KDE problems can be resolved.
There are other Ubuntu flavours. XUbuntu is a small version that enables users to install, boot, and run Ubuntu from a 1-GB USB flash drive; Edubuntu is designed for educational purposes and geared to young people; nUbuntu contains many network security tools; and Ubuntu Server,
which is described (Keir Thomas: Beginning Ubuntu Linux) as "a server operating system that can be used by all levels of users, not just experts".
Apart from being free, Ubuntu is well documented: in addition to its internal man pages there is a body of web-based information, and a growing number of books indicates its wide acceptance. Ubuntu is also supported by its own user-base and the army of developers who produce and test each version; there are many lists and forums that cater for users of all levels.
The Canonical/Linspire Technology Partnership
Linspire will be based on Ubuntu, as announced in a press release on 8 February 2007:
"Canonical Ltd, the lead sponsor of the popular Ubuntu operating system, and Linspire, Inc. the developer of the commercial desktop Linux operating system of the same name, today announced plans for a technology partnership that integrates core competencies from each company into the other's open source Linux offerings."
"Linspire will transition from Debian to Ubuntu as the base for their Linspire and Freespire desktop operating systems. This will mean that Linspire users will benefit from Ubuntu's fast moving development cycles and focus on usability. The Freespire community will start seeing early releases of Freespire 2.0 based on Ubuntu in the first quarter of 2007, with the final release expected in the 2nd quarter of 2007, following the official release of Ubuntu 7.04 in April."
"Linspire will continue combining proprietary drivers, codecs and applications with open source software by default in their operating systems. This approach, unique among Linux distributions, offers out-of-the-box support for a broader range of software, hardware and multimedia file types than the Debian or Ubuntu base-line alone. Linspire will continue adding other unique features that are important to its users and that make the Linspire desktop Linux easy to use and a turn-key solution for OEMs."
"In addition, Ubuntu users will gain access to the Linspire CNR e-commerce and software delivery technology. Linspire recently announced plans to make their CNR technology available for other Linux distributions in addition to their own Linspire and Freespire offerings. Today's announcement confirms that Ubuntu will be the first distribution to be supported.
"Beginning with Ubuntu's 7.04 release in April of this year, Ubuntu users will be able to use the CNR client to download and install commercial programs and proprietary media drivers with one click of the mouse. In the future, Canonical plans to integrate aspects of the CNR technology so the purchase of commercial software is straightforward for desktop users."
The Fine Print
The announcements of the technology partnership are, in respect of availability of CNR to Ubuntu users, ambiguous; it is not clear if Ubuntu users will have access to both the open source and commercial CNR software, or only the commercial products. Both Linspire and Canonical have been asked for clarification, but at the time of writing there has been no response.
Ubuntu will be an even more popular Linux distro if the full range of software on Linspire's CNR site is available to Ubuntu users.
Reprinted from the April 2007 issue of PC Update, the magazine of Melbourne PC User Group, Australia
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