Linspire

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Linspire
developer Linspire, Inc.
License (s) Both free and proprietary software
Current  version 8.7 (March 6, 2020)
ancestry (since April 2018) \ GNU / Linux
  \ Ubuntu GNU / Linux
    \ Kubuntu
     \ Linspire Linux
https://www.linspirelinux.com/

Linspire (formerly LindowsOS ) is a Debian- based Linux distribution , the appearance of which at times resembled the Windows operating system .

The company that developed and sold Linspire was called Lindows from 2001 to 2004, and then Linspire from 2004, according to the name of the distribution. In 2008 it was renamed Digital Cornerstone and on July 1, 2008, it was bought by Xandros , where it stayed for a long time until it was finally sold to another company called PC / OpenSystems LLC. No other version of Linspire was released until April 2018. It was only after a long break, after Linspire was acquired by PC / OpenSystems LLC, that Linspire released a new version of Linspire in April 2018. That was version 7.0 Service Pack 1. The last version 8.7 was apparently published at the beginning of March 2020 (status: March 2020). The makers still understand the product "Linspire" as a competitor product to MS Windows. Recently, they have been targeting former Windows 7 owners in particular , whose 10-year support expired in early 2020.

history

The US company Linspire, Inc. (formerly Lindows, Inc.), based in San Diego , California, developed the operating system of the same name based on Debian . Michael Robertson probably founded the company out of MP3.com in August 2001 . On July 20, 2005, Robertson handed over the chairmanship of CEO to Linspire President and Founder Kevin Carmony . But he himself remained CEO and devoted himself to other projects. On June 30, 2008, Kevin Carmony posted the sale of the company to Xandros on his blog. In the summer of 2008, the Xandros distributions were consolidated as expected. As a result, Linspire was discontinued. In 2018, PC / OpenSystems LLC acquired the rights to Linspire; and with the release of the Linspire 7.0 version in April 2018, the distribution made a comeback. Your exact version designation was probably Version 7.0 Service Pack 1. Linspire is probably the only desktop Linux distribution that comes with ten years of support. In early March 2020, the release of Linspire 8.7 was the news topic.

Name dispute with Microsoft

During the development of LindowsOS, Microsoft took legal action against Michael Robertson because of the alleged risk of confusion and the similarity of names. As a result, US courts ruled that the term Windows cannot be protected because “window” is a general term. The judge rejected the lawsuit in 2002 on the grounds, among other things, that Microsoft itself had already used the term Windows when the Windows operating system was not yet on the market, and that the graphic window technology ( GUI ) was already from Xerox and Apple earlier than developed and marketed by Microsoft.

The proceedings ran from 2001 to 2004, but so far Microsoft had always appealed to the next instance , the next trial date for the name suit against Lindows was postponed to 2003. The court wanted to see more evidence from Microsoft first. For LindowsOS, this postponement has so far not meant any production delay; the publicity associated with it , however, certainly brought the new operating system more attention than it would have harmed it.

In Belgium , Finland , Luxembourg , the Netherlands and Sweden , the courts ruled against Lindows and for Microsoft. The operating system can only be sold there under the name “Lin --- s” (read: Lin-Dash), and the original homepage “Lindows.com” is no longer allowed to be visited. In the countries mentioned this website is called "Lin---s.com". For these reasons, the company and its product were renamed Linspire in April 2004.

In July 2004, Microsoft and Linspire reached an out-of-court settlement. Linspire received US $ 20 million from Microsoft, in exchange for all legal disputes between the two companies.

product

Linspire was supposed to make the switch from Windows to Linux easier and therefore had its focus on the uncomplicated use in schools, companies and in the private sector. Linspire sought a Linux - Distribution , which is by the average user easy to use.

Linspire is based on Debian . As a special feature in the first version of Linspire was touted the possibility of installing and using Windows applications with Wine support. From version 5 this focus was given up, especially because of the seemingly limitless amount of open source software.

On the positive side, Linspire enables easy installation of what they call "Click'n'Run" (CNR, based on Debian's APT ).

CNR

APT is free software , but the Linspire developers found it to be too complicated to use for Linux newcomers. Therefore, a particularly easy-to-use user interface and a slightly modified package system were provided for an annual fee. CNR is no longer based on APT. The installation files with the extension .cnrare only packages in .deb format (Debian package files) with DRM-like encryption. Before installing, Linspire will ask if the package was legally acquired. After this query it can be installed.

Linspire's CNR Service (also jokingly “Collect New Revenue”) allegedly allowed users unrestricted access to software stored in the CNR department store . The service allows the installation of all applications with a single click. CNR also includes the CNB “ C lick ' N ' B uy” which is just a bunch of additional commercial or proprietary software for paying members only. At times the CNR contained a range of over 2500 different products - starting from very simple applications to large commercial main applications such as Win4Lin and StarOffice . Most of the programs were provided with editorial comments and reviews from the community. Allegedly, the broadband download caused high costs for the manufacturer. Linspire offered two different price ranges for its annual CNR service:

  • CNR Service (basic): The CNR basic service was most recently available free of charge (previously US $ 20) and allowed users to download and install applications from the main server with a simple click.
  • CNR Gold Service: The Gold Service included the functionality of the basic service, only additional extras such as discounts on commercial Linux software (e.g. StarOffice , Win4Lin , Cedega and MyBooksPro ) were offered for US $ 50 per year . Proponents of this service argued that the discounts mentioned could easily exceed the cost of the CNR Gold service.

criticism

Linspire was frowned upon by many Linux users because - in the "CNR Gold Service" version - it also charges money for the installation of programs that are otherwise available free of charge on the Internet.

One point of criticism of Linspire was that all users were initially given root status without being consequently informed about the dangers involved by the distribution itself. In particular, experienced users pointed out before the current version that this would endanger system security. In this way, every user (also from outside) can manipulate all files in the system. This increases the risk of malicious programs such as viruses or Trojans . Michael Robertson himself argues that there is no significant difference between root and user. However, this is now avoided in the new version offered for download (Freespire 2.0.6) by no longer being “root” in the default setting. You are now explicitly asked whether you want to change to "root" status if you feel the need to change basic things. This resolved this main criticism with the "root" problem.

While some consider Linspire and Debian to be very similar products, others argue that Linspire differs significantly from Debian and other distributions in having dozens of proprietary programs on its installation CD, such as support for MP3, DVD, Quick Time, Java, Flash, Real, Windows Media, Adobe PDF, and proprietary drivers. Some of these are licensed, and some are third party products that charge licensees and are also legally licensed by Linspire.

The standard Linspire installation does not include Network Services. A strict firewall is also installed, which blocks everything except for port 22 ( SSH ).

With Linspire 6.0, Linspire began to follow the path of some Linux distributors and has since offered codecs licensed by Microsoft that were integrated into the system.

Foreign language support

Linspire sponsored the IRMA Project: It aims to enable users from all over the world to translate Linspire into different languages. IRMA supports over 50 foreign languages ​​with the help of over 1,500 translators, such as English, German, Spanish, Japanese, Portuguese or Italian.

Open source support

Linspire, Inc sponsored a large number of open source projects, such as Pidgin , Kopete ( instant messaging clients), KDE -Apps.org and KDE-Look.org and the Nvu project, which is a development of a WYSIWYG website editor , based on the Mozilla Composer source code. Linspire, Inc. has donated over $ 500,000 to the Wine project in the past and has hosted several Linux and open source events such as the annual Desktop Linux Summit , Debconf, and the KDE Developers Conference . Linspire was a member of the DCC .

Editions

Linspire offered the following editions:

  • Standard - The standard edition of Linspire (starting at around $ 49.95 )
  • Developer - This edition contained a large number of developer tools such as text editors , compilers and libraries for software development
  • Laptop - A Linspire version optimized for notebooks
  • LinspireLive! - Linspire LiveCD ($ 29.95)

Freespire

In August 2005 a live CD called Freespire was released on the Internet. Freespire was based on the Linspire source code Linux - Distribution . This distribution was generated by a Linspire fan and was neither produced nor published by Linspire itself. Freespire therefore caused some irritation among users who thought it was a Linspire product. The author voluntarily changed the name to avoid such confusion. At the same time as the name change, the former Freespire project was given the code name "Squiggle" and the idea of ​​looking for a new distribution name. Linspire responded immediately with the "free Linspire" offer to users until September 9, 2005. Both projects cleverly advertised each other.

From the second quarter of 2006, however, there was a new, initiated and funded by Linspire project called Freespire. Freespire, as the name suggests, was a free version of Linspire; its concept was similar to that of fedora .

Versions

Freespire
version date
1.0.13 August 7, 2006
2.0 August 7, 2007
2.0.3 September 24, 2007

Lawsuit against Xandros

In 2003, Linspire filed a lawsuit against his former partner, Xandros . Linspire alleged that Xandros was refusing to repay a $ 750,000 loan and that both that company and other defendants were implicated in labeling fraud , fraud and criminal misrepresentation . This information came to light on April 20, 2004 during the negotiation of Linspire's investment in Xandros. The two companies reached an out-of-court settlement in July 2005.

Compare Linspire with Xandros and Lycoris , which follow a similar principle to Linspire.

Versions

Linspire
version date
3.0 November 18, 2002
4.0 June 24, 2003
4.5 December 16, 2003
5.0 March 16, 2005
5.1 April 21, 2006
6.0 October 10, 2007
7.0 April 8, 2018
8.7 March 6, 2020

Individual evidence

  1. Mirco Lindner: Linspire 8.7 attracts Windows users. pro-linux.de Internet portal, March 6, 2020
  2. Kevin Carmony Blog: Sale to Xandros
  3. Linspire is being discontinued
  4. Michael Larabel: Linspire Is Back From The Dead In 2018. In: phoronix.com. January 2, 2018, accessed February 16, 2020 .
  5. Linspire 7.0 Service Pack 1 released. linspirelinux.com Internet portal, April 8, 2018
  6. Mirco Lindner: Linspire 8.7 attracts Windows users. pro-linux.de Internet portal, March 6, 2020