In a short story with a happy ending, the developer of a free version of Linspire called Freespire has agreed to change the name of his project, and Linspire is offering free copies of Linspire Linux for a few days. Freespire, which first popped up on Distrowatch last week, described itself as a free variant of Linspire Linux, with proprietary components and trademarks removed.
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Hmmm...firstly i don't think they "went after him" as you put it. Secondly the name was changed because of confusion it created, i.e Freespire is implying a free version of Linspire, which it isn't as a lot of the Linspire goodies are missing. And it was not Linspire that faught MS over Lindows, it was MS who faught over Lindows ... big difference. I don't think that there ar eany hard feelings between the projects.
Member since:2005-07-09
Member since:2005-06-29
The guy behind Freespire is actually an Linspre employee I believe, and Freepsire was a personal project of his, and he had no intentions at all to publish this. However, someone submitted this to distrowatch, and that got the ball rolling.
The Freepsire guy and Linspire changed the name in mutual concent, no legal action was needed.
Member since:2005-06-29
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2005-06-29
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To keep their good name in the community should just offer free developer releases, alphas, betas, etc. So we can try it out and let them know if their system has any noticable bugs.
We don't NEED a free version, we've got plenty of other distros to choose from. But offering us a free version to check out from time to time will help us help them spread their software and their name. Maybe sys admins like me would be more willing to recommend them, like we do RedHat and possibly SuSE or Mandrake, Debian, Gentoo, etc.
Every Linux admin should have a knoppix or Mepis CD in their backpack. Maybe Linspire could join the collection, if they were willing..
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"Coupon freespire expired on Aug 30, 2005 11:51 AM PST and is no longer valid"
That is the response I get. The "http://info.linspire.com/freespire/index.html" page lists the deadline as September 6th.
Member since:2005-07-06
Member since:2005-08-03
The best thing to do is probably to write them an e-mail. I've registered a My.Linspire account and used their "Incident Based Ask Now / Email" support to forward my question about their "pre-expired" coupon.
Here's the direct link :
http://support.linspire.com/support_assisted.php
I understand that it might have generated a tremendous load on their systems, but I have not seen it on Slashdot yet... Maybe it's the OSNews effect! Eugenia said that she upgraded the site to v3.1... WOW! What an upgrade! ;-P
Anyways, where I come from, if a company advertises something (in real life AS WELL AS on the Web) and just breaks it without specifying a "while stocks lasts" clause, they have to honour it, even if they have to use a "rain check" coupon to delay until stocks are reprenished. They should at least fix the September 6th date if they have no intention on fulfilling orders with that coupon! Only time (and their reply to my question) will tell...
Member since:2005-08-03
Linspire wrote me back very quickly! Here's what they wrote :
Thank you for contacting Linspire.
Due to an overwhelming demand for access to our digital download and the “freespire” coupon, we have experienced some problems with the coupon validation process. We regret any inconvenience this may have caused. I have been notified by our web team that the coupon expire date issue has been resolved, please try again.
Thank you for your patience and understanding regarding this issue.
Linspire Support
Great responsive support! ;-) I've seen other profitable Linux companies that could take a Client Care lesson from them...
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That is strange! I downloaded the free Linspire 5.0.59 ISO just a few hours ago this morning using Freespire as the coupon via Bit Torrent. I figured that would be the best since there were over 1200 people in front of me waiting to download it using the web. :0
In fact, I´m using the free Linspire Live CD as I´m typing this. :/
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2005-06-30
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you aparently get the old version
here's what I was expecting
http://www.linspire.com/lindows_products_updates.php?info=iso
"ISO Release Notes
Date: 06.20.2005
Version: 5.0.200 (Linspire 5.0 Full)
Size: 645 MB
md5sum: c824c4c2d23c093a6d07f0ef6d45fee8
Engineer's Notes:
This version includes a number of noteworthy updates:
* updated applications:
o nvu
o lsongs
o mozilla
* improved openoffice look
* included wireless support for ralink devices
* included bittorent
* improved autorun and mimetypes support
* removed cpudyn (should address sluggishness in certain machines)"
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Because bittorrent, in general, sucks dog balls . It was a great idea, but it's also a real life example of how incredibly greedy nearly everyone is. How many torrents have you gone to download where there are 50+ peers, and 6 seeds w/ 32+ leaches? Most ISOs I download come *much faster* from a single throttled connection than any torrent site I see them listed on.
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As a Linspire user it confuses me why they sell the program in the first place because CnR is what sets it apart. Well that and not having all the server apps and other processes running in the background.
I've thought from day 1 d/load versions of the program should always be free and they make their money from CnR subscriptions.
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2005-08-04
Thanks Gizmo for offering your VoIP only for CNR Linspire users and Debian. Nice one, divide the Linux community.
There are tonnes of VoIp Linux solutions anyway which are less trouble to convert .debs ... I won't be checking nor will indirectly promoting your website again.
Oh about Freespire .. yeah sure, whatever.
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If you are a person who wants Linux for free and never wants to pay a cent, ignore this post.
If you want to support Linux and and feel that you would like to contribute money to the cause, there are many ways to do so. Personally, I feel that Linspire has really earned it, so I subscribe to CNR even though I run 4 other completely free Linux distros. I want them to be successful. They have done a whole lot for the Linux community and they remain loyal, unlike some other proprietary Linux companies. Even if you can only do it for a short time, send some money Linspire's way, and trust that it will make it back down to projects like Mozilla and Gaim.
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"As a Linspire user it confuses me why they sell the program in the first place because CnR is what sets it apart. Well that and not having all the server apps and other processes running in the background.
I've thought from day 1 d/load versions of the program should always be free and they make their money from CnR subscriptions."
They have to charge something. If you want to sell your product in retail - both parties need to make some sort of profit. Lets take Fry's for example. Why would they put Linspire on their shelves if the customer can get it for free? What is in it for them? If a company like Linspire wants to be pre-installed on PC's sold at stores like Fry's, they have to charge something.
CNR is the real source of income for Linspire, but they have to get those PC's out there so that people will discover and sign up for CNR. It is basic Business. Microsoft knew the value of having their product in the stores. That is why they have such a stranglehold on that market. It is extremely difficult to get any retail outlet to do any business with anyone other than Microsoft approved vendors.
Giving these free coupons does help people try out and see how Linspire works on their system. The real push forward for Linspire is from people who purchase a PC at the store that has Linspire pre-installed on it. The real push for any Linux distros is having their Linux product pre-installed and sold in a retail outlet store such as Fry's, Best Buy....
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Just for the record of course.
Freespire was just a project put together by one of the Insiders at the Linspire forums.Somehow it was released to distrowatch, and this whole thing started about the name, proprietory formats, whether or not it was Linspire, does Linspire support it etc etc etc..
The project name is now called "Squiggle" and is based on Linspire (w/out the 3rd party licensing infringemnts)
Linspire is completely supportive of Squiggle, they have no problem with its development. It reminds of all the Red Hat based distros that are out there.
Obviously it brought up the discussion at the highter levels and Linspire's marketing department that made it available for free this Labor Day Weekend.
The response as imagined is tremendous. The load on Linspire's servers was like nothing before. Their Web and IT teams worked yesterday and last night to resolve issues.
So if you are looking to download, please be patient whether by the torrent, ftp or http. There is still plenty of time.
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Jake Tate smiles a evil smile and walks away laughing...
Now if someone would just buy the box and see that it does not have a source code cd OR the written offer!
Also, shouldnt the gpl be ON the cd?
If linspire goes out of business tommorrow, what do you have besides a shiny box and a 'internet suite' 
No thanks I will take my 3 mandrake cds over that any day!
Software subscription services that are delivered via download... WOW how M$ is that! And people still line up to buy it....
too funny!
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