OSNews

Thanks for taking a look at Linspire Five-0.

I'd like to give some additional information that might prove useful to your readers about this BETA version.

1. Thanks for mentioning that this is a Beta version. In fact, Beta V is already out and is the version we handed out at the Desktop Linux Summit. There are still several changes to come before the final release. For example, some of the sound, NTFS mounting, video and other hardware issues you have we know won't be a problem in the final release.

2. All of the Tutorials have been redone for Five-0 but were not included yet in Beta IV, so yes, you were looking at the old ones.

3. The DVD is $4.95 via CNR because we have to pay royalties for the licensed codecs.

4. We wanted to include a Bittorrent client right inside the OS, because we're doing some cool things with Bittorrent here at Linspire and our users will appreciate being able to use some of the new things we'll be doing with just one click because it's now built into the OS. As for FTP, that is built into our file manager, and several dedicated FTP clients are available via CNR (click n run).

5. As for not having more software in the core OS, that's VERY MUCH intentional. WE HATE BLOAT! BLECH!!! We don't like shipping with 5 IM clients, 3 web browsers, 5 media players, etc. etc. etc. We INTENTIONALLY keep Linspire light with the core, basic applications most everyone will need. HOWEVER...we also offer around 2,000 other software programs that can be installed WITH JUST ONE CLICK using CNR. Keep in mind, that ANY Linspire user can register for a free 14-day CNR trial. So, a user can simply install Linspire (in about 10 minutes), and then over the next 14 days, use CNR to their hearts content to add anything they think might be missing (their favorite FTP client, different browser, different email client, etc.). Heck, they can install all 2,000 apps for all we care! Once their 14-day trial is over, they keep all the software they've installed. We think this is a much cleaner approach than installing a bunch of software the user may never use. Does he really need FIVE email clients??? =)

6. If you want Firefox, you can simply install it with CNR. However, there are a lot of nice features in the Linspire Internet Suite that are not yet in Firefox, such as in-line spell checking (for example, as I make this post, Linspire corrects my spelling AS I TYPE and even offers suggestions on how to spell words properly), Hot Words, MailMinder, etc. We've made over 100 improvements to Mozilla that are not yet in Firefox. Firefox still has some catching up to do in many areas before we'll use it as the default. My guess is that by the time we release Linspire 6.0, Firefox will be up to speed with all the enhancements we've made to our Internet Suite as well as Thunderbird be ready for use as a default email client. We're working with the Mozilla developers to try and bring all the enhancements we've made to web browsing and email to Firefox and Thunderbird. Yes, Firefox is better than IE and stock Mozilla, but it doesn't have all the features yet of our Internet suite.

7. Uninstalling software with CNR is super easy. Simply launch CNR, click on the "My Products" tab which will list all software you have installed on your machine, highlight the program you want to uninstall, and click on the Uninstall button. CNR will then uninstall the software, remove it from the menus, desktop icons, etc. CNR installs, updates and uninstalls software with one click.

I hope this helps clear up a few things.

Thanks,

Kevin Carmony
President, Linspire, Inc.