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CNR does what it promises, one click installs and uninstalls. During the initial release period CNR was getting hammered, and there were many complaints, but a week later and all is fine with CNR. There are still some outdated applications left in CNR, some that still won’t install (Win4Lin, Point2Play), and some that place icons in the wrong menu area like Pingus which should belong to the Games section. I also noticed that some have duplicate menu entries like Gimp and NMap. This is easily fixed by editing the menus, but needs to be corrected. I believe in a month or so Linspire should have most of these issues sorted out and things will be running very smooth. For those reading this review and running Linspire 5.0 and noticed similar menu issues, do Linspire a favor and submit a Diagnostic Report.

Score: 8 out of 10

6) Support

This is another area that Linspire shines, but many new users fail to take advantage of. Linspire offers excellent and fast support (from my experience) and really seems to care about their product. Users with problems have the following options, and I might have missed a few:

A) Forum
B) Linspire Support
C) Diagnostic Report
D) FAQs
E) Insider Tips
F) Quickstart Guide (PDF Format)

Is there room for improvement; yes would always be my answer. Every support system has problems, none are perfect. If you do find a problem, please let them know or they can’t fix it.

Score: 9 out of 10

7) What’s New and Improved?

The short answer would be much, see here for a quick look. Some of the best features I like are the Network Profiles that can be setup now; like I have 2 for home called Home-Wired/Home-Wireless and two for work call Work-Wired/Work-Wireless. All I have to do now is click on the one I want and everything gets setup just the way I need it. Great feature. You can also now see other wireless hotspots available around you and connect to them as well. Another feature I enjoy is LSongs, which features ShoutCast for Internet Radio, access to the new MP3tunes Music Store, and many other features. It works well for me and suits my needs. LPhoto is another very welcome feature that offers support for many Digital Cameras let’s you do minor adjustments on images like red eye removal for example. Reiser 4, not officially supported, but wow what a speed difference. I did the install with Reiser 3 first and then Reiser 4 afterwards and the system is more responsive, boots a little faster and just feels faster overall. No benchmarks to back this up, but try it yourself. Hibernate, yes it works, matter of fact this is the first Distro this has worked successfully for me. The process does not look pretty, but none the less it work. Linspire Internet Suite, I have to admit I would prefer Firefox, but the features offered with the suite are great. I use them constantly, Inline Spell Check, Hot Words, and Calendar…nice, very nice. Did I mention plugins, wow they are all there. No more CrossOver Office needed for basic Internet Plugins, I can go now to all my favorite sites such as Movies.com and watch trailers without worrying if they work…they all work, Windows Media, QuickTime, RealPlayer and so on. Hopefully they can incorporate these features into Firefox and we the users can enjoy the added speed advantage of Firefox. VPN, yes you read right, Linspire has an easy to use, GUI VPN client now. No more command line stuff here, which for a new user or one coming from Windows is a welcomed addition. They are not the first, this honor goes to Xandros, but it works just as well and easy. Job well done and thanks for listening! There are many more features I like but I would have to become long winded and who has time for that.

Score: 10 out of 10

8) What needs work?

It’s a short list, but here we go:

A) OpenOffice – It’s just plain ugly by default! Nothing matches the well designed Linspire Theme. It can be fixed a little by installing the optional OpenOffice.org-KDE fix from CNR, but it’s still ugly. Take a look at what Lycoris ProductivityPak has done with OpenOffice and that’s what it should look like. Hopefully they will offer 2.0 as soon as it becomes available. It could also use the OpenOffice.org Quickstarter feature to enhance startup times which are horrible by default.

B) Boot up Speed – Much better than 4.5 was, but still takes nearly a minute (53 seconds from grub to login) on this speedy Laptop. I would like to see sub 30 second boot times. One minute or more to boot a system is just too long…period!

C) CNR – More Applications are needed, many of the Warehouse Aisles are empty or near empty. Apps need to be updated more frequently. Apps need to be in the right menu once installed (9 out of 10 times they are). I would also like to see more Trial ware such as VMware Workstation, Win4Lin and so on. I prefer to try before I buy and so do many others out there.

D) Hardware – I know mine all worked, but doing a quick check on the Linspire Forums and you will see there are many others who have issues. But this goes to say with all Linux Distros, and is not so much a fault of Linux but the Manufacturers of the Hardware failing to make Linux Drivers.

Score: 7 out of 10

9) Summary

I was very impressed already with Linspire 4.5, but 5.0 is a huge improvement in usability, features, speed and productivity over 4.5. If Linspire can improve on this with their next version, all I can say is watch out Longhorn. Is Linspire on par with Windows XP, I would say yes to this and better, it’s more fun (Linux), cheaper ($50 a year for everything, including upgrades), secure (firewall, optional Antivirus, optional SurfSafe) and stable. Is it for everyone, I would have to say no. For someone coming from Slackware, Gentoo, Debian and some of the other less user friendly Distros out here, all the handholding would probably offend them. Keep in mind Linspire’s target market, new users and users coming from Windows. Now I’m not a ! new user and would consider myself a Linux Veteran as well as a Windows Veteran, but I do appreciate the ease of use, protection, and stability Linspire 5.0 offers to me and my whole Family. There are a few nearly equally qualified other choices like Xandros and SUSE, but I choose Linspire as my main OS at Home and for SOHO use. Do I still tinker with the other Distros out there…you bet, even Windows! ?

Final Score: 9.1 out of 10