Three weeks ahead of schedule, version 1.0 of Freespire, the no-cost community version of Linspire, is now available from the project's website. You can download a completely open source version, or a version that includes various proprietary codecs and drivers for an improved out-the-box experience. Screenshots.
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Member since:2005-11-10
Member since:2005-07-08
I'm sure this distribution will be fine, and it will pull in some leech-like users that don't like to spend money on software.
However if the purpose is to attract a community of contributors, then I don't know what Carmony is smoking these days. Linspire doesn't have a track record of contributing to OSS, asserting technical leadership in the community, or driving open standards. As far as I can tell, there's no way to submit bugs, there's no CVS/SVN source repository (just 2 iso files), and there's hardly any technical documentation at all. This is a 1.0 release!?
Hello, you can't just put up a forums and a wiki skeleton and say, "come on in, it's free!!" Seems rushed would be a huge understatement. Freespire is trying to create life without any carbon, and it doesn't take a genius to figure out that this won't work.
Member since:2005-07-06
actually Linspire DOES contribute alot to OSS
http://www.linspire.com/lindows_products_license.php#ope
yes some are "Linspire" products, but they do contribute.
Member since:2006-06-19
They have to start somewhere. Track records can change and it has to start somewhere. As I stated earlier I this is the start down the path and I hope they continue. If they are criticisized for honestly trying to do better then I don't see that as providing motivation to continue. Should we not allow a distro to change and evolve? I don't see some of that stuff you mention as being that important. They have done more than you give them credit for also and I believe they are honestly working on this as quickly as resources allow.
I do think they have a lot of areas to improve upon but I dont think it is fair to criticise them for starting to do just that.
Member since:2006-06-19
leech? A leech would have to be a burden, something that drains resources. How would someone taking software that is freely given be a leech? I don't like to spend money on software - when there are software choices that do not cost money that work for me. What is so wrong with that?
I don't go out and hand out free soup at the kitchen and then complain when someone actually takes it.
You first say "will be fine" and at the end you say"this won't work" so which is it?:)
Official Apple statement on PRISM and privacy: "Regardless of the circumstances, our Legal team conducts an evaluation of each request and, only if appropriate, we retrieve and deliver the narrowest possible set of information to the authorities. In fact, from time to time when we see inconsistencies or inaccuracies in a request, we will refuse to fulfill it." This is basically Apple re-publishing their earlier statement in a more official manner. You either believe it, or you don't.
The open source Contiki operating system and its commercial Thingsquare distribution are making strides towards the connected home. According to a Computerworld article, a new LED light bulb manufacturer is putting small computers into their light bulbs. Each computer runs the Contiki OS, which gives each bulb an IP address and allows them to be controlled with a smartphone application. To connect the bulbs to the application, the bulbs use both Wi-Fi and the much lower power IEEE 802.15.4 mesh technology.
"Google asked the secretive Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court on Tuesday to ease long-standing gag orders over data requests it makes, arguing that the company has a constitutional right to speak about information it's forced to give the government. The legal filing, which cites the First Amendment's guarantee of free speech, is the latest move by the California-based tech giant to protect its reputation in the aftermath of news reports about sweeping National Security Agency surveillance of Internet traffic." Draining the ditch after the cow has drowned in it."I can't find one person who has been using the Nexus 7 for an extended period of time, and hasn't seen a massive downgrade in performance. Just what kind of downgrade are we talking here? I cannot pick up my Nexus 7 without experiencing problems like a lag of ten seconds, or more, just to rotate the display; touches refusing to acknowledged; stuttering notification panel actions; and unresponsive apps." Fully and utterly agreed. My Nexus 7 was blazing-fast and awesome for a few months, and at some point, it just started sucking. Just like that. I've tried loads of ROMs, and nothing helps.A new release of the hobby operating system MenuetOS! The release notes are a bit non-descript, but you'll have to take what you can get: "updates and improvements (picview, httpc, ehci, ...)"."The Internet is one of the most transformative technologies of our lifetimes. But for 2 out of every 3 people on earth, a fast, affordable Internet connection is still out of reach. And this is far from being a solved problem. There are many terrestrial challenges to Internet connectivity - jungles, archipelagos, mountains. There are also major cost challenges. Right now, for example, in most of the countries in the southern hemisphere, the cost of an Internet connection is more than a month's income. Solving these problems isn't simply a question of time: it requires looking at the problem of access from new angles. So today we're unveiling our latest moonshot from Google[x]: balloon-powered Internet access." Insane.
"MineAssemble is a tiny bootable Minecraft clone written partly in x86 assembly. I made it first and foremost because a university assignment required me to implement a game in assembly for a computer systems course. Because I had never implemented anything more complex than a 'Hello World' bootloader before, I decided I wanted to learn about writing my own kernel code at the same time. Note that the goal of this project was not to write highly efficient hand-optimized assembly code, but rather to have fun and write code that balances readability and speed. This is primarily accomplished by proper commenting and consistent code structuring." Just cool.
Jon Rubinstein, former CEO of Palm: "Well, I'm not sure I would have sold the company to HP. That's for sure. Talk about a waste. Not that I had any choice because when you sell a company you don't get to decide that. Obviously, the board and shareholders decide that. If we had known they were just going to shut it down and never really give it a chance to flourish, what would have been the point of selling the company? I think the deal we had with Verizon really hurt us, but who knew that at the time? These things are all hindsight.""And so it is with Dell's Alienware X51 R2, a small form factor gaming PC in console digs. It's shaped similar to Microsoft's Xbox 360 Slim, and though it's slightly larger than either a 360 or PlayStation 3, the X51 R2 would be right at home in a living room setting nestled next to a large screen TV. Indeed, it's adept at running Steam's Big Picture mode, and if your primary objective is to play games in the living room, go ahead and consider the X51 R2 a hybrid game console." This is obviously not the only machine like this - still, these are very valid console alternatives even for those that don't like being hunched over with a cramped WASD-claw. Also, PC gamers among us: could you get away with the $699 model for gaming?
From Bloomberg: "Microsoft, the world's largest software company, provides intelligence agencies with information about bugs in its popular software before it publicly releases a fix, according to two people familiar with the process. That information can be used to protect government computers and to access the computers of terrorists or military foes." The lid has officially been blown off.
Member since:
2005-07-06
I'll just stick with Slackware and Zenwalk. They do the job great. Anyways, I'll wait for at least 3 good reviews before I even began to think of considering it.
ha ha
--Anonymo