"Linspire/Freespire is real Linux, and if you are hoping to convert someone loaning them a Linspire PC might be the way to do it. If you are a regular Linux user, you don't need it, but it makes a great set of training wheels."
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Member since:2006-05-23
Just my 2 cents, but I don't think distros benefit from special pleading like this. They survive or not on their merits in a very competitive world.
I think biases might end up playing a bigger roll than software quality, at least in the short term. Microcenter's low-end Powerspec machines usually come with Linspire preinstalled. I can think of a couple reasons for this:
1. Linspire is supposed to be "Linux like Windows". Sounds good for pleasing Windows users, right?
2. Using CNR required a subscription, and Gold service still requires one. I may be wrong, but I wouldn't be surprised of some of the money from that went to Microcenter, since it's helping to popularize Linspire.
Member since:2005-07-06
Just my 2 cents, but I don't think distros benefit from special pleading like this. They survive or not on their merits in a very competitive world.
I think that if there is something that the technology world has taught us is that you can't rely on technology alone if you are to compete, and we have many, many examples of this. Good image, promoting and marketing are essential as well. We're talking about free software here, but still that principle holds true, IMO.
I personally think Freespire is still suffering from the stigma of their almost propietary origins and the almost vaporware quality of the "a Linux like Windows" promotion back then when it was called Lindows.
The conclusion that I draw from this is that Linspire didn't get it right the first time and now they're going to find it very hard to change people's minds, no matter how good their product gets. That's precisely where Ubuntu got it right: build a community around you from the very beginning, or it's all uphill from there.
Edited 2006-09-09 18:15
Member since:
2005-11-05
Just my 2 cents, but I don't think distros benefit from special pleading like this. They survive or not on their merits in a very competitive world.
Also, I don't agree with the writer's main point, which is that Joe Sixpack needs a special hand-holding distro that looks exactly like Windows, or else he won't try Linux. This hasn't stopped, say, Ubuntu, SuSE or Fedora from being great successes with an awful lot of users. I've never used Linspire/Freespire and it may be very good for all I know (probably is), but I don't think articles like this do it many favours. Who wants to run a "starter kit" distro? Most folks want the real thing.