Canonical Ltd., the sponsor of Ubuntu, and Linspire Inc. the developer of Linspire and Freespire, on February 8 announced a technology partnership to integrate with each other's Linux distributions. Linspire/Freespire will be based on Ubuntu, rather than Debian, and Ubuntu will integrate with Linspire's CNR package installer/updater.
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Member since:2005-07-07
Yes the deal will give Ubuntu access to CNR, which will allow Ubuntu users to buy legal codecs, which I believe does offer legal DVD playback.
For the Most part Linspire(and more Freespire) has been well done, so I expect the next version to be good too, thought there is less polishing to do when basing of Ubuntu rather than vanilla Debian.
Member since:2005-07-05
Member since:2006-06-21
basing a distro on a distro that is based on another distro seems absurd to me.
You must have not been around Linux for very long, then. 
Seriously, it's all part of how Linux distro's evolve. It's natural evolution, like with all free software. It casually morphs into more and more interesting forms, as long as there are people willing to work on them.
Member since:2005-07-08
Years, actually. I can't think of any other instance where people were basing a distro on another distro that is currently based on a still-being-developed distro. Simply Mepis did the same thing.
Debian > Ubuntu > other distro
This has never happened that I can think of. Sure, there have been forks, but that's a lot different than being twice removed from the source.
Member since:2005-09-03
Member since:2005-07-08
Member since:2005-07-08
basing a distro on a distro that is based on another distro seems absurd to me.
In addition to the other comments, this layered release management model closely resembles the model for building software systems. Each software component imports an abstraction layer from its dependencies and exports an abstraction layer to its dependents. Analogously, Ubuntu takes the upstream Debian repositories (and the associated release management model) and provides an enhanced set of repositories (and an improved release cycle) to downstream projects like MEPIS and Linspire. It makes sense to software developers.
Each project can focus on what they bring to the table. Debian brings its massive repositories and huge development community, Ubuntu brings its dependable release cycles and sprawling user base, and Linspire brings all of the proprietary junk that users want but OSS developers hate. Each link in the chain complies with the age-old UNIX philosophy: "do one thing and do it well."
The Debian folk continue to be uneasy about the evolving nature of their project, which has been exacerbated by Ubuntu. People who need complete flexibility and stable packages will continue to depend on Debian's stable releases, and downstream distributors will continue to pull package sets from unstable out-of-sync with the Debian release cycle.
However, downstream distributors really owe it to Debian (but are not legally obligated) to deliver patches re-based against the packages' current versions in unstable. Now they are delivering patches against the versions in their frozen repositories, leaving Debian the chore of re-basing the patches against their more current versions.
In addition, Ubuntu (or rather Canonical) has slapped the Debian community in the face (figuratively speaking) by offering their cross-distribution issue-tracking collaboration tool, Launchpad, under a proprietary license. Canonical knows damn well that Debian's governance policy forbids them from using proprietary tools in their project infrastructure, and Debian needs a way to collaborate with Ubuntu developers more than any other project. This is wrong. More wrong than "open" CNR (not the server), but not quite as wrong as the Novell/Microsoft patent covenant.
Member since:2006-09-08
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In addition, Ubuntu (or rather Canonical) has slapped the Debian community in the face (figuratively speaking) by offering their cross-distribution issue-tracking collaboration tool, Launchpad, under a proprietary license. Canonical knows damn well that Debian's governance policy forbids them from using proprietary tools in their project infrastructure, and Debian needs a way to collaborate with Ubuntu developers more than any other project. This is wrong. More wrong than "open" CNR (not the server), but not quite as wrong as the Novell/Microsoft patent covenant.
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I think a large part of Canonical's future business model will build around Launchpad (and also how many apps in Ubuntu are linked to liblaunchpad-integration0), so I'm really happy that Debian won't use it. It would be another Bitkeeper if they did.
Member since:
2005-07-08
basing a distro on a distro that is based on another distro seems absurd to me. On the other hand, does this mean that *buntu will get legal codecs ootb now? The chance to purchase legal DVD playback? I couldn't quite tell form the article. If so, this could be a serious boon to the already thriving *buntu community, as well as a means to bring a lot more people into the fold.
I guess it also remains to be seen how this "integration" takes place. Will it be an ugly hack with "GIVE US YOUR MONEY" written all over it, or will it be done tastefully?
Edited 2007-02-08 21:23