Linspire 5 Beta (Warning LARGE Images!)


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While I am not personally a Linspire fan, they have done a decent job at making Linux usable for their target market (people who would get paralyzed at the sight of a command prompt).

One suggestion, though, for the thread starter:

Change the word "grate" to "great". ;)

great = very good

grate = to get on one's nerves. :D

to me....it now looks like Linspire has copied Windows, Apple, Trillian, Winamp AND Firefox.....I mean seriously, can they make ANYTHING where they don't copy something?

:/ i dont like it one bit, mainly because they just copy everything semi-verbatim, and I seriously hate that

Bad Linspire, Bad! :angry:

::::ooops, i see thats Gaim....still though, im dissappointed

to me....it now looks like Linspire has copied Windows, Apple, Trillian, Winamp AND Firefox.....I mean seriously, can they make ANYTHING where they don't copy something?

:/ i dont like it one bit, mainly because they just copy everything semi-verbatim, and I seriously hate that

Bad Linspire, Bad! :angry:

585467105[/snapback]

actually, they are partners with GAIM, so they didn't rip it off, they just completely took it.

actually, they are partners with GAIM, so they didn't rip it off, they just completely took it.

585467111[/snapback]

yea, just noticed that and edited my comment. But still, the question remains, can they make anything where they dont blatantly rip off another big company?

if they can't make it, they bundle it? Sounds like Dell

what are you talking about?

all their GUI stuff is theirs. xmms is THE linux mp3 player and is included in just about every linux distro. they did not copy windows, they use a modified KDE.

and honestly, while linspire makes a pretty bad overall OS, you have to love the fact that they support the linux community so much financially.

ok I guess I'm confused....

Linspire 5 is just a new GUI with some icons? and then bundled with KPlayer, XMMS, and Gaim? I guess the pricing for these new Wal-Mart pc's makes sense.

I mean, I just dont see how it's really helping the linux community. I can see it helping Open-source to a degree, but this product (I've never tried it) seems like it's tailored specifically for Amatuer PC Users with little or no experience that would like to use the internet, do word processing,etc etc. All for a cheap price with less-than-emachine quality computers.

I doubt any Linux users would even consider this product, but I guess I'm naive.

::::damn I am seriously an idiot. You said FINANCIALLY, and I went into a rant. Hah, well Financially, you seem to be correct. As long as Linspire actually generates a profit ;)

it IS lindows...

they changed their name to linspire

585467578[/snapback]

No you don't understand my question! :pinch: :p What I am trying to say is that the pic.'s that is on the first post and this program you guys are talkin about is it for Windows or not?

No you don't understand my question! :pinch:  :p What I am trying to say is that the pic.'s that is on the first post and this program you guys are talkin about is it for Windows or not?

585467613[/snapback]

.......HE ANSWERED IT

lol, it ISNT for Windows

this is a whole new Operating system, called Linspire, which used to be called Lindows, not to be confused with Windows

^^^ While my feelings toward Linspire aren't quite as absolutely negative as that, I think that many existing Linux users will find that Linspire is not the distro for them to try.

However, they are after a very specific market (the "grandma market", for lack of a more descriptive term). They have put a lot of effort into making Linspire as 'noob-friendly' as possible. The negative part of this is that you run as root by default (much like Windows, it seems).

The "Click-n-Run" service is a pay-to-use service that provides a super-easy application installation process. Many of these apps are freely available on the net, but some are more premium apps, like Star Office (if you prefer the commercial Sun product over the community OO.o product). In the end, we all pay for the OS we run, whether by spending the time to learn about it and set it up to work the way we want, or whether you choose to pay someone to put a syrupy layer over the top of it.

Whether you like these types of distros or not, the likes of Linspire, Xandros, Linare and Lycroris are each doing their best to put the most noob-friendly face on Linux. They are the ones trying to do what people say Linux needs to do - become as easy to use as Windows.

It does look pretty cool, but I think I'll be sticking with Fedora Core for my linux distros.

As far as entering the consumer desktop market, this could be a definite foot in the door. If system builders adopt this as their primary operating system of choice, I think we could see it do well for itself.

Dougal.

  • 2 weeks later...

I've been using Linspire since their 4.0 version. Here is what I really like about Linspire:

- For sure the easiest Linux to use.

- Optimized for desktop and laptop use, unlike so many that are heavy on server features, but light on desktop/laptop features.

- Linspire, out of the box, plays pretty much every file type you can imagine (flash, java, quicktime, windows media, mp3, avi, doc, xls, ppt, etc.)

- CNR is great. It allows you to install, uninstall and keep updated around 2,000 programs with one click.

- Great hardware, wifi, and laptop power management support.

- Great support from the company. They get back to users very quickly.

- The best forum anywhere. It's very active, and super friendly community, including lots of input from Linspire employees, even their CEO and President.

- They have done a lot for open source, and give everything back to the community, such as Lsongs, Lphoto, Nvu, Reiser 4, advanced changes to Moz and FF, etc.

- Everything just works!

Hans

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