[SATLUG] Ubuntu and Linspire

[John Hammer]

Just saw this in the Houston Chronicle web site:



     The Linux distribution family tree grew a little more complicated 
with today's announcement of a technology sharing agreement between 
Canonical (Ubuntu's commercial sponsor) and Linspire. I'll try to 
explain this as simply as possible.

     First there was Debian, legendary among Linux distributions for its 
flexibility, software package management system and commitment to free 
software principles. Linspire came along later and built a user-friendly 
Linux distribution with Debian at its core. Some time later Ubuntu came 
into being. It built upon Debian as well but cleaned things up a bit and 
added some of the latest and greatest open source software packages to 
the mix. This -- along with an appealing project philosophy, dynamic 
leader and a predictable, six-month upgrade cycle -- shot Ubuntu to the 
top of the Linux popularity charts.

     Starting today, these relationships get even more confusing. 
Linspire and Canonical, Inc. have announced a partnership that will 
result in core technology being shared between the two operating 
systems. Future versions of Linspire will be built upon Ubuntu instead 
of Debian. This gives Linspire users the advantage of Debian's core and 
Ubuntu's regular updates. The great work started by the Debian team 
remains at the core of everything. This is good news for Linspire fans 
and good news for Ubuntu evangelists like myself.

     Perhaps the most interesting component of the deal is the fact that 
Ubuntu users will gain access to the Linspire CNR (Click 'N Run) 
e-commerce and software delivery system. This system is a sort of 
pay-as-you-go version of Debian/Ubuntu's apt-get package management that 
will allow users to install commercial software, drivers and codecs with 
the click of a mouse. Free Software puritans will cringe at this 
development but realists are more likely to view the model as offering 
the best of both worlds. Ubuntu users won't be required to install 
non-free software but those who want the power, stability, security and 
freedom of Ubuntu enhanced with a few commercial software packages will 
be free to do so. That is true freedom in my opinion.

     We should see the first Ubuntu-based Linspire distributions this 
quarter. Ubuntu users will get access to Linspire's CNR in April's 7.04 
release.

John Hammer