[SATLUG] Ubuntu and Linspire

[Shawn Bender]

John Hammer wrote:
> 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
>
Actually Debian, OpenSuse, Fedora and Ubuntu/Kubuntu will have access to 
CNR.

Shawn