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Buy Lindows, Get Fedora and Mandrake Too?

Posted by michael on from the too-many-linuxes-spoil-the-soup dept.

tacarat writes "Lindows has an interesting deal going on right now. If you go to Linuxshootout.com, you can get Linspire/Lindows 4.5, Mandrake 10 and Fedora Core 2 or a mere $29.95 download or $39.95 for the 8 CD set. Yahoo! News covers this story. Quoting Michael Robertson,'Our emphasis on Linspire is ease of use -- making Linux quick and easy to install and use,' he said. 'Other products may have a different focus. That doesn't mean they aren't great products, just that their focus may be different. Every new Linux computer helps the Linux desktop industry, regardless of what company's product you choose'. Also, 'We want to encourage side-by-side comparisons of the latest Linux products.' Interesting strategy. Will their sales go up because people are buying Lindows plus the other two distros, or will it be the other way around?"

8 of 234 comments (clear)

  1. Well... by Ikn · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Their intentions seem well, and I think it's a great example of how the Linux community, even between 'competing' distros, tries to help the movement as a whole.

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    1. Re:Well... by nametaken · · Score: 5, Insightful

      It's really not so much a goodwill gesture. If you look at the last section of the site, you'll see a rather sales oriented comparison sheet. In it, it points out how redhat and mandrake don't come with flash support, in-browser video streaming, etc. The idea is that they give you three distros in the hope that you'll compare them as per their chart and realize that Lindows is the one to pick.

    2. Re:Well... by snake_dad · · Score: 5, Interesting

      A long time ago there was a cheap cd set available in shops, that had 5 or 6 distros on it. I think it was called InfoMagik but I'm not sure. Anyway, that was back in the day that not too many people had heard of Linux, and it was still pretty popular. So I guess the strategy might work. Lots of people will probably buy a CD so they won't need to download 2 distros that might take them over a download limit... At least people that might already be considering buying Lindows might jump on it with this offer..

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  2. Promotion by deutschemonte · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I think that anything that furthers Linux deployment on the desktop is a good thing. Whether or not this will have that effect is doubtful.

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  3. I applaud their initiative on this one. by LazloToth · · Score: 5, Insightful


    When you can encourage consumers to compare your product with others of similar caliber, it must mean you feel you're doing some things right yourself. An interesting move, at the very least.

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  4. Nice, but... by grm_wnr · · Score: 5, Informative

    ... if you check their Shootout list their motives seem to be less than friendly towards the other distros...

  5. "Have your own shootout ..." by Cyburbia · · Score: 5, Insightful

    From the site: "Pit the best Linux products against each other!" Okay ... so can I get a CD package with Slackware, Debian and Gentoo on it? /runs away from inevitable distro war Seriously, I wonder why there's no comparison of other desktop/newbie oriented distros, such as Xandros and Lycoris? Seems like that's the real competition to Linspire.

  6. I've made up my mind by TechnologyX · · Score: 5, Funny

    "Pornography web filtering available?: Yes ( Linspire ) No ( Mandrake ) No ( Fedora )"

    I'm thinking a big no on Linspire.

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