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Linspire Five-0 First Look
Eugenia writes "OSNews posted an exclusive first look for the upcoming Linspire 5.0: 'Linspire Five-0 is definitely a good base from which to build. The lack of well rounded applications when compared to other OSes in its class leave me wanting more, however, a slick look, some powerful Linspire specific apps, and a non-crippled undercarriage remain appealing' says the author." The bigger question will be how it stacks up against other commericial offerings in the long run. (ITMJ is also owned by OSTG).
Linspire Five-0?
Boot 'em, Danno.
I don't know, but the name Linspire just doesn't sound good to me. They should've called this operating system somethinig much more descriptive of what it does... The only thing that jumps out to me is Lindows. I wonder why they didn't think of that name?
I'm a big tall mofo.
The question is, do they still reccomend users to log in as root for everday use? The thing that put me off Linspire the most was that they have the full power of the Unix security model but they don't bother using it.
One good turn - gets all the covers.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
I don't really see why distributions should mimic windows. Those who bother to install any os install like windows or some linuxes can probably adept to gnome or kde easily. And the windows interface definately aint the best around. The real problem is microsoft's hold of the big OEMs. To me that's the clearest abuse of their monopoly, yet they aren't really attacked for it...
Nothing.
Unless, of course, you are in that 90% of the population that would rather gouge their eyes out with spoons than use the command line :)
Don't forget the target audience for CNR is probably not the sort of people who hang around here or OSNews. For that, it does what it does pretty well.
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Above is a dupe comment, which strangely enough got modded +5 funny the first time around and is now considered a troll. Such a lovely perfect analysis tool, this mod-system.
from the article:
"Dropshadowing in Linux is still pretty rare, and is not always very effective."
pretty rare?
I thought that anybody who used KDE,
and had a fast computer, would have those turned on by default, (that kde wizard that makes thing look shinnnyyy...)
or through the control panel.
drop shadowing (IMHO) has been around since 3.1
I wonder with Linspire the same thing I wonder about Paint Shop Pro. If they actually increased the price of Linspire to something only just lower (about five dollars) than Windows XP Home Ed., bundling the extras in, putting it in a pretty box in as many stores as they can (department stores, gaming stores, supermarkets even if they can), and releasing a discounted OEM version, then it might be even more successful. Right now it looks like a cheap Windows knockoff (cause basically that's what it is). If they started to project the same or similar image as Windows, projecting an image of superiority at a better price then people may consider it side by side with Windows very seriously indeed.
People automatically assume you get what you pay for, even when a lot of the time that's completely false. An OS is a big important tool, and people are probably going to be careful. If they raise the price, I think people would take it more seriously, Linspire will make huge amounts of money and hopefully give back to linux, and linux would gain popularity as a result.
Just me wondering...
"How can this be that a commercial OS doesn't include DVD playback?"
Erm... I'd like to add another commercial OS that doesn't play DVD's right out of the box to this shocking list: Windows XP.
At least with WMP9 I get a "Windows Media Player cannot play this DVD because a compatible DVD decoder is not installed on your computer".
Like in Linspire 4.0, you have to prep a partition ahead of time or take over the entire disk at install
Is it only me or this should not happen in a new distro installer?
More so considering it is oriented to windows users.
Doesn't that kind of defeat the purpose? I mean here we have a desktop that requires more or less the same horsepower as Windows to run. Is slightly less functional than Windows to use strictly as a desktop and costs slightly less than windows to own? It doesn't seem like a wonderful bargain. Perhaps something like ELX or Vectorlinux which can be had for free and install on cheap hardware is the way to go instead of trying to reverse engineer the functionality of windows.
I think the Linux folks need to accept that Windows really is a better choice for some functions at least from a simple "I just need to do what I do PoV" and if you go the Linux route it's not to replicate Windows functionality but instead to do someother thing, introduce some other function. Of course in a corporate environment the support costs of maintaining a Linux desktop evironment appear less in light of fewer security problems and an inherent ability to push updates to desktops but that has to be weighed against the skills of the user base and the questions and problems they will have. On the other hand unless your own time is free and you don't like managing the innumerable security patches, personal firewall, AV update, spyware circus that is home LAN administration for Windows then why not get a bunch of Macs? It's BSD based, pretty tough, industrial strength Unix under the covers and the price point of a MiniMac or an iMac make it pretty attractive.
For the most part, that is. If you like bittwiddling and really want to build a something and that's your hobby then fine, have at it. But it really doesn't seem to make a lot of sense to struggle with a Linux desktop that isn't designed specifically around ease of installation and ease of use AND lower cost. If you need the same brand new high powered PC hardware to run it AND installation is still problematic AND configuration is still a chore AND you still have to struggle with NTFS volume mounts, Wine and Windows applications then what have you solved?
You are SOOOO clueless!
Linspire is 100% open source WITH TWO EXCEPTIONS:
1. Their CNR (click n run) which is actually more a service anyway, not software. This is how they make their money.
2. They DO include licensed 3rd party codecs, such as Flash, Java, Quick Time, Windows Media, MP3, DVD Playback, etc. This, however, is exactly what I like about Linspire. Sure, they work with Ogg, and open formats just like any distro, but the world is full of flash, java, quick time, etc. as well, so I'm glad they play these formats. What good is a web browser if you can't use half the web sites???
Linspire has done A LOT for open source and GIVEN ALL THE CODE BACK. Lsongs, Nvu, Lphoto, Mozilla, etc.
http://linspire.com/opensource
Your comments only show your ignorance.
I've learned to ONLY post on Slashdot when I know of something FIRST HAND. Others here just have to chime in on EVERY topic, even if they don't have any first-hand knowledge or insight into the topic.
Hans