Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Linspire CEO dispels Linspire Linux Myths

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the not-just-for-root-anymore dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Chances are that you think Linspire lets you run Windows applications, that you have to run it as root, and that it's really not quite a proper Linux. Wrong, wrong, and wrong. At LinuxWorld in Boston this week, CEO Kevin Carmony explained what Linspire Linux is, and isn't all about. Carmony said that people are still getting these things wrong. Yes, in the beginning, Linspire had the goal of letting Linux users run Windows applications with WINE, but it dropped that theme years ago. As for requiring you to run as root, that was, Carmony said, only the case with an early alpha release that was never put in the public's hands. As for not being a real Linux, that's nonsense, too."

12 of 278 comments (clear)

  1. Intersting statement from TFA by TubeSteak · · Score: 3, Interesting
    Linspire also doesn't rely on downloads, subscriptions, or box sales for its revenue. Instead, Linspire's bottom line relies upon two things. The first is sales of Linspire-equipped PCs.

    "I don't care about how many people download Linspire or buy our boxes in the stores. What I care about is how many people bought a computer with Linspire on it," [Linspire CEO] Carmony said.
    I'm not really sure what to make of this statement.

    It strikes me as somewhat... odd. Especially coming from a CEO.
    Maybe someone can put my vague feeling into words.
    --
    [Fuck Beta]
    o0t!
  2. Re:Linspire does actually run as root... by MichaelSmith · · Score: 2, Interesting
    When you install Linspire, it sets you up as root by default.

    Looks like a good opportunity for an Ambidextrous Linux/Windows Virus

    But who ever installs Linspire? Doesn't it come installed from the shop?

    --
    http://michaelsmith.id.au
  3. Gnu/Linux for some people by jc87 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I have read in the past some of this guy posts at Ubuntu forums (yes he sometimes open/reply threads there) and let me say he raises some good questions in several areas, in general i would say he manages to perfectly justify making a distro for dumb/proprietary human beings and recognizing Linspire is not a perfect distro ,neither one destined to every single person out there.

    Kudos for him at least for being modest and realistic.

    Off course i will never use Linspire , Ubuntu plus a extra repos to the sources.list works fine for me.

    --
    def greetings(x): return {'friend': 'Howdy', 'enemy': 'Dye [sic]'}.get(x, 'g0 4w4y, l4m0r')
  4. Re:Re-tree by helmespc · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I actually agree... the Linux/Unix file tree is confusing and gives the impression of being unorganized. I find it difficult to determine where things exist on my Linux machine as an advanced user, I can only imagine how it looks to a novice. A lot can be done to Linux to add usability for less advances users while keeping the options open for experts... I'd like to see even more strides made toward usability in future releases.

  5. Carmony is great by caffeination · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Seriously, Carmony really seems like a decent guy. Listen to him, you'll see what I mean. The Slashdot smart asses usually crap all over Linspire's quality, security, morality, business model, and so on and so on, but give the guy a chance, he's not all bad.

    1. Re:Carmony is great by swillden · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Seriously, Carmony really seems like a decent guy.

      Yeah, he probably is, just keep him away from the keyboard.

      My first job out of college (before I'd graduated, really) was working for a small Point-of-Sale software company that Carmony founded. I spent nearly two years there working on a POS system that he had written. What an unbelievable mess. After I'd been in the code for a couple of weeks, the engineering dept. manager mentioned to me that Carmony had hacked the whole thing in a few months of all-nighters, expecting me to be impressed, or at least surprised. My response was "Ah ha! So *that* explains it".

      I guess I am impressed that the software ran, in spite of being a massive spaghetti bowl.

      Another app that Carmony had written (the one that started the company) was written BASIC. Whether it was true or not I don't know, but Carmony had the idea that the interpreter ran significantly slower and/or consumed significantly more memory (don't recall which) if there was "unnecessary" whitespace in the code. So he removed it. And I don't mean just unnecessary tabs and spaces, I mean all whitespace, including line breaks. Seriously, the bulk of this 70 kloc program consisted of files full of code "blocks" -- solid masses of characters ~78 characters wide and hundreds of lines long. Luckily line numbers were used for goto targets and line numbers had to start at the beginning of a line.

      Unbelievable. When I worked there, the programmers working on that project had just switched to Visual BASIC (did you know you could write DOS programs with it?) which compiled to p-code, so they were finally able to laboriously unwind those massive blocks of code.

      When I asked the lead programmer on that project why Carmony hadn't just written a whitespace stripper so that his code could contain whitespace but he could strip it for performance for "release", he answered that nobody had thought of that until much later.

      All of that said, everyone I knew there that had worked there when Carmony ran the company remembered those days very fondly. Carmony was apparently a lot of fun to work with and a nice guy as well as being a pretty brilliant coder -- as long as no one ever had to maintain the code, including him. The consensus was that he'd cashed out and left the company to escape the legacy of all the horrid old code he'd written, leaving it to poor schmucks like me.

      --
      Note to ACs: I usually delete AC replies without reading them. If you want to talk to me, log in.
    2. Re:Carmony is great by Kevin+Carmony · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Nor have you ever met me. The only intereaction I had with you was when we used some of your art in a Linux tutorial, not knowing it wasn't GPL, and when you coplained, we promptly removed it. You really should GPL your stuff. =) Kevin

    3. Re:Carmony is great by Kevin+Carmony · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I was only at MP3.com for 3 months, so my guess is this is someone who has in fact never met me. Guess we'll never know. (They don't call them Anonymous "Cowards" for nothing. =) Kevin

  6. Re:Uh... okay by Daedalus-Ubergeek · · Score: 2, Interesting
    There's, like, ninety-six linux distributions.
    Actually, according to Wikipedia it's closer to 300. That doesn't include abandoned distributions or distributions being developed/used without the intent to publicly distribute (i.e. companies, military, the occasional linux user)
  7. Installed it for the wife... by Sfing_ter · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I installed it on my wife's computer and my best friends,(both windows zealots), because they were constantly asking me to clean their computers. They would not use the tools they were given to work safely so... Linspire, and no more issues. I used wine to install IE for the wife because her job requires her to use IE only sites, other than that, it's all linux. they uses firefox at work, and the differences between OOO2 and ms office threw them at first but after a few, we do that this way...(kind of like going from office 95 too office 2k), they were both fine. Linspire pays it's mp3 tax and has a dvd player built into the distro so you have all the stuff they need. Plug in an HP multi-funct printer and scan, file, fax away . I don't use it because it is "behind", stable yes, but behind the bleeding/edge curve I like to stay on... :)

    --
    A computer once beat me at chess, but it was no match for me at kick boxing. Emo Philips
  8. Running as Root by Kevin+Carmony · · Score: 5, Interesting

    The very first sneak preview of Linspire didn't have ANY way to add users, but we never released that commercially. That first sneak preview didn't have a lot of things in it! Not sure it even printed. =)

    What Linspire does is during the install it has you first set up your Admin Password (root) and THEN takes you to a screen where you can add users, right during the install's install Wizard.

    Kevin Carmony
    CEO & President, Linspire, Inc.

  9. For the record... by Kevin+Carmony · · Score: 5, Interesting

    For the record... I didn't set out to "set the record straight about Linspire myths." (That was just the fancy spin this reporter put on his story. =) I simply gave an address at LinuxWorld called "Desktop Linux Adoption by Mainstream Consumers." During my address I made mention to a few of the things that consumers DEMAND which Linspire provides, which then create problems for some in the Linux community. For example, we support DVD, MP3, Windows Media, Real Audio, QuickTime, Java, Flash, ATI drivers, nVidia drivers, etc. We do this because most consumers won't touch Linux without these things (heck, I wouldn't!) Most have iPods and other MP3 players and want their computer to work with them. They have DVD's and want their computer to play them. Linspire pleads guilty to supporting all of this out of the box, and for that, we're not always understood. If I really wanted to dispel myths about Linspire, I'd have started right here on Slashdot (I read more misinformation here than anywhere about all sorts of topics, not just Linspire =). Kevin Carmony CEO & President, Linspire, Inc.