First Impressions of Freespire 1.0

Nate writes "Freespire 1.0 was released a few days ago, taking the desktop-oriented Linspire distribution and making it freely available (as in beer) to the world. Linux Format has some first impressions of the release, focusing on its much-trumpeted media playback facilities thanks to codec licensing. Flash, Java, DVD and WMV support out-the-box — could this climb to the top of the desktop distro ladder?"

Comments

Time will tell

[suggsjc]

Flash, Java, DVD and WMV support out-the-box

Maybe a good start, but it will take a lot more than that to

climb to the top of the desktop distro ladder

Granted I would think that Linux users are more likely to try different flavors, but to really get to the top takes a lot of time and effort. Slashvertisements might get a couple people to jump, but rises in distros are probably a more organic thing that happens from a solid product (think Ubuntu).

Re:Time will tell

[dsginter]

That's all great but can you tell me the easiest method of getting Ubuntu up to speed with all the codecs, DVD-playback, flash, et cetera... LEGALLY?

The available scripts out there (Automatix, EasyUbuntu, etc) are not legal in the United States thanks to the patent quagmire. This preempts the use of the distribution in a large way (e.g. - most businesses simply can't afford to break the law, no matter how wrong it is).

That said, I *would* like a suggestion to this issue. I'd really like to get up and running on Linux legally. Freespire seems appealing in this respect.

Re:Time will tell

[MrZaius]

The available scripts out there (Automatix, EasyUbuntu, etc) are not legal in the United States thanks to the patent quagmire. This preempts the use of the distribution in a large way (e.g. - most businesses simply can't afford to break the law, no matter how wrong it is).

How many businesses in the US actually care so much about MP3 and DVD support that they'd choose an OS based on it? Flash support is readily available as a browser plugin, and easily installed even without the aforementioned scripts. That's the only thing that could possibly be considered relevant for business users, and even that's a little iffy.

Re:Time will tell

[MartinG]

can you tell me the easiest method of getting Ubuntu up to speed with all the codecs, DVD-playback, flash, et cetera... LEGALLY?

Keep an eye on here:

http://www.fluendo.com/products.php?product=plugin s

They are currently only available to OEMs, but the plan (as stated in the link) is to make them available to end users via a webshop.

Distro ladder

[dhasenan]

"could this climb to the top of the desktop distro ladder?"

Not without geek support, too. And Linspire has a poor reputation currently--no telling how long it will be before that goes away.

Still, it looks like at least a typical distribution for quality, though the boot times are somewhat worrying. (Four to five minutes? That's running full hardware detection each time, by the look of it--that's how long the Ubuntu installer takes, IIRC.) Still, that can be solved; the question is whether geeks think it's worth it to have proprietary codecs by default rather than simply apt-getting them. (And if they do, we'll soon see an alternative Ubuntu installer that does just that.)

OK, just how GPL compliant is it???

[advocate_one]

can I make a copy of the cdrom and pass it on to my friends and even charge for my time in making the copy??? do those licensed codecs conflict with my rights under the GPL for the rest of the distro?

Re:OK, just how GPL compliant is it???

[PurpleMonkeyKing]

From their website, they seem to have a GPL compliant version and a free (as in beer) proprietary version, much like OpenSuse 10.0 was.

Here's a list of the licensed proprietary compenents. Under nearly every one it says explicitly that you are not granted redistobution rights.

Basically, I guess if you want to legally redistribute it you'd need get this one. Since it doesn't have the proprietary codecs, though, I think you'd be better off with Ubuntu.

Re:OK, just how GPL compliant is it???

[yuna49]

No, you have no redistribution rights whatsoever for the proprietary components. See
http://wiki.freespire.org/index.php/Summary_of_Pro prietary_Components. There's an "OSS" version that contains none of the proprietary items and is, presumably, redistributable.

I'm really puzzled by all of this. First, why would Microsoft license its WMV technologies to a Linux distribution? I can understand someone like Sun licensing Java, or ATI/nVidia licensing their drivers, but Microsoft? Why would they want to make it easier for a Linux distribution to compete with Windows, especially in an area where Microsoft has the advantage, namely bundling proprietary software?

Second, who is paying the licensing fees here? I presume that Linspire has to pay royalties for each download of Freespire. Where is the money coming from? On the wiki site, Linspire says it's paying for things like server space, etc., but doesn't really talk about the licensing fees. Are they really making so much money that they can afford to pay royalties but not be compensated by end-users in return?

Re:Umm no

[chrismcdirty]

I turn my desktop off to save on power and to try to keep my room cooler. Plus it dual-boots between Windows (for games) and Linux (for work). My laptop goes with me many times I leave the house. So to answer your question, I boot my machines quite often.

Re:KDE 3.3 ? Are they stuck in time??

[the linux geek]

If you had read TFA, you would know that they're sticking with 3.3 because of stability issues with newer versions, and that it's probable future releases will include 3.5.

Re:KDE 3.3 ? Are they stuck in time??

[GreatBunzinni]

And have you noticed that since 3.3 there was 3.4 and now there is 3.5? Why is this distribution the only one having stability problems with KDE so that it can only ship with a version which is almost 2 years old? KDE 3.3 may be stable but so is 3.4. There is absolutely no need to ship with such a backward version.

Proprietary Codec Fun

[ElleyKitten]

Flash, Java, DVD and WMV support out-the-box

Mepis and a few other distros have these. What is special about Freespire? I rtfa, and the difference seems to be an older KDE. My friend wants me to install the new Mepis on her computer. Is there any reason I should look at Freespire?

Re:Proprietary Codec Fun

[ElleyKitten]

"Mepis and a few other distros have these. What is special about Freespire? I rtfa, and the difference seems to be an older KDE. My friend wants me to install the new Mepis on her computer. Is there any reason I should look at Freespire?"

No. But then you're not who this is aimed at. I suspect this is geared more to the people wanting to try Linux for themselves having already used Windows.

Well, so is Mepis. To clarify a bit on what I was saying in my first post: My friend, who doesn't have a lot of Linux experience, is interested in Mepis because I've told her it's good for Linux newbs, and she'll still have all the proprietary goodness without the install hassle (I used more words when describing this to her). Mepis and Freespire seem very simular, is there anything about Freespire that would make it better for my friend than Mepis?

Am I missing something?

[WidescreenFreak]

I'm curious as to how this is going to help Linspire. I reviewed one of their books recently, and they said that the primary reason why they've had to charge for the software is to pay for the codec licensing. Okay, I understand that completely. But what the (insanely light) article doesn't go into is how the free version with codecs is comparable to the "commercial" version.

Because this free version is DVD and WMV compliant at installation, that right there means that those are two technologies that supposedly have to be licensed. Linspire is now giving them away. So, wouldn't that mean that they're actively losing money on those licensing fees with every download? How is that going to benefit a Linux distro that already is not very popular?

Is there some "between the lines" information that I'm just not seeing here?

Why are these things even an issue?

[SanityInAnarchy]

On a fresh Gentoo install:

emerge mplayer kmplayer firefox kde netscape-flash blackdown-jre blackdown-jdk xine-ui vlc

That should give you everything, free as in beer. It'll boot fast, too, if you tweak a couple of settings -- I know it supports running init scripts in parallel, a nice little feature of having init scripts state their dependencies, instead of a strict order.

The downside is, of course, that you have to wait probably at least one full day for all of this stuff to compile from scratch.

But seriously, Gentoo doesn't seem to have nearly the problems I hear of other distros having with licensing. Is there really such a legal difference between distributing ebuilds (which contain download URLs for the codecs) and distributing the codecs themselves in debs? Could debs include download URLs?

Re:Why are these things even an issue?

[Excelsior]

But seriously, Gentoo doesn't seem to have nearly the problems I hear of other distros having with licensing.

Don't be confused. What Gentoo and most desktop-centric distributions are doing is being legal by putting it on the users to break the law to get the features they want. That's fine, and that's the best we can expect from a non-profit distribution. But don't confuse it with being all around legal. It simply works because no patent holder is going to attempt to extract royalties from the anonymous hordes of people that have downloaded and installed Gentoo or Ubuntu. That doesn't mean it's legal.

Conversely, Linspire acquires licenses for encumbered software, then distributes the software licensed. I believe they are still tainting the kernel they distribute and losing GPL compliance, though.

Re:Wireless

[AlexDeGruven]

I'm currently running a Broadcom wlan (Dell TrueMobile 1400). Uses the bcmwl5 windows driver and works like a champ. Some stuff is still WIP like WPA, but it does everything I currently need it to.

Re:Umm no

[discord5]

At work, my machine is on 24/7, and reboots only when it has to. At home however, I pay the electricity bill, and there is no real use in leaving the thing on 24/7. Uptime is nice to brag about if you don't have to pay for it.

Re:Umm no

[westlake]

Uptime is nice to brag about if you don't have to pay for it.

Power management that works would be something to brag about. The best of both worlds.

Re:Got root? (Flamebait)

[bigredradio]

Flamebait anyone? This has not been an issue for a while. You have always been able to create users. I think most people reading slashdot do not get the concept behind freespire or linspire for that matter. It is about switching users from windows. If you say, install Ubuntu and go back and try to find a repository online and add to synaptic or apt-get. Then install a the proper codecs. The first thing they will say is, what is a codec? What is a repository? Where is apt-get? They just want to install something that works. They are not hobbyists. These users could care less if they run as root. They don't know what root is. I get sick and tired of people bringing up non-issues for "joe six-pack". Having to go elsewhere for codecs to be able to play mp3s/DVDs/Flash IS an issue fro joe six-pack. I think most of the animosity comes from the fact that freespire and linspire are distros that do NOT cater to YOU!!!