Linspire's CNR Goes Multi-Distro

S3Indiana writes with news that Linspire is opening its Click 'N Run installation software to other Linux distributions. After 5 years of development on CNR, the new site cnr.com will be a single source repository for Linux users. Distributions to be supported initially during 2007 are (alphabetically): Debian, Fedora, Freespire, Linspire, OpenSUSE, and Ubuntu; other distributions will follow. See the FAQ and the screenshots for more details.

Comments

Enough CNR like things...

[aarku]

All I want is to be able to install applications on my GNU/Linux in a similar way as I do on Mac OS X. I want a self contained .app bundle type system. I don't want installer programs in the form of CNR, apt-get, portage, or "./configure && make && sudo make install". Is there a distro out there that can do that?

Re:Enough CNR like things...

[ElleyKitten]

All I want is to be able to install applications on my GNU/Linux in a similar way as I do on Mac OS X. I want a self contained .app bundle type system. I don't want installer programs in the form of CNR, apt-get, portage, or "./configure && make && sudo make install". Is there a distro out there that can do that?

The plus about apt-get, CNR, etc, is that they get the application for you. If you want to install some wierd program for Mac you hear of, you have to track down their website and download the installer, making sure its the right version. If I want to install some wierd program for Ubuntu, I just type "sudo apt-get install wierd_program" and a couple minutes later, with no further action from me, it's in my applications menu. In fact, if I need to install a number of programs (let's say I just reinstalled the OS, or something) I just need to type out all their names, and no more interaction from me. No hunting down a dozen websites and downloading a dozen programs, just type the names. Also, if I don't know the name of a program, I just need, say, a good html editor, then I just open Synaptic (or now CNR), click "search" and type "html editor" and I get a list of all the html editors I can install. With Mac, I guess you'd have to hunt around google for that list, and then hunt around for the websites. I guess that doesn't really answer your question, but I guess my question is why don't you like apt-get and other package managers?

Re:Enough CNR like things...

[bill_kress]

I can see your point of view--for you these download/install apps may not be right.

Can you not accept that for others, the ability to browse a list of apps, view screen shots, click one and have it installed without knowing anything beyond the GUI is a good thing?

I don't think you'll find what you want for Linux, and I think that what you are asking for is a little inflexible, I think you'll find that if you start to use apt-get it will solve 95% of your problems, and for the remaining 5% you'll still have to download, uncompress and probably compile to get it to work.

You'll find your Linux experience much more pleasant if you just accept this rather than expecting Linux to act like a system that has one GUI, runs on only one CPU and only supports a couple version of a single OS at a time (rather than a few versions of 30+++ flavors of OS)

Or you can do like I do and only use apps that are in the CNR repository--limited but absolutely useful. After a while it hardly even hurts any more.

For gamers also...

[Anonymous Coward]

Personally I see a few propriatory games that I'd like to play, but I never realy bothered because I didn't have time to track down the publishers or whatnot.

Now I can ba fat slob and just download and install quake3 or X2 or whatever off the internet using this service. Totally kicks-ass.

Also I noticed the 'tip jar' thing.

If that is what I think it is, were I can just send a buck or two as thanks to a favorite program or whatever that is open source and it gets to the developer (and not linspire) then that will be a GREAT way to show my appreciation.

Like when I setup Linux and I realise that I need a cd burning program, I go on CNR download K3b and send them a 2 bucks as thanks right then and there. No messing around with paypall or whatever. That sounds nice.

Re:Repositories?

[Inner_Child]

As it said in TFA, it's not an entirely new package management protocol. It relies on distro-specific repositories (Debian/Ubuntu come to mind first with apt-get [and as a small aside, from the screenshots, Ubuntu *might* be the first 3rd party distro to get CNR]) and makes the entire thing seamless for the non-tech-savvy end-user. Comparing Synaptic and what CNR is promising, which scenario is less likely to result in hair-pulling:

Joe Sixpack opens synaptic and wants, say, a word processor. So he searches for "word processor" and several options pop up. Which ones are good? Which ones are going to fit his needs? He picks one, doesn't like it. Picks another, doesn't like it. This takes a couple hours, but he eventually settles on latex (this is a fictional situation, so we'll assume he's writing his doctoral thesis). Or...

He opens CNR.com and does a search for "word processor" and is given a nice little list, with screenshots, reviews, and product information. He is able to make a choice far more quickly and with less hassle, giving him more time to actually get work done.

As I see it, CNR (in combination with easier-to-install distributions) is trying to combat the idea that "Linux is only free if your time is worthless."