Canonical and Linspire Make a Deal

Nate writes "Canonical, the company behind Ubuntu Linux, has teamed up with Linspire to share technologies between the two distros. When Freespire 2.0 arrives in April, it will use Ubuntu as its base, moving off of the current Debian. Ubuntu users will get access to proprietary software (DVD players, media codecs) via Linspire's newly opened Click 'N Run. Check out the press release and the obligatory FAQ."

Comments

Re:Ubuntu / Debian

[morgan_greywolf]

True, but Ubuntu differentiates itself from Debian in several ways. First off, Ubuntu is based on Debian unstable, and somewhat loosely based at that -- so much so that Debian's leaders have accused Ubuntu of deviating too far from the Debian release. Many Debian packages will work with Ubuntu, but not all -- many Debian packages are ported to Ubuntu by changing compilation options and, most importantly, specify dependencies differently. Ubuntu is a little more liberal when it comes to copyright and licensing -- Ubuntu distributes the proprietary NVidia and ATI drivers, for instance, and provides kernels with these modules pre-built and linked. Finally, Debian's goal is general-purpose distro that consists entirely of Free software, while Ubuntu's goal is to have desktop and server distros that are highly-polished and ready for the non-technical end user. Hence, the default menus and such differ signficantly between Ubuntu and Debian. So it's a bit disingenious to say that Linspire continue to be based on Debian.

Re:Too little open source?

[Dillon2112]

Ubuntu isn't really proprietary. CNR isn't a bad move, honestlly (and I'm as much an OSS zealot as almost anyone). CNR itself is open source, it simply gives you access to closed source software, should you want to interoperate with someone who uses such software (Opera, Skype, Adobe Acrobat Reader, Flash, etc.) Many of these pieces of software many Linux users will install anyway, but now at least they are manageable via Linux's own mechanism: package management.

In the end, no closed source software has been added to the distro by default, the entire CNR add-on is optional (at least in it's use), and we may even stand to gain some ground in the OS wars. I'll count it as a win.

I think the plan is to make CNR part of many "big" distros: openSuse, Fedora, Freespire (duh), Linspire (duh), Ubuntu to name those listed at the top of CNR.com. At least when people try to switch, they will see some familiar applications available.

Re:Too little open source?

[Shawn is an Asshole]

It would be nice if there were open-source drivers that worked well, but the fact is that Nvidia and ATI are better at writing drivers for their own hardware than anyone else could ever hope to be. They're better at writing the drivers because they're the only ones with the specs...