A new Linux recommendation

[mark at buttery.org (Mark J. Dulcey)]

Nicholas Bodley wrote:

> Although some might scorn it, Linspire is at least worth knowing about, 
> imho. If you need to locate a low-cost Linux box, start at the Linspire 
> Web site. I have a Wintergreen Linspire box from TigerDirect that is 
> waiting for me to get my place in order.

Linspire may be worth knowing about, because it has some buzz outside 
the traditional Linux community. But I'm underwhelmed by the actual 
product. One big downside is that it's licensed on a per-machine basis, 
so it's not the best choice for a no-budget operation. (If you buy a 
copy of Linspire as an individual, you can install it on all the 
computers you own. But if you buy one for an organization, you can 
install it on only one system.) Its main claim to fame is the 
Click-And-Run Warehouse (CNR), which requires an additional subscription 
fee.

As for the distro itself, it's nothing special. It's based on Debian, 
and shares many of its merits, but aside from CNR, doesn't bring much to 
the table other than a graphical installer. If you don't buy CNR, you 
don't get updates, not even for security issues, and the updates aren't 
all that fresh in any case.

One advantage of Linspire is that they have had some success at getting 
computer manufacturers to make low-cost systems that come with the OS 
pre-installed. Unfortunately, they haven't had much success at getting 
them to move it up the food chain; all you can find easily are 
bottom-of-the-barrel systems.

All in all, I think Ubuntu is a much better choice for the kind of users 
that Linspire is aiming for. The price is right, and updates are more 
timely. The installer isn't as pretty, but the finished result looks at 
least as good.