FEATURED VIDEO

SLIDE SHOWS
The chip giant adds new remote management, encryption and anti-theft tools baked right into next-gen Intel Core vPro processors for commercial desktops and notebooks.
The long-awaited iPad has arrived. But here are 12 other tablet devices that will take aim at Apple this year as the suddenly crowded tablet PC market heats up.
Going green was the rage of 2009, and the buzz in 2010 isn't letting up. Manufacturers are responding to increased demands from their white box makers for more eco-friendly components.
INSIDE CHANNELWEB

Linspire Updates Desktop Linux, But Demand Is Weak - VARs


By Stacy Cowley, ChannelWeb

5:18 PM EDT Thu. Oct. 11, 2007
Desktop Linux software vendor Linspire released a new version of its operating system this week, the first commercial release in two years from the company trying to position Linux as a mass-market alternative to Microsoft's Windows.

Founded in 2001 as Lindows (a named changed as part of a settlement deal with Microsoft, following a trademark-infringement lawsuit), Linspire has carved out a niche in the Linux desktop field but hasn't achieved the mass-market breakthrough its founders envisioned. Resellers say demand remains light.

"There's just not a lot of customer interest. We're selling a few a week," said TigerDirect CEO Gilbert Fiorentino. TigerDirect, a unit of white box system builder Systemax in Port Washington, N.Y., has been Linspire reseller for years, but the desktop Linux field just hasn't taken off, Fiorentino said. His sense is that users who want Linux on their PCs generally download their preferred distribution and install it themselves, rather than shopping for a preinstalled system.

"We still sell the product, but people just aren't breaking our doors down to get it," he said.

Still, Linspire has its fans, who congregate in areas like the message forums on the Freespire.org Web site. The company's main point of differentiation is CNR ("ClickNRun"), a distribution service that aims to make installing Linux applications a quick, painless process. Linspire 6 includes a beta version of the CNR Client, a built-in tool for once-click application access.

Linspire 6's release comes two months after the launch of Freespire 2, the free variant of Linspire's Linux distribution. Like Red Hat with its Fedora project and Novell with openSUSE, Linspire pursues a two-pronged, commercial/community development path, supporting work around a free core Linux operating system and separately commercializing the software by adding support and additional proprietary components in its commercial release.

Like Freespire 2.0, Linspire 6 is the first Linspire release built around Ubuntu Linux, replacing the Debian base Linspire previously used as its core. Linspire announced the switch earlier this year, citing Ubuntu's popularity among developers and strong work in building up a Linux desktop user base.

Linspire 6 is also the first version of Linspire's operating system to benefit from Microsoft patent covenants, the controversial Microsoft campaign Linspire signed on for its June. The "interoperability and technical collaboration" deal Microsoft and Linspire and Microsoft struck gives Linspire customers the same kind of "no-sue" patent covenant Microsoft inked with Novell last year, setting off a firestorm of criticism in the Linux community.

 
Channelweb : Promofinder
FEATURED PROMOTIONS
Drive Backup 10 Small Business Server $299.00
Under cut-throat competition, small businesses face the ever-growing necessity of cutting overhead. With Drive Backup 10 SBS,...
Partition Manager for Virtual Desktops - FREE
Partition Manager 10 for Virtual Machines is a special version of our Linux/DOS bootable environment that contains fully func...
RELATED BLOG >>
Photo
Nomadesk, which provides technology that lets users build a virtual drive on their PC that can be accessed across the Internet, is just now building an SMB/SOHO channel, giving solution providers an opportunity to get in at the ground floor.
Media Kits | Reprints | Privacy Statement | Copyright © 2010 United Business Media LLC | Terms of Service
CRN Logo ChannelWeb Logo CRN Logo CRNTech Logo Vision Events XChange IPED
ADVERTISEMENT




CHANNEL SERVICES >>