Linspire Five-0

Linus Torvalds wrote on Usenet of August 25, 1991 "I'm doing a (free) operating system (just a hobby, won't be big and professional like gnu) for 386(486) AT clones. This has been brewing since April, and is starting to get ready. I'd like any feedback on things people like/dislike in minix, as my OS resembles it somewhat (same physical layout of the file-system (due to practical reasons) among other things)." Little did he know it would turn into more than just a simple "hobby" but an entire Linux movement, or Freax which he had planned to call it back in the day. Since the release of the Linux kernel there have been literally hundreds of different distributions to be shared among open source enthusiasts. Although a good majority of the distributions are free to download, there is also some that charge for being able to download the full distribution and the available packages. Some of the reasons for charging is to include certain codecs/packages while not violating license restrictions, offer its users tech support, and for the developers to make a buck or two along the way. One of these pay distributions that have been around for a couple of years has been Linspire or better known as Lindows. The key of Lindows is the ease of use by stitching the gap between Linux and Microsoft Windows. Lindows can even be found on budget priced desktops and laptops at Wal-Mart. Another unique feature of Linspire is the CNR Warehouse. The CNR, Click-N-Run, Warehouse is basically a paid area where you can easily download over 1,900 applications to your Linspire machine without spending time compiling them or much less getting them to operate properly. Recently on March 16, 2005 Linspire Five-0 (5.0) was released and is the focus of this review.