Linspire 10 Beta Released - Claims To Be #1 Linux Distro For New/Intermediate/Power Users

[Murdock2525]

Even more so than Debian's website?

Hey now ! Debian added a .jpg to it's home page ! Like a woman wearing a garbage bag, it's what's inside that counts !

[bregma]

The whole thing is a part-time project by a PC repair shop operating out of a closet. I would pay them no heed.

[Kano]

As Linspire is selling subscriptions I would really like to know how successful this model is. But it seems they still have got enough fans to survive this way.

[eidolon]

The OpenMandriva group should buy the Mandriva trademark before it's too late...

They may have, I'm not certain. I do believe the potential hazard of using a name based on a dying company was pointed out (by Per Øyvind Karlsen I believe, although I may be misremembering) when the fork was being formed and was in the process of settling on a name, and it was clear that Mandriva S.A. was in extremis.

Hopefully Ian Murdock's Progeny Linux Systems/Progeny Componentized Linux is left in peace. Unless there is some clear lineal relationship (e.g. Mandriva → OpenMandriva), I wish projects would forge their own identities rather than repurposing the banners of fallen projects (e.g. Linspire) for the purpose of trading on name recognition (however limited it might be) earned by the previous projects.

[eidolon]

Don't forget about Linux XP, which I briefly used back in the day (the wiki says only available in Russian, but I used it in English just fine): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux_XP

In fact, I still have a copy of their artwork (GTK 2 themes, wallpapers, etc.) and sounds.

Ylmf OS also. When the project changed its name to StartOS, it moved on from the XP look. XPQ4 is still active (the live CD is based on Q4OS). Undoubtedly there are several XP themes for different DEs out there, if anyone has grandparents insistent on a familiar look for their desktop.

[GI_Jack]

I got this running in a virtual machine:

Holey fuck. This is probably the most half assed Xubuntu fork there is.

Just use Xubuntu, and get support from canonical. I am not sure what these people offer over Canonical.

Its just a shitty Xubuntu fork, that still has Xubuntu repos.

[Vistaus]

I remember Linspire... ah, in its originally incarnation (Lindows) my at-the-time local supermarket was actually selling PCs with it as the OS! That changed quickly when Microsoft dropped the hammer on the name "Lindows". That site looks terrible, though.

The only modern successor I can think of that did it quite as blatantly as Lindows did is Linuxfx - which is well-skinned enough that at first glance you could mistake it for Windows 10. Open the Start menu though and that is broken quickly enough.

Don't forget about Linux XP, which I briefly used back in the day (the wiki says only available in Russian, but I used it in English just fine): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux_XP

In fact, I still have a copy of their artwork (GTK 2 themes, wallpapers, etc.) and sounds.

[Paradigm Shifter]

I remember Linspire... ah, in its originally incarnation (Lindows) my at-the-time local supermarket was actually selling PCs with it as the OS! That changed quickly when Microsoft dropped the hammer on the name "Lindows". That site looks terrible, though.

The only modern successor I can think of that did it quite as blatantly as Lindows did is Linuxfx - which is well-skinned enough that at first glance you could mistake it for Windows 10. Open the Start menu though and that is broken quickly enough.

[Ironmask]

Sad that some people pay attention to distros that were probably literally made in one of those Ubuntu-maker GUIs. I like (put up with?) Ubuntu, but it's pathetic how many skiddies look at it and go "me too!"

[tildearrow]

Slow news day?

This Linspire isn't exactly a direct descendant of the Linspire of old; this is really Linspire in name only (i.e. he purchased the trademarks), just like his previous distro was Black Lab Linux in name only (he purchased the trademarks from Fixstars).

He also acquired the Xandros and Dreamlinux trademarks. Maybe he'll snap up Yoper's trademarks as well, or maybe White Box, Slamd64, or one of the many other distributions that have fallen by the wayside over the decades. Hey, the Mandriva, Conectiva, and Lycoris trademarks might be available for purchase. That might put OpenMandriva in awkward position if someone is marketing a "Mandriva Linux" Ubuntu derivative.

The current Linspire is just PC/OS, OS4 Linux, Amiga OpenLinux (that one died a crib death, as he hadn't acquired rights to the Amiga branding), and Black Lab Linux by yet a different name. At one time he was also going to release a distro named PC-UX (I suspect he ran into trademark issues), and a distribution named Ami/LX.

This is the same guy who threatened Ladislav Bodnar (#55), said he was going to continue development Remastersys, as well as contribute to Amiga ecosystem development. His behavior comes off as pathological, and low effort capitalism at its finest.

The OpenMandriva group should buy the Mandriva trademark before it's too late...