Free Linspire ’till Sept. 6
Well, I hope at least some of you took advantage of that ‘Free Opera’ deal I pointed out yesterday. If so, I’ve got another freebie to point out to you: Linspire. The Linux distro formerly known as Lindows, Linspire is a nice, well-made Linux system that’s designed to be about as easy to install and use as Windows ever was. It’s a great way to get your feet wet with Linux, and more than good enough to be your full everyday OS.
The big advantage with Linspire is that, since it’s a commercial version of Linux, it actually has legal and paid-for 3rd-party licenses for things like mp3, Java, Flash, Quick Time, Windows Media, Bitstream fonts, Real media, music, etc., and this is all pre-loaded, tested and ready to use. No need to settle for crippled or hacked versions of the same media tools you’ve used in Windows. And the downloadable CD even works as a Live CD so you can try it out without needing to install it. Sweet!
Well, the story goes that some guy decided to try and take those components of Linspire that were completely free and Open Source, and put them together to create ‘Freespire’, a version of Linspire that he could legally distribute for free. This created some confusion, with people thinking that Linspire was releasing a free version and coming looking for it on their site. The creator of ‘Freespire’ has since renamed his project ’squiggle’, and the Linspire folks have handled this in an extremely cool way: instead of suing the guy for causing trademark confusion, or just telling people that there is no free version, they’ve decided to turn the attention into a marketing opportunity. Until September 6th, they’re giving away free copies of the full Linspire system to anyone who uses the discount code ‘freespire’.
Linspire is normally $49.95, but for a short while, you can snag it free. So go and get it: http://info.linspire.com/freespire/index.html
