[wellylug] linspire

Rosemary McGillicuddy mcgillra at infogen.net.nz
Sun Aug 14 18:17:18 NZST 2005


Bret Comstock Waldow wrote:
> On Sat, 13 Aug 2005 21:30, Rosemary McGillicuddy wrote:
> 
>>Hi listers
>>
>>Has anyone tried linspire - and if so what is it like?
> 
> 
> You mean, what do I think it's like (just pointing that out).
> 
> I'll speak against it.  I have used it briefly, and a similar distro called 
> Xandros some more.
> 
> It's a proprietary version of the sort I think of as "hand-holding" distros.  
> Not a bad idea in and of itself, but there are trade-offs.
> 
> The idea is the user pays to keep the distro up to date, and the business 
> guarantees the support.  Essentially like Microsoft.
> 
> Many items are renamed (to be more 'intuitive'), moved in the menus, and the 
> like.  Custom setup and configuration tools are provided.
> 
> I set up a determinedly non-computer-savvy friend with Xandros, thinking that 
> it has a good reputation, is geared to non-computer types, and will be kept 
> up to date.  In general, all this is probably true.
> 
> There turn out to be several problems.  Some things aren't where we expect 
> them, aren't named as we expect them - this means many sources of Linux info 
> aren't useable.
> 
> Some choices are made to restrict how things work - to make them simple.  As a 
> result, if you don't know about that particular choice, you can't make it 
> work.  I spent half an hour on the phone with my friend attempting to figure 
> out how Xandros provided access to some of the file system in a way she could 
> use with their File Manager.
> 
> The underlying Linux system is there, but the choices they make to 'simplify' 
> the system are also straitjackets, as the distro no longer may match the 
> howtos and FAQs on the net.
> 
> I would recommend Ubuntu or Kubuntu now for equivalent use.  The community 
> seems vibrant, things work or get fixed, and the large body of knowledge 
> generated by the community at large remains appropriate (as much as any 
> distro, and much more than some).
> 
> A user is only a newbie for a few months - and Ubuntu or Kubuntu will take 
> good care of them for that time.  But after that, more of the knowledge they 
> gain will be useable in other distros, as opposed to the more proprietary 
> distros like Linspire or Xandros.
> 
> Between the two of them however, I'd chose Xandros.  They seem to have a 
> better reputation (as of last year when I researched), and they make the 
> excellent CrossOver Office tools to provide Windows program support - it's 
> included in Xandros.
> 
> My Dad didn't finish High School, and is pretty non-verbal (so tech support 
> phone calls are a trial for me).  He's learned enough to install Libranet, 
> and now he's happy on his own with Kubuntu.
> 
> Cheers,
> Bret

Thanks for that information.  I do realise that any opinions are those 
of the writer and not the list of course.
It was recommended to me as a good distro for newbies, but I would be 
hesitant to recommend it, if it hooks people in, in similar ways to 
Microsoft: and things are named differently.
I use Mandriva as a newbie and find that okay, and am beginning to 
explore and try other distros.  I personally found the ubuntu 
partitioner difficult, but that was several months ago.  I am looking 
about for a couple of friends - hence my question.
Thanks

-- 
Rosemary

Registered Linux User # 386597  http://counter.li.org
"A friend may well be a masterpiece of nature".  Emerson




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