First off, I want to say thank you to everyone who has welcomed me to your forum in the past. I've made my share of posts here in the past, usually trying to address or answer any questions people had about Linspire, and I've always been treated with nothing but courtesy and respect. Thank you.
The most recent instance of me jumping in to answer some questions, was in regards to OOoFF, where I responded
with this post. In that thread, someone asked if Linspire has ever considered offering our
CNR (click and run) service to other, non-Linspire distros. I didn't want to take that thread off topic, so I promised I'd make a separate post about this topic. So, here it is. =)
Has Linspire ever considered offering their CNR (click and run) service to other distros?
The short answer is yes, and Mark and I have discussed this possibility for Ubuntu and we both like the idea. (Perhaps it would be more accurate to say "we're both open minded to the idea." Linspire would need to come to learn that it was something some Ubuntu users would want, and Mark would insist it be done in a way true to the values of Ubuntu or not at all.) The longer answer follows and I'd LOVE to hear input from Ubuntu users about this, as well as
participate in the quick poll I posted.
First off, for those who may not know, CNR (click and run) is a service Linspire users can subscribe to ($20 per year) which allows them to install thousands of software programs with LITERALLY one click. Many have the misconception that CNR is simply a GUI for apt-get. Not at all true. CNR is a lot more, and includes total software management features, complete updating management for your entire PC, "Aisles" which allow for grouping of applications to be installed with one click, CNB's or click and buys to purchase dozens of commercial products such as Star Office, games, etc., all with one click, user reviews, screen shots, and so on. If you're not familiar with CNR, you can learn more about it
here, nd you can
browse through the CNR Warehouse here.
It would be very difficult for Linspire to offer CNR to just any distro, however, we have considered doing it for Ubuntu. 1) I've talked with Mark about it, and he's supportive of looking into the idea. As you know, Mark is open to most ideas that involve seeing a Ubuntu baseline being used to build other offerings, allowing more people to enjoy open source. Mark would have to be OK with whatever happened here, if anything, or we won't do it. 2) There are a lot of Ubuntu users, justifying our work to do this, and 3) Ubuntu is Debian based, as is Linspire, so our CNR Warehouse model could be wrapped around Ubuntu.
CNR already has the ability to support different pools, or what we call "Warehouses." For example, depending which version of Linspire you're on, you have a different CNR Warehouse available to you. In fact, CNR is sophisticated enough that it can support hundreds of different Warehouses. For example, Linspire employees have a different Warehouse than others. Linspire "Insiders" (15,000 testers) have access to a different Warehouse, and so on.
The idea would be to create a CNR Warehouse for each of the different Ubuntu distros. We would then make the CNR client available via apt-get. Once you've got that, the rest becomes one-click easy.
Why would Ubuntu users want to use CNR?
Several reasons...
1. Linspire supports dozens of proprietary applications, drivers and codecs that you may want to have access to. MP3, DVD, Real Audio, Windows Media, Quick Time, Java, Flash, nVidia, ATI, Bitstream fonts, and so on. For example, right out of the box, Linspire users have access to
all these different file types. With CNR, you could, with one click, deliver all this capability to your Ubuntu computer.
2. You may simply want the one-click convenience of CNR. You'd get the software management tools, Aisles, update notification, CNB's, and so on.
3. You could more easily set up your non-technical friends with Ubuntu. 98% of the world will no way take the time to learn how apt-get works. With CNR, they can manage all their software needs easily and graphically. Linspire is well known for being ultra easy to use, and that anyone can use it. CNR allows Ubuntu to be used by more "average Joe" computer users.
4. More and more open source software is now available on the web via CNR, without even going to the CNR Warehouse. For example, if you go to the
download page for Nvu, you'll see that with one click, you can install that product.
But, if I use CNR, can I no longer use apt?
Because the CNR pool would be the same pool at what you're using apt from, yes, you could still use it. In other words, Ubuntu users would simply have the choice: 1) just use apt, like they do now. 2) pay $20 to use the CNR service, or 3) do both.
The key is that the choice would totally be yours.
Why wouldn't Ubuntu just offer this on their own so it could be free?
Mark agrees that CNR has four years of wonderful technology behind it, and it would be very difficult to offer something like CNR, at least not in the near future. Even if they could, chances are it wouldn't be free, because CNR isn't just the software client (that's a very small part of CNR), it's about the farm of servers that Linspire has to pay to keep running and bandwidth costs. $20 a year is a very fair price for such service that costs us a lot to run and offer.
Anything we would do, Mark would of course make sure was in line with Ubuntu's goals and mission, and we'd be happy to work with him to assure that is the case. (For example, he wouldn't put our client in the default distro but would have to be apt from a different location or downloaded and installed separately.) We would only do this with Mark's OK.
Your input
Again, up to now this is still in the though process, so no guarantees if we would do this, and that's why I'd love to hear your input. I hope you'll
answer the poll and post your comments and questions below.
Thanks!
Kevin Carmony
CEO, Linspire, Inc.