Here's one to boggle your mind.....

[KingBahamut]

Linspire will release its first enterprise desktop product, "Linspire Professional," by the end of this year, CTO Tom Welch told DesktopLinux.com Tuesday. The product is currently being tested at the State of Indiana's Access program, Welch said.

Linspire Professional, aimed at challenging the enterprise desktop Linux market leadership of Red Hat and Novell SUSE, will not actually be a new version of the company's user-friendly Linux distribution. Instead, it will offer enhanced, enterprise-oriented features relating to the use of Linspire's popular CNR (Click 'n' Run) software delivery subscription technology.

External link
http://www.desktoplinux.com/news/NS3848285489.html

Heres KB's Take
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I dont think that Linspire is ready for corporate america. Theyve done moderately well in the consumer market, but I dont think the company has the umph to get into corporate america. They need to try to corner something other than corporate , perhaps even the education system , much like Ubuntu has done (with Edubuntu). Certainly there are already too many players in the corp field already. Red hat, Mandriva, Novell-SUSE. It will be hard to compete with that I think. Still , the idea of a government contract does appeal to the sights of a company as this one, Im most positive of. Unless they pull something interesting off , I dont see what Linspire will be able to offer that the others dont already. I can see if they push the "I have software that is tried true and tested and works with our distribution and youll get that if you pay us liscencing money in X amount of dollars per year", that might be successful, but to see something like CNR in a corporate envoirnment.....Just kinda feels weird to me.

[aysiu]

I agree.
I believe they have some deal with Indiana schools for some kind of testing program (or maybe it was Illinois), and that's cool.

Honestly, though, what's the appeal of Linspire for businesses and schools? Surely they don't want employees and students clicking and running, do they? Those people shouldn't be installing software. If anything, software should be difficult to install.

[Teroedni]

"With a regular Linspire distro, each user is in charge of updating and installing applications on his/her machine," Welch explained. "This quickly becomes unmanageable in a business environment. Enterprises and SMBs will like the fact that they can 'lock down' machines and centrally administer them. They can push updates, install new packages, remove packages -- all remotely."


Thats mean one person can do it all;)

I welcome this .Competiton is good.

Too bad LInspire use root :mad:

[brentoboy]

Any corporate american business that allows linux on their desktop is going to have a least one linux guru on staff to orchastrate the process.

That guy isnt going to allow them to buy a linux distro becuase he (or she) will be familiar with linux and know that the free distros are ussually better anyway.

Linspire pro - gag me with a fork.

[KingBahamut]

Well while I think the issue is less about gagging with a fork (is that possible I mean it would hurt really bad before it gagged you :}, and I thought it was a spoon you gagged on, that seems more likely ) and more about wether or not Linspire has the ability to survive in a corporate climate. The news about the Ekhart Indiana deal was news to me when I heard it. But that article spoke prematurely. That they were just "testing" it and that it would "likely" be a huge liscence deal for Linspire as a whole. Carmony's assessment of an evaluation was just that. An evaluation. You have to take that at face value, and to me, while admireable that it is, that doesnt mean that Linspire scored a huge deal in the education system. I dont think Robertson sees it that way either, but I could be wrong.

[aysiu]

Too bad LInspire use root :mad: Linspire doesn't force you to use root. It just defaults to root. Hopefully school or business tech administrators would have the good sense to create user accounts for users.

[Brunellus]

...the same school and business tech administrators who leave all sorts of doors wide open in Windows, right.

[jatos]

Hmm, yeah probably the same admins wholes open in Windows, I think they would have the sense not to use root account though, even the most stupid admins don't allow general users access to the admin account.


Luke....Luke....your targeting computer is off....stay on target....stay on target.....thx KB

[az]

Linspire is great, for what it is.

Click'n'Run is by nature a form of paid support. Read any survey about viability of the linux desktop in the corporate setting and paid support is the first thing they ask about.

Most of the time, the heads of departments are afraid to enter the free software business because they are unfamiliar with the way it works - they want to pay someone to make it work. Linspire's advantage here is that that is the backbone of their business strategy.

I am certain that some of the tools offered in the new click'n'run corporate repository will include kiosk-type software and remote-desktop administration software to make system administration possible for large networks.

Linspire it what it is. While I do not think that they are the pinnacle of free-libre software, they are not bad for it. They contribute lots of stuff back and increase linux use. This is good for everyone.

[poofyhairguy]

Linspire is great, for what it is.

They just have it wrong.

Here they have a nice Windows replacement. Looks like Windows, works like it, etc.

So do they spend their time making it easy to emulate Windows programs or (even better) make it so your copy of Windows is virtualized out of the box?

No. Instead they ruin one of the biggest advantages of a Linux OS- the cost of the software.

I'm amazed Linspire has gotten as far as they have, but its mostly because the real Linux players (Red Hat, Novell, IBM, etc) don't seem to give a damn about the desktop market and bundling and have given Linspire a niche to live in.

A professional edition solves none of these problems.

[KingBahamut]

Poofy, you think too much like I do at times.

[az]

They just have it wrong.
Here they have a nice Windows replacement. Looks like Windows, works like it, etc.
So do they spend their time making it easy to emulate Windows programs or (even better) make it so your copy of Windows is virtualized out of the box?
No. Instead they ruin one of the biggest advantages of a Linux OS- the cost of the software.
I'm amazed Linspire has gotten as far as they have, but its mostly because the real Linux players (Red Hat, Novell, IBM, etc) don't seem to give a damn about the desktop market and bundling and have given Linspire a niche to live in.
A professional edition solves none of these problems.

Those problems are not everyone's. They can sell their product to people who want to spend money on an OS, but not as much as Windows, and not risk exposure to viruses and so forth.

It bugs me that people complain about Linspire, when all they are doing is offering a service to people who want more user-convenience than what other distributions currently offer. No one is pointing a gun to anyone's head, forcing them to install Linspire.

And you cannot fault them for wanting to explore a more corporate market. Trust me, whether they succeed or fail will have nothing to do with your personla feelings about it.

In a lot of ways, they are good for linux. The more water, the higher the boat can float.


"I'm amazed Linspire has gotten as far as they have"

Years ago, bottled water was not very popular. People thought it was ridiculous. I bet you have bottled water in your house right now.

[poofyhairguy]

Those problems are not everyone's. They can sell their product to people who want to spend money on an OS, but not as much as Windows, and not risk exposure to viruses and so forth.

It bugs me that people complain about Linspire, when all they are doing is offering a service to people who want more user-convenience than what other distributions currently offer. No one is pointing a gun to anyone's head, forcing them to install Linspire.

My main problem with Linspire is that I see it as a distro that wastes its potential. Its so close.

Its on OEM computers, it looks like XP but a little better, it has all the codecs and stuff legally. Its so close.

But instead of finishing the job and making it so that it can use Windows programs out of the box (which is what the market its shooting for wants) it instead uses the programs as a revenue source. In Linux. Where you can go to the next distro and use the same products for free.

If Linspire would sell an upgrade for its product that allowed for super easy virtualization of Windows (from another drive or a networked computer) it would be the first OS since OS2 to play with Windows on its own field. It would kill in its target demographic- people on the sidelines could finally switch to Linux without risk. Finally a Linux that acts like any wanting Windows customers should act- a seemless Windows upgrade.

But no. Instead Linspire put all its work in click and run. Dapper's install tool will surpase C&R for free and then the only market it will have is those that just have to be legal (codec wise) and those that don't know other Linux's exist. A small market within the very small desktop market.

One day a company will ship a Linux that acts like its upgrading your XP. Stick it in and it automatically makes a partition, sticks itself in it, and proceeds to import all your old Windows settings and run your Windows programs inside itself. That is what the market- not I- want in a Windows replacement. Something that actually replaces Windows. Not an OS that looks like Windows that traps you in a monthly fee for software you can get for free.

Its so close. And it might change course and succeed. Lord knows that all the other major players are terrified of the Linux desktop market so they are giving Linspire the chance. I wish it would do it. I really do.

But it won't for now. And because of its position its a novelty. A Linux distro with training wheels instead of a bridge to safe waters for Windows users. Linspire will never help then keep their Windows apps when their revenue depends on its own app packages being sold.

Linspire is like a great hip-hop musician scrubbing floors as a job instead of performing because it wants to. So much wasted potential. The time is right (Vista is delayed and its heavy on resources), the stage it set, and Linspire is no where to be seen. Oh well....see you at the next big "migrate masses of Windows users to the desktop" party in 2012 or whenever Vista is long in the tooth.

Linspire (like Redhat did at one point) is blowing the best shot they could ever hope to have. Of course, this is just my opinion.



And you cannot fault them for wanting to explore a more corporate market. Trust me, whether they succeed or fail will have nothing to do with your personla feelings about it.

Agreed. I'm just a pundit that wishes it would aspire to be more.



In a lot of ways, they are good for linux. The more water, the higher the boat can float.

In in other ways (like when a Wal-Mart user takes it home to find it has fees to do basic things like install programs) it hurts the image of Linux on the desktop. So to me its a wash.



"I'm amazed Linspire has gotten as far as they have"

Years ago, bottled water was not very popular. People thought it was ridiculous. I bet you have bottled water in your house right now.

I'm more of a tea guy.

[az]

"One day a company will ship a Linux that acts like its upgrading your XP. Stick it in and it automatically makes a partition, sticks itself in it, and proceeds to import all your old Windows settings and run your Windows programs inside itself. That is what the market- not I- want in a Windows replacement. Something that actually replaces Windows. Not an OS that looks like Windows that traps you in a monthly fee for software you can get for free."
That's crap. Linux is different than windows and Linspire is bridging the gap. Linspire is not selling a product that is second-rate. They are waving the linux flag proudly. The sofware can do exactly what the user needs. If they want windows, they will go and buy windows. If they want linux with windows codecs, they can buy them legally from linspire.
I think it would be great if linspire sold an ubuntu add-on pack. Pay 'em twenty bucks and you get access to their repository of codecs, java and whatever else they can relicence for you.
Your Hip-hop simili would be more acurately described as a great Hip-Hop artist performing disco, because that is what the baby-boomers want to hear.

[blastus]

If Linspire can free Windows-enslaved users that's good. It's all about giving people choices. If one person wants to pay for Linux with some extra stuff (like multimedia support) right out-of-the-box then they should have that option, if another doesn't then they should have that option too.

The only thing that concerns me about Linspire is that it encourages root access. If the masses start using Linspire, it could lead to a disaster and Linux image problem. I don't know what Linspire's mission is, but while they focus on leading people away from Windows, they should focus on bringing people to Linux. In this way Linspire can be like a nicotine patch.