The return of Linspire? : Not Quite

Sometime ago PC/OpenSystems purchased the rights to the commercial Linspire distribution and its community branch, Freespire. For 2018 it seems that PC/OpenSystems is bringing back these two, Linux distributions with up to date apps such as such as ext4 and Linux kernel 4.10.0-42. The new releases, Linspire 7.0 and Freespire 3.0, are based on Ubuntu 16.04. Ten years ago Linspire 6.0 and Freespire 2.0, were based on Ubuntu 7.04.

I tried LinspireOS, like its predecessors, it is both an install disc and a live DVD. But to be clear, LinspireOS is NOT Linspire five-0. Linspire 5.0, was a turning point in the Linux world.When you logged into Linspire 5 you were presented with an attractive desktop and with its icons. Its user interface was a showstopper, as its eye candy impressed along with its applications. Linspire 5 in-house  applications included Lphoto (a digital camera/photo manager), Lsongs (a media player, Internet radio, media player) and Linspire Internet Suite (a slightly modified and rebranded Mozilla Suite.) Unlike  Linspire 7.0, Linspire Five-0 came with AMD (ATI) and Nvidia graphics drivers by default.

No KDE Plasma Desktop.

Why would PC/OpenSystems choose Xfce over KDE for default desktop? In many ways, KDE Plasma (K Desktop Environment) is very similar in appearance to Microsoft Windows, and Windows users will likely feel very much at home when using KDE Plasma Desktop. Yes, Xfce is less resource-hungry than KDE, Xfce is a great choice for 15-year-old computers. I have ran KDE neon distro on a  2nd generation Intel Mobile Celeron 847 which is an ultra-low voltage dual-core processor. The 17 Watt Thermal Design Power of that CPU runs just fine. How many people do you think are running that type of underpowered hardware in an enterprise setting.  We all know they are using at least an i3 something-whatever-generation CPU. Outside of the Deepin desktop, KDE is the most visually pleasing of all the Linux GUIs. It is much more polished in appearance and has more point-and-click options than Xfce.

No CNR, or One-Click N Run, to be found.

Linspire's CNR offered a large database of Linux programs (think of Android or Apple app store) that was designed to serve as a GUI-based, user-accessible means of downloading and installing various applications, both free and proprietary.The service relied on a client application to work in concert with Debian's APT and dpkg to resolve dependencies and install files.CNR also included a set of Click and Buy (CNB) software, which included many commercial applications like Crossover Linux and Star Office.There is nothing like CNR in ANY Linux distro today.

I'm not saying that LinspireOS (2017) is anything bad to use. Only just making sure that those who are longtime Linspire fans understand that this is NOT the Linspire or Freespire form the early 2000s. PC/OpenSystems merely purchased the rights to the commercial Linspire name. Linspire 5 helped bring much needed commercial attention to Linux when individuals and companies were looking for an alternative to Windows 2000 or even Windows XP. This LinspireOS (2017) will never come close to doing that.

My thoughts on Linspire Five-0 back in 2006 here