Hiran Venugopalan wrote:
I am now seeing many guys here who SAYS them as Linux [GNU/Linux Users] and talks about freedom.But when I ask them about the distro there reply is some times sad one for me - linspire.I dont think the linspire as Linux.Itssimply proprietary.Its on EULA.Although the basic GNU/Linux system is free software, most of the GNU/Linux versions now available include a small amount of non-free software--just enough to spoil them as a way to attain freedom. But Linspire is in a class by itself; large and important parts of this system are non-free. No other GNU/Linux distribution has back slided so far away from freedom. Switching from MS Windows to Linspire does not bring you to freedom, it just gets you a different master.
Not that I disagree with you or anything, but in an attempt to correct that image, they've recently released a project called Freespire [http://www.freespire.org/]. As far as I understand it, this contains Free software, whereas Linspire is the tainted product with all the proprietary drivers, codecs and software.
Actually, I just went though their FAQ, and quoting from question number 6:
"6. So, is Freespire open source or proprietary?
Again, the choice is yours. There are two versions of Freespire available. The main Freespire version is approximately 99% open source, as it does include certain proprietary drivers, codecs and software in cases where there are no viable open source solutions yet available."
Clearly, they haven't learnt. Don't mind this e-mail.
Harish