Linspire Review: Part Four
- 1
- Add a Comment
This is part three of my Linspire review (part one is here, part two is here, and three is here).
Linspire has been pretty good to me for the most part. Still, this does not mean that there are not some areas that need improvement. Normally, I’d just end it right here. But since it has sold me on continued use, bugs and all, I thought it might be fun to explore some areas where we can accelerate progress:
Be more up front with the required specs: Folks, there is no way you are going to want to run this with less than a P3 and 512 MB of RAM. This not to say that you could not get away with less, but it will be a really slow way through Kansas. I’d recommend against trying to go the slower route.
Triple check your quality of product before release: This really rings true with CNR 6. If you just go to the forums, they are littered with people astounded as to how this version of CNR was pushed through as a working product! It only connects about half of the time and will definitely leave you wanting to go back to CNR 5.
Consider working with a Wi-Fi manufacturer: The lack of Wi-fi support is not an area that Linux providers have a lot of control over. And since many hardware companies have decided to ignore a growing market of Linux users, there is a real opportunity here for some growth for the folks with a vision and a little bit of tenacity.
Offer the Live CD at retail outlets in addition to the full version: This must sound insane, but it will prevent ill feelings when someone takes the OS home only to find out that their hardware is not compatible with Linspire’s setup.
OK, now that I have ripped on it, let’s take a moment to look at some areas where it excels:
Huge software database: Out of any OS that I have ever seen, its software is readily accessible here and very simple to install. Yes, it does require a paid subscription to use it. Then again, being that I can pay a measly amount for access to all of my software anytime I want it, well, to me this seems like a really small price to pay. Then again, this was already covered in the previous articles.
One of the best message boards out there: Don’t get me wrong here, there are a number of boards that do an outstanding job for the Linux community. But overall, Linspire excels with response to feedback and to criticism better than other Linux based companies that I have encountered.
Overall ease of use: While I’d suggest taking a look at how Xandros allows for CD/DVD burning from within the file manager, for the most part I believe that Linspire is on the right track. For my money, this OS has saved me both time and headaches in many regards. While it needs to look at some of the points mentioned above, I believe for the most part it is doing good things as its people work to bring Linux to the masses. Most important, doing so in a real world environment - not one designed for hobbyist geeks.
[tags]software,linux,open source,os,linspire[/tags]
One Comment
whildonen
October 20th, 2006
at 3:14am
Interesting, absolutely interesting. Myself, I am a Macuser and have been so since my first computer in 1998, but a couple of years (I think it was) before that, a friend of mine installed Linux (Red Hat, was it?) on his PC and after he had struggled with it a couple of months, he got it to work and I had a look - and my impression was that I was looking at the future. I knew next to nothing about personal computers, of course, but what I had seen was only interesting, but not impressive. You know, nothing like flying cars and the likes of that:) But that Linux-thing looked smooth and - well, I saw the like of it years later, when I finally made the jump from OS 9 to OS X - Panther.
But, since the main reason why I stick with Apple’s products, aside from the ease of use for a non-geek like me, is that I absolutely abhor the existence of that near-monopoly we all love to hate, especially since I read up on how it came to be - and since I look forward to a normal situation where there will not be only one giant and one dwarf and a few midgets (Sorry, Linux-distros), but a variety of different OSes to choose among, all of them adhering to common standards which will make them all work seamlessly, I am always interested in how things are going among the penguins.
I was happy to stumble across Linspire just a couple of weeks ago and reading this review, makes me optimistic - and who knows, I might install it one day if I come across a cheap enough PC with the right specs. If it hadn’t been for those Wi-Fi-issues you mention, I might even have considered to go for it in my next laptop, instead of replacing my iBook with a MacBook, but I guess I better wait as I use it for work purposes when travelling.
But inspiring read, indeed. I hope more Linux-people will realize how important it is to get out of geekland and make it work for the average Joe, Tom, Dick and Sally and Barb.
And localization! If Linspire would come in a variety of languages, as Mac OS X do - and Windows, of course - it would be ready to explode! But it is a question of resources, I know.