There are a lot of changes coming to the Linux world these days, perhaps the one not receiving as much fanfare as I would have expected is the release of Linspire 6.0. Now I realize that Freespire 2.0 is just around the corner and I am still mulling over my feelings over Linspire having made their deal with Microsoft over the alleged patent protection, despite the fact that I have still not seen ANY proof from Microsoft short of their claims.

With all of that said, I still support elements of what Linspire stands for and last time I checked, I am still considered an ‘insider’ with their behind the scenes access, be it nothing I can publicly share due to a loosely stated NDA agreement. Today I willfully am supporting them for one reason – the legitimacy here in the States for the Linux desktop. Even though many of the patents allegedly being violated according to Microsoft have yet to be proven publicly, there is no question that here in the States where IP laws are very strict, using Microsoft codecs and fonts with other Linux distributions and through Automatix is breaking US law – period. I hate it as much as the next guy, but this is a fact. There are IP claims that Microsoft have made public in the past, in addition to other patent holders.

I choose to continue running my Ubuntu desktop and supporting open source media formats on it such as OGG Vorbis and OGG Theroa. And because it will indeed be Linspire, not Canonical alone that will help the US user with the complex and painful issue over the legality of using restricted codecs and fonts on the Linux desktop, I am beginning to review their CNR appliance again.

Why? Because here soon, they will be making legal access (again, in the US) to restricted codecs and fonts for the end user. And here in the states, this is badly needed for anyone looking to seriously OEM these machines to anyone other than those willing to illegally download restricted codecs. Linspire and I have not always seen eye to eye. I have given this some thought, finding myself willing to give this a fresh look considering no one else has actually offered any solution short of the anti-patent approach seen with other distros which is ‘cute’, until you attempt to sell machines with these things installed here in the US of A. Linspire, I am willing to start fresh, I will be reviewing your distro here in the next few days. Watch for it in Google Blogs/News. From there, I will be reviewing your new CNR appliance on Ubuntu once it goes live as well.

[tags]Linux,Linspire[/tags]