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Linspire: Punked by Microsoft

rackit.gartnerwebdev.com — Linspire rolls over for Microsoft

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  • schestowitz, on 10/10/2007, -7/+46they were apparently paid $20 million to spew out anti-Linux FUD and go out of business. See Groklaw. Nobody really knows how money was exchanged. Shades of SCO/Microsoft.
    • KibibyteBrain, on 10/10/2007, -8/+5Sorry for the comment abuse, but I'd really like to read this article, but the server is down and none of the common mirrors seem have have got it. Anyone have it?
    • DocHoliday22, on 10/10/2007, -4/+15Linspire was always the black sheep of the linux community, now they've just proved they're greedy too
  • Waterrat, on 10/10/2007, -2/+27 I'm not so sure Linspire is on it's last legs,but I sure am disgusted with the latest move by them... This appears to be the end of a long string of stupid decisions by KC and the sunshine boys impo.
    • bigtomrodney, on 10/10/2007, -1/+22Linspire in my opinion has always been on its last legs. I'm not a distro snob but never has a distro gone so far out of their way to take so much from the community and give so little back. Their attempts to proprietise Linux is disgraceful.
    • TechCF, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4I'm also disgusted. I've been reading their newsletters since Lindows, and they are going the wrong way. No more Linspire, I'm going Ubuntu
      • Waterrat, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1 They sure are..Watching what has been happening to Linspire has been like watching a train wreck in slow motion...Especially over the last six months.
        I'm done with Freespire,I'm going to be moving to another distro...
  • trghpy, on 10/10/2007, -20/+5Wouldn't it be funny if wally-mart decided to get into the fray.
    How dare M$ ***** with our cheep computer source.
    eh, who am i kidding, M$ would just buy their support.
    • zybch, on 10/10/2007, -10/+15Gee, you're so cool using teh M$.
      I wish I could be as cool are you!
    • fpcyber, on 10/10/2007, -3/+4People still spell it out as M$?
      • MWeather, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2Microsoft hasn't changed. Why would they be described differently?
  • Waterrat, on 10/10/2007, -15/+3Microsoft could not only buy their support,they could buy Wallyworld,itself!
    • hartley, on 10/10/2007, -3/+1You must not know how big Wal*Mart really is.
  • pdeco, on 10/10/2007, -6/+8It was almost foreshadowing when Ubuntu began to develop the "Click and Run" apt:// protocol.
    • MasteRR, on 10/10/2007, -1/+12I hope you realize apt came from Debian. Ubuntu didn't develop it.
      • 4850lu73, on 10/10/2007, -3/+10Indeed apt was developed for Debian, however, it is an application! the Ubuntu team have been making efforts to make it even easier to use. insofaras, you go a website and you see an app you would like to install, instead of having to open up a terminal and type the old "sudo apt-get....." or even use Synaptic, you can simply click the "apt://" link which installs the app and handles the dependencies using a communication protocol.


        For more info see http://www.cypherbios.org/blog/?p=41&language=en
        • tech42er, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Cool. Last time I tried Ubuntu, it was just "sudo aptitude install". This "apt://" link looks like it will be much better for those who are new to Ubuntu and Linux in general.
      • ispep, on 10/10/2007, -11/+4ubuntu fanboys like to claim that everything we currently have in Linux is a result of ubuntu.
        • Waterrat, on 10/10/2007, -5/+3 Yeah,I noticed that...
        • jsully, on 10/10/2007, -1/+7STFU and be happy that more people are using Linux.
      • jsully, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3Ubuntu's thrown a lot of nice small tweaks back into the fray - a lot of stuff with Gnome and power management for example.
    • gmillerd, on 10/10/2007, -1/+1The issue is that the form of 'ubuntu developed' was used which is foolish and all too common.

      As far as microsoft's goofy linux thing goes, they have for a long time kept print magazines and bogus industry groups afloat to give their apps good pr, many of which testified on their behalf and were found to have a conflict of interest.

      now with blogs and a serious lack of legacy industry players, they need to be more active and find new cheerleader mercenaries. what sco did was somewhat normal for the 1980s for industries, but poor execution. I am sure it made perfect sense to a lawyer with his head in the sand for twenty years.
  • carpespasm, on 10/10/2007, -0/+25never got a good vibe off linspire anyway. they seem to have some good ideas, but they seem a little slimy
  • univerio, on 10/10/2007, -11/+0ok... wtf?
  • holyskeleton, on 10/10/2007, -17/+5patents issued PER YEAR: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/fc/USpatents18002004.JPG

    i doubt that americans are really that smart...
    • Spr0k3t, on 10/10/2007, -2/+11The dumb ones work at the patent orifice.
    • sqrt7744, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4foreign companies often get american patents, hence the # of patents per year registered at the USPO is quite global in its scope. For example, I worked in germany for a meteorological institute and we registered a patent for an optical filter device in the US.
  • hydriplex, on 10/10/2007, -18/+13oy, at least microsoft still isn't as annoying as ashton kutcher
    • MacParrot, on 10/10/2007, -1/+8Who COULD be?
    • KibibyteBrain, on 10/10/2007, -5/+5Oy. We have enough annoying post fads on digg. The last thing we need is to start a "complain like my Jewish grandfather" one.
  • bakkouz, on 10/10/2007, -33/+18I'm sick and tired of people portraying Microsoft as the devil, Microsoft is a business that employs thousands of people and their families, and as a business its primary goal is to make money and profit, and it does so by protecting its interests. Apple does the same, and so does every other company, even Digg.
    and the Linspire guys were generously compensated. get over it.
    • Spr0k3t, on 10/10/2007, -7/+24You should filter Linux/Unix... At least if you hate seeing MS dissed, stay off the internet.
    • MacParrot, on 10/10/2007, -6/+19Also, what the heck does Apple have to do with this story? Turn off your computer and go outside. There are girls and other fun things to do.
      • Septimus, on 10/10/2007, -1/+8How do you know?
      • MacParrot, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3You could have a point. After almost 15 years of being married, my wife would probably be unhappy if I started trying to find girls again, though being outside is still fun
        • kday, on 10/10/2007, -1/+2She doesn't have to know

          kidding...
          • MacParrot, on 10/10/2007, -1/+2Dammit! I was hoping for permission! :)
        • suprchunk, on 10/10/2007, -1/+2Did you just reply to yourself, saying that you, yourself, were right?
      • bradmoreland, on 10/10/2007, -0/+0If he's an Apple user I don't think he's going to be interested in the girls if he goes outside. Not that there's anything wrong with that.
    • willemfkkc, on 10/10/2007, -1/+9Do some history-research on MS, and you know why they're portraid as the devil
    • gill1109, on 10/10/2007, -3/+5they're not PORTAID as the devil, they ARE the devil... don't you see those little horns, smell that sniff of sulphur?
    • MasteRR, on 10/10/2007, -1/+5"Microsoft is a business that employs thousands of people and their families"

      Have you forgotten about the thousands of people who Microsoft has either had their employer bought out and were then laid-off or had their employer run out of business. I don't think that is a good argument to be using to support Microsoft.
      • naio, on 10/10/2007, -2/+1And what about all the business that ran out for not being able to compete with free software (and I mean free as in free beer)?
        • suprchunk, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Guess they should have found a way to make money the same way as those free software companies did. HUH? I really doubt that free software has put any company out of business that was not well on their way there to begin with.
    • Septimus, on 10/10/2007, -8/+3You've got to remember the near transparent nerd on digg is either an utter *nix or Apple fanboy who for their entire 15 years on this planet believes MS to have ruined millions of people in its ever lasting fight for world domination.

      Just remember, the digg outlook on tech life is equal to about 0.0000001% of the tech community as a whole. Steve Jobs = fap! fap! fap! etc.
      • threemagic, on 10/10/2007, -2/+8Go back to playing Deer Hunter... the internet does not need you.
  • tnatharik, on 10/10/2007, -11/+1This news has been stuck here for every long. Please dump it or blast it up.
  • Philluminati, on 10/10/2007, -5/+10punked?
  • Moduliz0r, on 10/10/2007, -2/+22Looks like the server has been punked, by Diggers.
    46 diggs and out.
  • dattaway, on 10/10/2007, -0/+23New business model: generate your own linux distro with a small script, fill out the form for the a DNS registration, watch as the AI process generates simulated forum users and content, sit and wait, sign the form Microsoft sends you, and wait for the multi-million dollar check.

    Profit!
  • Ninjao, on 10/10/2007, -2/+25And god said unto his people; "Give me a mirror! For that site has been diggered"
    • RealmDown, on 10/10/2007, -8/+5Pharoh Gates. LET MY DISTROS GO!
    • Disfnord, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1That's Diggrican American, you insensitive clod!
  • Iriel, on 10/10/2007, -1/+18Wait, this is Linspire we're talking about (aka Lindows). This is the system that tried to popularize Linux by emulating Windows and earned them a place in Linux infamy. Nobody's ever cared what Linspire said about anything, so why should we be surprised or care that they were supposedly paid by Microsoft to spew FUD about Linux and tank themselves?
  • senatorpjt, on 10/10/2007, -3/+8If you're posting blogspam, at least make sure your server can handle it before the story makes it to a mirror.
    Buried.
    • troydoogle7, on 10/10/2007, -1/+2sometimes there is a difference between journalism and blogspam....
  • greatkingrat85, on 10/10/2007, -5/+2Must.... buy.... Theraflu....
  • mightyzug, on 10/10/2007, -2/+14linspire sucked anyway
  • MattH, on 10/10/2007, -1/+8Canonical has signed a deal with Linspire to provide the Click n' Run service for Ubuntu so they can get around providing proprietary codecs and software to its users .
  • Macshiba, on 10/10/2007, -11/+5Linspire was one of the only distributions that I actually thought looked decent. I use Ubuntu sometimes, but Linspire was much better to look at and worked smoother compared to Ubuntu.
    • Waterrat, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Yeah,I liked Linspire...I like Freespire and if all the s@!!6* had not hit the fan,I'd stay with Freespire..But the' 'spire had done too many things that irk me of late...I REALLY have come to dislike KC.
      And the Microsoft deal, well I just can't stomach it.... One copy of Linspire per computer with Miicrosoft skimming the cream off the top? I think not!
      I'll be moving on to Klikit Linux when they go beta.
      BTW,Klikit was started cause KC dropped the gauntlet challenging his user base to build a better Linux than his...So they are doing their best...And so far,it looks good.
  • szembek, on 10/10/2007, -2/+3Can this be removed from the front page now? They need to get this ***** off once the sites bomb.
  • CaptO, on 10/10/2007, -3/+1Server rolls over for Digg.
  • Garfunkel, on 10/10/2007, -1/+2nobody has a mirror?
  • cbrunet, on 10/10/2007, -9/+3Yes Digg, we get it. Linspire and all the other Linux companies who succumbed to MS's FUD got screwed. Was it really that big of a surprise? Do we need 30 articles a day detailing how retarded those deals were?
  • Garfunkel, on 10/10/2007, -6/+3^Suck it up princess, some topics can't help but be in the news, do i need to mention the iphone?
  • DestroyFascism, on 10/10/2007, -1/+1Does this mean my inbox will be free from the rants about "freedom" ? what about actions....meh
  • AlexJTanner, on 10/10/2007, -1/+5What I have to wonder is who is still using Linspire
  • sadatoni, on 10/10/2007, -1/+1This was news last week
  • anoriega, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Your server, punked by digg.
  • inkubux, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1no wonders why wordpress is slow and can't handle digg. did you see the amount of sql query it needs to show up the page?
  • megooz, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Not quite a mirror, but you can read the first part of the article on http://rackit.gartnerwebdev.com/
  • kaph, on 10/10/2007, -1/+2WordPress database error: [MySQL server has gone away]
    SELECT option_value FROM wp_options WHERE option_name = 'permalink_structure' LIMIT 1

    I've never seen the "gone away" error before. Did anyone catch the whole thing? Oh nevermind, it's only linspire.
  • brindon, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2The only Wordpress page I have *ever* seen has the word "ERROR" or "MySQL cannot be xyz" on it.
  • tck1000, on 10/10/2007, -3/+0buried for being a ***** lame non-story.
  • BlackAdderIII, on 10/10/2007, -2/+2http://www.duggmirror.com ?
  • earthwormzim, on 10/10/2007, -1/+5Linspire...until a few minutes ago, I did not know what Linspire was. But, after reading the product description on the Linspire website, I almost fell out of my chair! $49.95 for Ubuntu with a few additional programs that can be installed on a standard installation of Ubuntu in less than 5 minutes. Haha! Ridiculous!
    • brhad56, on 10/10/2007, -1/+4And apparently you still don't know what it is.
    • Pdj79, on 10/10/2007, -1/+2But then again, you could download the Freespire distro which is a free, Ubuntu-based branch that doesn't feature the proprietary portions of Linspire that causes them to charge for it.
  • Helpdesk, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2This image sums up the whole article.
    http://rackit.gartnerwebdev.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/07/mslinspire.jpg
  • S0m3dud3, on 10/10/2007, -1/+8Microsoft, thanks to their deep pockets and scary lawyers, is still doing today what it has done for years to anyone that threatens it’s market position. The difference now though, is that Open Source is not one single company that they can buy or push around. They are, however, finding some sheep that will roll over for fear of being dragged into a legal battle. This fear is not based on losing the law suit, but rather the waiting game that eats money for attorneys and other related costs of defending against this suit. It’s kind of like a staring contest; the first one to run out of money loses. Linspire (the distro formerly known as Lindows), is the latest to cower in their cubicles and corner offices for fear of being buried alive by an avalanche of patent infringements.

    Here is the gist of what Microsoft has to offer to those willing to come clean; Under the PR guise of a “Covenant to Customers” at least 3 Linux publishers have climbed on board. Essentially, if any of the GPL/GNU concepts are touched on, the “Covenant” is violated. With the exception of patches, any other modification or alteration of the code is not allowed, nor is it okay to make copies of the software to give away to your friends - unless of course, additional fees are paid to Microsoft. Remember, we are talking about Linux - not Microsoft products. Microsoft excludes a number of things from this EULA for LINUX, including anything released under GPL3 because of the clause (section 10 paragraph 3 GPL3) expressly forbidding the imposition of restrictions or fees on anything released under GPL3.

    The GPL3 was publicly released on June 29, 2007. It’s announcement triggered much complaining from Redmond as Microsoft asserted that this license did not apply to them, regardless of their deal with Novell last year and that they will not support any software released under it. The GPL3 is barely 10 pages long yet it took a heard of the best lawyers that money can buy 6 days to come up with a way to plug another hole in the Microsoft dike.

    Microsoft is notorious for including clauses in their EULA’s that protect them in many different ways since Windows 95 at least - see section 2, paragraph 17 of the XP Home EULA. They never afford the same protections to the consumer though. Microsoft even goes so far as to state that they have sole discretion when it comes to determining if you or they have violated the “agreement”. According to the new Covenant to Customers,

    By necessity, the covenant is conditioned upon the Customer providing Microsoft, upon its request, with sufficient information to verify which copies of Client Offerings are Covered Products subject to the covenant.

    Again, in favor of Microsoft; it is up to them to decide what’s covered and what is not. For all of the legal speak, they fail to provide a means by which any disagreement between you and them about coverage can be resolved. Every EULA since Windows 3.0 has had similar wording. Microsoft is interested in embracing Open Source so long as it’s on their terms. Microsoft really promises the world but then puts so many conditions on it that there is no way to get it. The Covenant to the Customer promises that you - the consumer - won’t be sued so long as you use an extremely narrow set of programs distributed by Linspire. Business applications and servers are explicitly excluded from the “allowed” programs list.

    The next time that you’re looking for the rush of scrolling through 5,000 ports trying to decide what you want to install first, or when you download the Postfix and spamassassin tarballs to set up the new company mail server, watch your back because Microsoft just might try to punk you!
    • gmgartner, on 10/10/2007, -0/+0This is the full text of the article above. We had a hardware failure (NIC) Many apologies
      • gmgartner, on 10/10/2007, -0/+0********* NIC Replaced - Server up. ************
  • DazWiLLiE, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1working mirror:
    http://rackit.gartnerwebdev.com.nyud.net:8080/2007/07/23/linspire-punked-by-microsoft/
    • dbzer0, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1ain't working or working veeeery slow
  • shadowspawn, on 10/10/2007, -1/+4I learned linux through winlinux or whatever it was called before it was linspire. winix? I forget. But it was before I learned what debian was. Oh I learned linux and unix before, but it was for sun systems or SGI systems... and even then it was more proprietary than windows was... IF YOU THINK ABOUT IT.

    For me it was the first Linux OS that could run on the laptops I could experiment with... out of the box.

    I learned how they made it. I learned how to compile everything with it. They had something that worked for packages... the problem was, as soon as you put in some driver that didn't click... the OS went to ***** and you had to recompile everything all over again. Hell... trying to get videolan on the damn OS (before it was linspire) was such a pain... but worth it. Most PnP things simply worked, which is saying quite allot.

    Don't diss them. This isn't the first time a distro had an issue with MS. They did come out clean, but the OS was soooooo out of date, and actually fell behind the Debian distro in which it was stemmed from.

    It taught me the hell involved with creating a cool distro... but I have ghost images where I can pack in a DVD and push an install on just about every thinkpad without screen rez issues, sound card issues, wireless driver issues, and the like.

    I have linspire to thank, that's all.

    And ***** happens.
    • Waterrat, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1 Yeah, I do give Credit to Linspire for being the easiest looking distro and getting me away from Microsoft.
      From using Linspire,and later,Freespire,i learned just how wonderful Linux could be.
      I've since tried several live CD's and found that every flavor of Linux Ive tried just rocks!
      So I have to thank Linspire for doing their bit to get people away from Microsoft..it's just a shame I now feel the need to get away from the 'spire because it now has been infected with Microsoft cooties.
  • FKnight, on 10/10/2007, -4/+2What a great way to spread anti-Microsoft FUD!!! Post a link to a website that doesn't work and get a bunch of anti-Microsoft nerds to make up comments about what the article supposedly said!!! GREAT way to get out of actually having to support your comments based on the article! I look forward to more of this on Digg if this works out well.
    • MWeather, on 10/10/2007, -1/+3Google is your friend. Use it.
      • FKnight, on 10/10/2007, -1/+1Sarcasm is in the dictionary. Look it up.
  • snowball69, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3I know that the Globalists are working hard to reframe laws - particularly in the EU - however the contract law which corporates benefit from works both ways. A contract isn't a contract unless both parties are free to negotiate or terminate. The alternative is extortion. (Also "offer, acceptance and consideration" etc.).

    One always has the option of striking out the clauses you disagree with and refuse to contract to and notifying microsoft in writing I guess. As an IT contractor I used to receive standard boilerplate contracts from intermediaries however these included stupid clauses such as handing over the copyright to any code I happened to write during the contract period whether written during the course of the working hours or not. Effectively handing over my personal codebase even for *non-prorgramming jobs*. Had I been a Linux kernel volunteer these clauses would have had legal claim on any code I had written for Linux if I was stupid enough to accept them.

    ("Don't worry sir, it's a standard clause"). Needless to say these clauses were struck out, initialled as such and the contract sent back and signed and duly noted to the effect. The other party then has the option to agree to the contract or not. If they considered the clauses critical they'd have the option themselves of not agreeing.

    I wonder if you challenged Microsoft if they'd think it was worthwhile challenging you?

    The software industry has some peculiar notions of contractual agreement which borders along the lines of criminal extortion. It would be interesting to hear a top-flight contract lawyer take them apart for analysis.
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