6. Submitted by Anonymous, Tuesday 29th November 2005

I have a slightly different point of view.

1) I don't have that much of an issue to logging and operating as root (as it is no worse than Windows).

- It still doesn't render you vulnerable to the vast majority of Win-Exploits/Viruses/...etc.

2) It does give you extra elbow-room to do what you have to in the 1st place.

HOWEVER : I do agree that - in the long term it does not bode well for air-tight security.

Also, I also found Lindows/Linspire to be slightly slower than other distros to get an operational desktop - but conversely it also installed the fastest (if this was slow on your system - you might have hdw issues or a _really_ old PC).

All in all - I found it would be worth the $$$, but they must start including a bit more basic software (at least one of each - even if they do come from the F/OSS pool, then they could let you sample their proprietary ones - and decide if you want to keep them.

Toodles !

A/a.

7. Submitted by MidnightOwner, Tuesday 29th November 2005

I absolutely agree with your review, especially the "comments" section. The BEST aspect of Linux on the desktop -- I have used Fedora Core 3 & 4, Ubuntu 5.04, and currently using Suse 10 -- is that it is so incredibly easy to install hundreds if not thousands of packages ranging from utilities, to desktop platforms to office productivity. And updating while accounting for dependencies isn't the hell it used to be, either. Whether or not you use Yum, Synaptic or YAST, updates and additons are incredibly easy. So you are correct. What is the point of Linspire, especially given some of the problems you experienced.

What I wish more reviews -- including yours -- would do is to evaluate the distros ability to interoperate in a Windows network environment. Haven't found a distribution that does that painlessly yet. Ironically, though, it will be the business environment that sells Linux for the desktop. Best way to do that? Show CEOs and CIOs how simple it is to setup a Linux box in a Windows network and THEN you show them the cost differential. Goodbye Windows.

8. Submitted by Mike, free-bees.co.uk, Tuesday 29th November 2005

In response to #7:

For networking, I have tried a few distributions. Fedora Core 4, Ubuntu 5.10 and Debian 3.1 all, through the command line, could connect to Windows machines. If memory serves, Nautilus didn't like browsing the network using Samba (I think that was in Gnome 2.8), but it worked fine when I used Gnome 2.10 or higher i.e. Debian Etch, Ubuntu 5.10 and Fedora Core 4. In Debian, I used Linneighborhood anyway, which picks up the Windows machines easily as well.

As for KDE - the only distribution I've tried recently is Linspire, and Konqueror found the network without a problem as well.

In short: Debian (Etch), Ubuntu 5.10, Fedora Core 4, Linspire... networking with Windows always worked fine, either through Nautilus or Konqueror. The only problem I had was with networked printers. It seems you have to have the driver for that printer on the Linux machine, which obviously creates a whole load of problems. If you have the right driver, then you're fine... otherwise, you're pretty stuck!

9. Submitted by Magellano, Sunday 11th December 2005

I have installed it two day ago.

It worked immediately, its fast and easy.

For sure is not XP but...not bad...

AMD2600,1Gb Ram,80gb HD.

Bye

10. Submitted by Anonymous, Wednesday 21st December 2005

I found it very easy to change to UK keyboard - and installed the English language rather than American language version.

I disagree with some of you said. Enough to have now dumped Windows and switched to Linspire 5.