Linspire Saga

Linspire Saga

Lindows/Linspire, the controversial Linux company and its even more controversial founder Michael Roberston have been making waves in technology since their arrival.

Linspire Saga – November 1997

At the height of the dot-com boom, future Linspire founder Michael Robertson launches the first of several controversial companies—MP3.com. Early success would later lead to trouble, following the founding and huge success of Napster. Record labels

Linspire Saga – July 1999

Robertson takes MP3.com public, raising nearly $400 million. Mounting legal problems sapped MP3.com, which was sold to Vivendi in May 2001 for about $372 million in cash and stock.

Linspire Saga – August 2001

Flush with cash from the sale of MP3.com, Robertson founds Lindows.com, which later releases LindowsOS, a consumer-oriented desktop Debian-based Linux. Robertson set out to create a Linux distribution that also could run Windows applications. The focus w

Linspire Saga – December 2001

Microsoft sues Lindows.com for trademark infringement of the Windows name. Many Microsoft watchers dismiss the lawsuit as being little more than competition by litigation against a desktop Linux upstart. Initial court proceedings would favor Lindows.com.

Linspire Saga – April 2002

Lindows.com announces a $99 family license, launching one of several competitive and PR attacks against Microsoft.

Linspire Saga – September 2002

LindowsOS 2.0 ships; Wal-Mart.com carries $199 LindowsOS PCs. Ahead of the 2.0 version, Lindows.com gains software momentum, with deals for EarthLink and StarOffice among others.

Linspire Saga – June 2003

LindowsOS 4.0 launches.

Linspire Saga – September 2003

Lindows.com opens up MSfree.com, to facilitate consumer collection of a $1.1 billion Microsoft settlement in California. At Microsofts behest, in January 2004, a judge invalidates claims made through the site. Meanwhile, the trademark dispute would conti

Linspire Saga – February 2004

Microsofts Windows trademark is endangered when Chief District Judge John Coughenour found, as a result of a Lindows lawsuit, that the term might be generic, and therefore it cannot be the subject of trademark protection under any circumstances.

Linspire Saga – April 2004

Lindows.com changes LindowsOS name to Linspire, in response to Microsofts global trademark lawsuit campaign. Two months later, the two companies would settle their trademark dispute, with Linspire also replacing Lindows and Lindows.com for a $20-millio

Linspire Saga – June 2005

Robertson steps down as Linspire CEO, but keeps his role as chairman. The change happened rather quietly, with Robertson making the announcement on his personal Weblog rather than the company issuing a press release.

Linspire Saga – April 2006

Linspire announced Freespire community project. The unique approach offered two separate distributions, one fully open source and another with proprietary closed components.

Linspire Saga – August 2006

Linspire ends subscription fees, which had ranged between $20 and $50 a year.

Linspire Saga – January 2006

Linspire announced that it plans to expand its CNR (Click N Run) digital download and software management service to support multiple desktop Linux distributions such Debian, Fedora, OpenSUSE, and Ubuntu.

Linspire Saga – June 2007

Microsoft and Linspire enter into a controversial cross-licensing patent agreement.

Linspire Saga – July 2007

Linspire CEO Kevin Carmony steps down.

Linspire Saga – August 2007

Linspire is scheduled to release Freespire 2.0 and the new version of CNR.

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