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Every now and again, technology companies make a deal that everyone likes. Thats the case with Canonicals new partnership with Linspire, whereby the companies will share Linux operating system and software distribution technologies.
With this new relationship, Canonical will be adding Linspires newly opened CNR (Click and Run) software distribution system, which includes proprietary drivers and software, to Ubuntu. In return, Linspire is switching the basis of its Linux distributions, Linspire and Freespire, from Debian to Ubuntu.
Gordon Haff, principal IT advisor at market researcher Illuminata, said, “Well, its a pretty logical hookup. For one [big] thing, theyre philosophically aligned in that neither is an open-source purist; theyre both willing to incorporate proprietary drivers and other software where good open source alternatives dont exist.”
“Its also the case that, as Linux and Linux distributions mature, proliferation of distros becomes much less interesting. This seems a case of essentially combining a couple of distributions to try and achieve a critical mass of interesting, differentiating features—something thats increasingly difficult to do,” continued Haff. “I dont see this becoming another important enterprise distro, but it will help both of these to remain a viable Tier 2 distribution.”
Ian Murdock, CTO of the newly formed Linux Foundation—and founder of the Debian distribution—also thinks its a good move for both companies.