Linspire

Users of Linspire and Freespire Linux operating systems received some fantastic news last week. Linspire announced a price change for its Click and Run service - better known as CNR. CNR is the one-click software maintainance feature of the Linspire and Freespire Linux operating systems. Effective immediately, its basic CNR service subscription now is free of charge. With CNR, users select the product they wish to install or remove from their system and CNR will handle everything with a single click of the mouse.

Last week, big news on the Linux front was the announcement of a new technology partnership. The partnership was between Linspire - the developers of Linspire and Freespire Linux distributions - and Canonical, the lead sponsor of the Ubuntu Linux OS. The Linux community will benefit greatly from this partnership, as both companies are hailed as innovators and both have contributed greatly to the advancement of Linux adoption. Changes to both companies' Linux distributions will be most evident in April with the official release of Ubuntu 7.04.

A surprise twist happened in the Linux world when Xandros bought out California-based Linspire. The acquisition was sealed without a shareholders meeting. In the deal, Xandros ( www.xandros.com ) receives Linspire ( www.linspire.com ), Freespire and the Click N Run ( www.cnr.com ) software installation service. Xandros is probably best known for being the Linux distro of choice found on the popular Asus Eee PC. Linspire is best known for being one of the first low-cost Linux PCs made available via Wal-Mart.

Apple released two new products. First comes an iPod mini replacement, the iPod nano. It is a pencil-thin, portable music device that will come in a 2GB or 4GB model. It boasts a 14-hour battery life, syncs and charges via USB. The iPod nano is skip-free and compatible with Mac OS X or Windows 2000/XP. It plays music, podcasts and audiobooks. Learn more at www.apple.com/ipodnano/. The second product is the first mobile phone featuring iTunes called the Motorola ROKR. The ROKR will feature playlists, album art and shuffle features.

Monday, Linspire officially closed its legacy Click and Run (CNR) Warehouse. For six years, Linspire's legacy CNR service provided software installations and security updates for users of Linspire 3.0, 4.0, 4.5, 5.0. 5.1 and Freespire 1.0 Linux. Read more at http://media.linspire.com/mailers/Warehousemessage.html . All CNR software management will now be done exclusively from Linspire's new CNR service located at www.cnr.com. CNR.com is compatible with the following Linux distros: Freespire 2.0, Linspire 6.0, Ubuntu 7.04 and 7.10.

Users of OpenOffice should be on the lookout for the BadBunny worm. This worm can spread on any operating system from Windows and Linux and even Mac OS X. The worm is distributed via malicious OpenOffice documents, which then launches a macro. The malicious OpenOffice draw document is named badbunny.odg and behaves differently depending on the OS. On Windows, it places a file called drop.bad that is moved to the system.ini file in the user's mIRC folder. It also executes the JavaScript virus badbunny.

Recently, I embarked upon a challenge to create a dual-boot system using Windows and Linux. Initially, I thought this challenge would be a piece of cake. You see, I've done this kind of installation countless times in the past. In fact, I've done it using various combos of Windows versions and Linux distros without a single hitch. However, this time the scenario proved to be quite a bit of a challenge. The computer's hardware met the specs for both OSes. So, this would eliminate at least one obstacle during the installation - compatibility.

Well, it seems as if the tide has turned against Microsoft. On May 27, Amsterdam District Court ruled in favor of Lindows on all counts. In addition, the court ordered Microsoft to pay Lindows 944 Euros (that's about $1,160 in U.S. dollars) to cover Lindows' court costs during the litigation period. To refreshen your memories about this whole mess, Lindows is the leading company in the field of desktop Linux operating systems, which recently changed its product name to Linspire.

Hispanic Heritage Month is designated as Sept. 15-Oct. 15 to celebrate the culture and traditions of those who come from the Spanish-speaking countries of Central America, South America and the Caribbean. The celebration begins mid-month because Sept. 15 marks the independence of five Spanish-speaking countries - Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua. Furthermore, two other Spanish-speaking countries - namely Mexico and Chile - also celebrate their independence within that same week.

Club Penguin at www.clubpenguin.com is an online, virtual world for kids. Kids can enjoy interaction with each other, penguin-style. They pick out a penguin, give it an identity and communicate in real-time with other kids. On Club Penguin, kids can participate in kid-friendly chat with two options - Ultimate Safe Chat with predefined responses and Standard Safe Chat where kids can type their own messages. Kids can also send each other greeting cards and play loads of fun games together.

A surprise twist happened in the Linux world when Xandros bought out California-based Linspire. The acquisition was sealed without a shareholders meeting. In the deal, Xandros ( www.xandros.com ) receives Linspire ( www.linspire.com ), Freespire and the Click N Run ( www.cnr.com ) software installation service. Xandros is probably best known for being the Linux distro of choice found on the popular Asus Eee PC. Linspire is best known for being one of the first low-cost Linux PCs made available via Wal-Mart.

Recently, I embarked upon a challenge to create a dual-boot system using Windows and Linux. Initially, I thought this challenge would be a piece of cake. You see, I've done this kind of installation countless times in the past. In fact, I've done it using various combos of Windows versions and Linux distros without a single hitch. However, this time the scenario proved to be quite a bit of a challenge. The computer's hardware met the specs for both OSes. So, this would eliminate at least one obstacle during the installation - compatibility.

Monday, Linspire officially closed its legacy Click and Run (CNR) Warehouse. For six years, Linspire's legacy CNR service provided software installations and security updates for users of Linspire 3.0, 4.0, 4.5, 5.0. 5.1 and Freespire 1.0 Linux. Read more at http://media.linspire.com/mailers/Warehousemessage.html . All CNR software management will now be done exclusively from Linspire's new CNR service located at www.cnr.com. CNR.com is compatible with the following Linux distros: Freespire 2.0, Linspire 6.0, Ubuntu 7.04 and 7.10.

This week I'm taking an e-mail from my mailbag. This week's question is about choosing the right type of media for creating backups. A.S. writes: I have finally learned to back up my computer on a regular basis, which I have been doing on CDs - but now I see these external hard drives at a reasonable price. Which is the best method of saving files, CDs or an external hard drive - or is that what an external hard drive does? Some information would be long-term storage (such as family pictures)

After two years of waiting, Linspire users have a new version of the Linux operating system to experience. Linspire 6.0 Gold Master operating system was released last week. This commercial release of Linspire is based on the popular Ubuntu Linux distribution. The OS includes licensed propriety software and a beta version of the Click and Run (CNR) client. Linspire's CNR service makes managing the installation and removal of software as easy as a couple of clicks. Among the other great features of Linspire 6.0, besides its usual 10-minute installation time, is that it offers a wide range of pre-bundled software.

Users of OpenOffice should be on the lookout for the BadBunny worm. This worm can spread on any operating system from Windows and Linux and even Mac OS X. The worm is distributed via malicious OpenOffice documents, which then launches a macro. The malicious OpenOffice draw document is named badbunny.odg and behaves differently depending on the OS. On Windows, it places a file called drop.bad that is moved to the system.ini file in the user's mIRC folder. It also executes the JavaScript virus badbunny.

Last week, big news on the Linux front was the announcement of a new technology partnership. The partnership was between Linspire - the developers of Linspire and Freespire Linux distributions - and Canonical, the lead sponsor of the Ubuntu Linux OS. The Linux community will benefit greatly from this partnership, as both companies are hailed as innovators and both have contributed greatly to the advancement of Linux adoption. Changes to both companies' Linux distributions will be most evident in April with the official release of Ubuntu 7.04.

Tuesday, Microsoft's long-awaited Windows Vista operating system will be released to the mainstream public. There are five different versions of the OS. Full retail versions will range from $199 to $399, while retail upgrade versions will range from $99 to $259. Prices, however, are subject to change. But you may pay only a fraction of that, or nothing at all, if you bought a new computer between Oct. 26, 2006, through March 15, 2007, and received a Vista upgrade coupon. Read more at www.microsoft.

Hispanic Heritage Month is designated as Sept. 15-Oct. 15 to celebrate the culture and traditions of those who come from the Spanish-speaking countries of Central America, South America and the Caribbean. The celebration begins mid-month because Sept. 15 marks the independence of five Spanish-speaking countries - Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua. Furthermore, two other Spanish-speaking countries - namely Mexico and Chile - also celebrate their independence within that same week.

Users of Linspire and Freespire Linux operating systems received some fantastic news last week. Linspire announced a price change for its Click and Run service - better known as CNR. CNR is the one-click software maintainance feature of the Linspire and Freespire Linux operating systems. Effective immediately, its basic CNR service subscription now is free of charge. With CNR, users select the product they wish to install or remove from their system and CNR will handle everything with a single click of the mouse.