CNR.com Beta Software Delivery Service Released for Desktop Linux


Free Web 2.0 service released for Freespire, Linspire and Ubuntu providing an easy, standardized approach to access free open source & commercial Linux software

SAN DIEGO, Dec. 4 / -- Linspire, Inc., developer of the commercial Linspire and Freespire community desktop Linux operating systems, today announced the launch of CNR.com beta (http://cnr.com/), a free standardized Web 2.0-based Linux software delivery service for desktop Linux users worldwide. CNR.com is designed to normalize the process of finding, installing, and updating Linux software for both Debian and RPM-based Linux distributions. The new and free beta CNR Service is currently available for Freespire 2.0, Linspire 6.0, Ubuntu 7.04 & 7.10 and will expand to provide support for all popular Linux distributions including (alphabetically) Debian, Fedora, OpenSUSE, and others.

"CNR.com is the culmination of over five years of hard work and real-time user experience delivering software to desktop Linux with one click of the mouse" said Larry Kettler, President and CEO. "CNR.com is free, requires no registration to use and is available to anyone interested in discovering what the world of desktop Linux software has to offer."

As the open source ecosystem for desktop Linux software continues to grow in terms of the number and diversity of projects, the ability for the user to find software and learn about updates continues to be a challenge, which is further compounded when each Linux distribution uses a specialized package management system. CNR.com is designed to solve this problem by aggregating the open source software repositories into a single web site and by providing an open web services interface where any distribution can utilize these services to easily find, install and update software. Additionally, CNR.com provides an open source desktop client for those that would like to use it as their package manager while retaining traditional command line functionality.

"As part of this new CNR.com, we are moving as much functionality as possible to the web," explained Kettler. "We have integrated a number of technologies for users to contribute, communicate, and collaborate freely with each other.

"CNR.com currently provides a number of interactive features where users can help contribute and build a community together. Most content in CNR.com is generated by the community including editing of software product pages by adding screenshots, user reviews, ratings, descriptions, and categories. Each product page is an interactive place where valuable information can be learned and shared about each software program. Interactive discussion forums are also available for the community to interact as well as wiki documents where users can quickly find valuable information on each product.

"CNR.com utilizes new Web 2.0 practices to build a new software community where developers, big or small, free or commercial, are brought together face to face with the growing desktop Linux user base," continued Kettler. "By delivering more choice to desktop Linux users through CNR.com, they can experience all the great free open source software that is available today, as well as explore the growing number of commercial Linux products and services."

A free service requiring no registration to use, CNR.com, users can search for applications by title, popularity, user rating, category, and function. An open source client for each supported distribution is then used to add the one-click installation as well as auto-updating functionality. This new multi-distribution CNR Technology standardizes the installation process for the user without requiring any new or altered packaging systems. CNR.com uses standard .deb and .rpm files, while shielding the user from the complexity of these packaging systems. This allows distribution developers to continue using their same packaging methods and the varying distributions to continue with their normal release management practices. By building CNR around existing packaging systems, the silos of literally tens of thousands of high quality Linux software programs are instantly brought together and centralized into CNR.com. CNR adds server and client side intelligence to overcome the common dependency challenges presented by the current packaging systems without the need to alter existing release policies and procedures.

For commercial Linux software publishers and ISVs, there is a free Publisher Program that enables vendors to quickly get their software products included in CNR.com and have them available for distribution. More information about the Publisher Program can be found on the "Publish to CNR" tab at cnr.com

Although still in beta, the new CNR.com web site and CNR service are available now so users can start exploring the world of Linux software immediately. Additional information about the CNR service and how to get actively involved in the CNR Community can be found on the About and Community tabs at CNR.com.

About CNR.com

CNR.com is a free one-click software delivery service designed to standardize the process and eliminate the complexity of finding, installing and managing Linux software for the most popular desktop Linux distributions, both Debian and RPM-based. A free service requiring no registration to use, CNR.com users get the most extensive free resource available anywhere for desktop Linux software. Search from tens of thousands of Linux software programs, packages and libraries by title, popularity, similar software, category or function, and with just one click, install the software right on to your computer.

About Linspire, Inc.

Linspire, Inc. (http://www.linspire.com/) was founded in 2001 to bring choice into the operating system market. The company's flagship product, the Linspire operating system, is an affordable, easy-to-use Linux-based operating system for home, school, and business users. Linspire pioneered CNR Technology, which allows Linspire users access to thousands of software programs, each of which can be downloaded and installed with just one mouse click. The thousands of software titles available in the CNR (http://cnr.com/) include full office and productivity suites, games, multimedia players, photo management software, accounting tools, and more.

Linspire, Inc.
858-587-6700 ext 183
858-587-8095 Fax
pr@linspireinc.com

Source: Linspire, Inc.

Web site: http://www.linspire.com/
http://cnr.com/

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