My first impressions of Freespire

17 years ago

I started running Freespire about a week ago and have found it to be an excellent replacement for an everyday user of Windows. Let me say that I have no ill feelings for Bill Gates or Microsoft because I believe any man has a right to be successful and certainly Mr. Gates has done that by making computers accessible to the average person.

Having said that, I also believe competition is good and brings about a better product and better prices. After my house burned a few years ago (I lost everything) I had a new PC built because they are easier to keep upgraded and have been using Windows 2000 Professional since that time. Like many, my daughter was given an older computer running Windows ME and wanted to upgrade to be able to run more updated software. I can't legally put my operating system on her computer without breaking the agreement and I have priced Windows XP for around $200 dollars. So if one has three computers in the house (which isn't that unusual these days) it would cost several hundred dollars just to upgrade Microsoft Windows legally.

Along comes Linux. Certainly it has a well deserved reputation for being geek friendly and up till recently the average computer user would not be able to easily run such a program without spending an enormous amount of time trying to learn the commands involved. With Freespire, I had it installed in about ten minutes and was surfing the internet. That is no exaggeration!

Along with the installation I got just about everything I need to do the normal things I use a computer for such as DVD player, CD/DVD burner and ripper, Open Office (equivalent to Microsoft Word), Real Player, Mozilla browser, and tons of utilities. For equivalent Linux Linspire programs check this out:

www.linspirenetwork.com/Support/ComparablePrograms.htm

The ClickNRun feature is now free and offers thousands of programs that can be downloaded and installed with one click of the mouse. I thought it was interesting that only one antivirus program was listed and no firewall (my computer passed the Shields Up Test with flying colors). The only thing that I couldn't get to work was my Lexmark printer and I understand that Lexmark has never been Linux friendly as far as supplying drivers. I will probably get a new Epson or HP to replace the Lexmark.

There are also other Linux programs that must be paid for and offer full support (Linspire is supposed to be more "polished" and offer more applications) so people have a choice.

The only thing I am having a problem with is trying to install third party applications (sudo this and that), but I expect that will be taken care of in due time. I would encourage anyone who would like to be able to upgrade an older operating system without spending a substantial amount of hard earned money to check out one of the free Linux systems. By the way, I am running Windows 2000 Pro as well as Freespire on the same computer with no problems. Regards.

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Comments (4)

grandms
17 years ago
Thanks for the info, Premio. I have an older Dell laptop running Windows XP Home. However, it has only 256MB of memory and is slow as molasses. Since I bought a new laptop, I'm thinking of giving one of the free Linux based programs a try, and Freespire sounds just like the thing for me to play around with.
marthapartha
17 years ago
I appreciate the info on Freespire.

But your information about Bill Gates making computers available for the everyday person...is very off.

There is one true hero in PC history and that is Steve Wozniak, he literally invented the PC and was pirated by Steve Jobs as much as Bill Gates pirated just about everything his company produced.

Microsoft is big heartless company, as most big companies are. The problem with Microsoft is that they do pirate just about everything they have produced and they are able to beat the court cases.

The reason Vista is delayed is not because it isn't finished, that never stopped them from releasing any software before. The reason Vista is delayed is because they are using copywrited security programs without permission, and Europe wants an explanation. The companies are American companies: Symantec and Adobe (that they are stealing from). This is Micrsoft's MO: steal the competitor's software and then put them out of business. They didn't even come up Windows...they stole that too.

We have turned a blind eye to Microsoft. They have put many sincere and honest companies and devoted employees out of business. I'm stuck using Windows as are many people and business organizations that have no other choice. Microsoft has made it that way. Through blocking websites and rigging competitor's software (not to work), Microsoft has becaome the school yard bully. The extensive court cases of six years ago, including a large multi-state class action suit had them nailed to wall and caught red-handed, all got thrown out of court and forgotten. The judges were in their pocket.

Europe has said...'Now wait just a minute, you can't take other people's stuff'.

Microsoft counters that Europe just doesn't like American companies, yet the two companies Europe is trying to protect are American.

I have no ilusions about big business and what they are capable of. Microsoft plays diry and is the dirtiest one.
I am going to use it , but because I use it, doesn't mean I have to be all warm and fuzzy about it.

Using Microsoft products because you have to or because they are better is fine. Just keep in mind how they came by those products, stealing them. Hence the 'Pirates of Silicon Valley'. Bill Gates made himself rich by breaking the law, and making sure there was no other competition.

The person who brought the PC to the people was really Steve Wozniak, and he cared about everybody. No one should ever forget that.
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not2bright
17 years ago
Hi, premio !

I'm no geek, but I did obtain Freespire (when my Windows ME support ran out several months ago and I was debating upgrading to XP or going with Linux) and attempted to install it. The install was easy, as well as navigating around the system offline. But I couldn't connect to the internet. I read somewhere that Linux doesn't work well with internal modems (which I have). I'm still not sure whether that was my problem (I decided to upgrade to XP--see below), but I thought I would mention this Linux "problem" to see if anyone else has any info/experience on this matter.

Thanks !

Scott

P.S. Re: XP price mentioned by another poster. Though it seems many of you here are very adept at installing Windows OS's yourselves, you might benefit financially by finding some "computer guys" in your local trade papers who have, and are willing to install, XP inexpensively. I found someone who _legally_ upgraded me to XP and installed Ad-Aware Pro--all for fifty bucks ! (He even picked up the computer and delivered it !)
premio53
Original Author
17 years ago
I had no problem with an internal modem (intel 536ep). My son acquired a virus on his Compaq Laptop (sound familiar?) and was about to reinstall XP when he tried Freespire and had no problem getting online with DSL. I also know someone with a Hewlett Packard Desktop with an internal modem who also got online running Freespire off the CD.

If you convert the Windows files over to FAT 32, you can access them inside Freespire if running on a separate partition. I'm hoping to eventually wean myself completely off Microsoft windows. Regards.

My first impressions of Freespire

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grandms

marthapartha

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My first impressions of Freespire

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grandms

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