This page (www.linspire.com/licensing)
contains information about Linspire licensing, source code, distribution, and open source support.
The Linspire operating system
To view the Linspire operating system End User License Agreement, as well as other agreements
and information relating to your use and distribution of programs distributed with our operating system,
please click here.
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The Linspire operating system is a combination of open source code and proprietary software.
The open source software programs included in Linspire are licensed (or sublicensed) to the user
under the GNU General Public License ("GPL")
and other similar open source license agreements (collectively, "OSLAs") which, among other rights,
permit the user to copy, modify and redistribute certain programs, or portions thereof, and have
access to the source code.
In compliance with the applicable OSLAs, the source code for the open source portions of the
Linspire operating system are available for download here.
Open source source code for individual products found in CNR can be found by clicking the
Specifications link on the page for the product
(example).
Alternatively, you may obtain CD(s) with the source code of the open source programs we
distribute by emailing your name and address along with the names of the products for which
you are seeking source code to sourcecode@linspireinc.com.
As a condition to sending you the CD(s), we may charge you our costs for providing you with the CD(s).
If you have questions about the GPL or other OSLAs,
click here to learn more.
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If you would like to distribute our products, we encourage you to visit our
Partners page. This website will give you
complete information on our Reseller Program,
which allows authorized resellers to distribute boxed versions of our software, as well as
our Builder Program, which allows
authorized builders to distribute our software pre-installed on computers. These programs have been
very successful for our partners because they are reasonably priced and easy to join.
As discussed above, portions of the Linspire operating system are licensed under the GPL
and other OSLAs. Linspire fully supports the use and redistribution of those portions of Linspire
which are covered under the GPL or other applicable OSLAs. However, to protect our trademarks and
to maintain the high level of quality associated with our Linspire operating system, any modified
or repackaged operating system based on the open source portions of our operating system should not
be called "Linspire." Doing so would create confusion among individuals who think they are obtaining
a full and complete copy of our operating system, but instead receive a product that lacks the third-party
components in our Linspire operating system (such as the installer, fonts, spell checker, Flash, Java, etc.),
lacks our world-class customer support, and otherwise deviates from our time-tested product.
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Linspire is pleased to be a proud supporter of open source projects through conference
sponsorships, financial support, and code development. Linspire contributes back any and
all changes we make to Open Source projects that would help improve open source products
for the benefit of all.
Linspire is heavily involved with the support and development of several desktop Linux
open source projects. Here are some of the many open source projects we are proud to sponsor:
- Linspire sponsored the annual Desktop Linux Summit for four years in San Diego.
- Linspire founded, maintains, and is the lead sponsor for Lphoto, a photo-management application that allows you to download, store, edit and publish your entire photograph collection.
- Linspire founded, maintains, and is the lead sponsor for Lsongs, an all-in-one application that allows you to rip your favorite music, organize it, play it, burn your music CDs, and sync with portable MP3 players.
- Linspire founded, maintains, and is the lead sponsor for Nvu, a complete, easy-to-use Web Authoring System for Linux (such as FrontPage and Dreamweaver).
- Linspire contributed nearly a half million dollars to CodeWeavers, other 3rd-party developers, and our own in-house engineers to help get Microsoft Office to run on Linux with WINE. 100% of all the code we developed, as well as any code we've paid to have developed and continue to develop, was contributed back to the open source WINE tree.
- Linspire is a proud sponsor of the KDE League at the highest Corporate Affiliate level.All changes made to KDE are open source and the code is made available to be put in the main tree.
- Linspire is a proud sponsor of KDE-look.org. KDE-look.org is the premier site on the web to obtain icons, wall papers, themes, etc. for KDE.
- Linspire is a proud supporter of Mozilla and Firefox. All changes Linspire makes to Mozilla/Firefox are open source and the code is made available to be put in the main tree. Linspire is the lead sponsor of the Mozdev.org website.
- Linspire is the proud sponsor for the new and amazing Reiser4 file system. The world's first "unbreakable" file system with incredible stability and significant speed improvements.
- Linspire is the proud sponsor of GAIM. All changes made to GAIM are open source and the code is made available to be put in the main tree.
- Linspire paid for the development of a "kids" theme for KDE which was then contributed to all as open source.
- Linspire is a proud financial supporter of Debian and sponsored the registration site for the 2002 DebConf2 (Debian Conference - http://linspire.com/debconf2).
- Linspire sponsored the first wineCONF (http://linspire.com/wineconf) conference for WINE. (Video from the last conference, held at our offices in San Diego.) Additionally, we paid for the costs to have dozens of WINE developers from all over the world travel to this event.
- Linspire contributes all changes to Mozilla, Firefox, Lsongs, Lphoto, Nvu, KDE, WINE, Debian, etc. back to these projects as well as making the source code available.
It's important to remember that Linux needs more contributions than just lines of code. As with any good idea, if it is to succeed, it will also need leadership, vision, marketing, etc. In addition to all the financial and technical contributions we make to Linux, as shown above, perhaps one of the most important ways Linspire is contributing to the advancement of Linux is by bringing thousands of new people to Linux by reaching out to the non-technical, "mass markets" with our products and services. For example, we broke new ground by offering the first Linux OS from Wal-Mart. Our operating system is available pre-installed on hundreds of different computers, and distributed nationwide in retail stores such as PC Club, Fry's and MicroCenter. Having Linux pre-installed on computers available at retail is paramount for the success of desktop Linux. These types of advancements will prove invaluable to the future success of Linux on the desktop.
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If you have any comments or questions about the Licensing, Source Code, or the Distribution of Linspire, please click here.
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