First Impressions - Appearance and the Desktop

Compared to my experiences with Red Hat (Fedora and Enterprise), Ubuntu, SuSE, and even FreeBSD, the desktop environment presented as default by Linspire is attractive. This looks a lot more like Windows than I'd expect from your run-of-the-mill Linux distribution. Typical features known to most Linux users are present, so even as a more advanced user I'm generally pleased.

First-time users will note that the "Launch" tab works very much like the "Start" button in Windows. Standard items like "My Computer" and "Printers" and the familiar "Trash" icons are all present. For those new to Linux, this will be an easy bridge to what sometimes may be a frustrating experience.

Communication Tools - What's Important?

Any personal computer user will look for a few things once their machine is up and running.

1.) Internet/E-Mail
2.) A Chat client
3.) Standard Office-like tools
4.) A File Manager

Linspire's "Internet Suite" is built on the Mozilla codebase, so for Firefox/Mozilla users it's standard fare (as if any browser is too different these days). The browser is slick and fast and feels comfortable. The e-mail client is integrated as this is Mozilla-like, most everything you'll need for standard communications including a basic HTML composer, a calendar, and an address book are a click away.

The chat client is built on Gaim, one of the de facto standards in the Linux world today. You may use a wide variety of accounts ranging from Hotmail to Yahoo. Even GTalk worked, there is a page within Google that tells you how you can use the Jabber protocol to connect. IRC is also built-into Gaim, but veteran IRC users may want to find something more sophisticated.

As for your "office-like tools", you have OpenOffice pre-installed and ready to go. OpenOffice is a solid offering for free office tools giving you a word processor, a spreadsheet utility, a presentation (think Powerpoint) tool, and a drawing utility. The included version is a bit outdated (1.1.3 when the current version is 2.x), but the advantage to this is that the 1.1.3 version is more stable. Trust me ... this is enough for all your basic needs. Even better, if you have all your files in Microsoft Office, they're 100% readable.

Finally, you have a File Manager that's pretty much like Windows "Explorer". Nothing too terribly fancy, but when you just want to move some files around visually, this is really all you need.

Click-N-Run (CNR) Technology

The advertising for Linspire suggests ... "Linspire features exclusive Click-N-Run (CNR) technology that makes installing software on Linspire fast and easy -- simply find the software you want in the Click-N-Run Warehouse, then click and run it!" Does this claim hold water?

The linux world has been on a rollercoaster of improvements including things like RPMs (RedHat Package Manager files) for installing programs automatically. RPMs are nice, but often problematic. There are other options out on the marketplace (free) that offer even more confusion to the newbie. Trust me, until you get a firm understanding of Linux, you don't want to meddle with your software packages. I've completely hosed a number of installs, so I know what I'm talking about.

I really did want to try CNR, but it kept asking me for a credit card number. I have many, but am loathe to buy anything for linux, particularly things that I have installed before for free. Hence, I tried the free "Aisle".

With the Aisle, you get five (sarcasm) great games including FrozenBubble, StickyNotes, MahJongg, Century Solitaire (Pysol), and GoodWeather. I selected "GoodWeather Desklet". After a number of e-mails sent my GMail account, I finally noted the CNR icon running like crazy in the corner. It took a mouse-over to confirm that things were working, but the product began installing.

The process is autonomous and runs in the background. TNo notification is given upon completion although a link did appear on the desktop, and after some nosing around I found the program on the menu.

I expect programs to give me a lot more notice than this after using Windows. As a native Linux user, this was somewhat of a letdown. I didn't fight for a day trying to install some stupid program, pull on my hair, hit my desk, and to cry out of frustration.

In summary ... the Click-N-Run works as advertised. It is simple and easy to use.