Linspire

Linspire, also known as LindowsOS (also Lin---s, pronounced Lindash), is a commercial Linux distribution based on Debian GNU/Linux (Ubuntu). Linspire is sold by Linspire, Inc. and is focused on ease-of-use for the average person, rather than catering to  advanced needs. As of 2007-10-10, the most recent stable release of Linspire is version 6.0 which was released in October of 2007. Linspire is available to download and costs US$ 50.

History 

Based in San Diego, California, Lindows, Inc. was founded in August 2001 by Michael Robertson with the goal of developing a Linux-based operating system capable of running major Microsoft Windows applications. It based its Windows compatibility on the Wine API emulation layer. The company later abandoned this approach in favor of attempting to make Linux applications easy to download, install and use. To this end a program named "CNR" was developed: based on Debian's Advanced Packaging Tool, it provides an easy-to-use graphical user interface and a slightly modified package system for an annual fee. The first public release of Linspire was version 1.0, released in late 2001.

CNR

Linspire's CNR (originally "Click'N'Run") is a software distribution service based on Debian's APT. It is designed to serve as a GUI-based, user-accessible means of downloading and installing various applications, both free and proprietary. The service allows users to install available applications using a single click. CNR also includes a set of Click and Buy (CNB) software, which includes many commercial applications to members at a discounted rate. Currently CNR has over 38,000 different software packages, ranging from simple applications to major commercial works such as Win4Lin and StarOffice. CNR was originally subscription-based with two tiers: basic service cost $20 annually, and gold, featuring discounts on some commercial applications, $50. In 2006, Linspire announced that the basic service was to be made available for free.

Web Software 

CNR.com  also provides access to thousands of Web-based Applications, providing the Linux community with the option of local Linux and Web Software, available through a single source (as of February 2008).
The same capabilities to browse and search the library of products with additional capabilities planned to improve the Web Software experience (bookmarking). The community will also have the capability to add new products to the already extensive library of applications available.

Freespire

In August 2005, Andrew Betts released a Live CD based on Linspire and named Freespire.  Linspire, Inc. offered users a "free Linspire" (purchase price discounted to $0) by using the coupon code "Freespire" until September 9 2005. On April 24 2006, Linspire announced its own project named "Freespire". This follows the model of community-oriented releases by Red Hat and Novell in the form of Fedora and openSUSE. Freespire is a community-driven and -supported project tied to the commercial Linspire distribution, and includes previously proprietary software from Linspire, such as the CNR Client, while other elements, which Linspire, Inc. licenses but does not own, like the Windows Media Audio compatibility libraries, remain closed-source.

Criticism 
Linspire has drawn some criticism from the free software community. This has included anger for including proprietary software, with GNU founder Richard Stallman commenting: "No other GNU/Linux distribution has backslided so far away from freedom. Switching from MS Windows to Linspire does not bring you to freedom, it just gets you a different master."

References

Other websites
Linspire official website
Freespire official website
Freespire wiki 
LugRadio podcast featuring an interview with Kevin Carmony

Ubuntu (operating system) derivatives
Linux distributions
Debian-based Linux distributions