While the look and feel of the website is pretty streamlined, there are lots of grammatical errors. It looks to me that the main designer doesn't have a very firm grasp of English.

I also don't understand the constant use of a slash (/) when referring to "Open/Office" or "Open/Source".

The marketing could use a lot of work as well -- After browsing the site for 10 minutes, I can't seem to find anything that distinguishes this from any other distribution with the same software installed. It seems more like a distribution of software, rather than a new desktop or business platform. There are no differentiating features outlined, and most of the software featured is included already with a base install of most any distribution.

I wonder what distribution it is based on.

All in all, I get the impression that this distribution is at a beta stage, even though the front page claims It's at 2.0. I've got plenty of hard drive space to spare, and even two partitions dedicated to testing new distributions -- But even after browsing the site for a few minutes, I can't seem to find anything unique that makes me want to try it.

Linare needs to find an edge, something to differentiate it from every other linux distribution out there. The GUI looks pretty refined, but I see nothing that can't be done with with another distro and a new theme. They claim speed, stability, and ease of use with "built in" applications. You get his with any mainstream linux distribution release. What's different, guys?

The key to starting a successful business is differentiating yourself from the competition. I hadn't heard of Linare before I saw the announcement of its presence in the Distro forum on LQ's home page. However, even after looking at the web site, I can't find anything that makes it new or different at all.

I congratulate you on getting a deal with Wal-Mart to distribute your software/OS bundle. At the same time, I can't help but think you're not offering any innovation or incentive to join the "linux revolution."

What can I get from Linare that I can't get from Slackware with a nice spiffy KDE/Gnome theme and Open Office.org install?

--Shade

Yeah - never been there before this post - and I must say, that I think I was actually deterred from caring about Linare ever again. Shocked to find that you can buy one from walmart.com - god help us all if the wal-mart clientele actually begin to buy linux machines.......

Hi Shade/PenguinPwrdBox-
Thanks for your comments. We will make sure to correct any errors in the website.

We are definitely working on bringing more new and good features and obviously those features will be relased to the community.

Thank you again!

Well linareuser, that didn't really say much.

Could you tell us what's special about Linare,
or why we should give it a go? I also went to
the website and had some similar questions
as Shade.

Who or what market is Linare designed for?

What does Lin are mean?

lol @ chinaman.......

Slackware it ain't.....

Linare--Linux in automation, reusabilty and execution..

We are primarily focussing on bringing a more friendly desktop Linux version.

Shade,
Looks a lot like Mandrake 8.2. Not saying that it is, just gives that impression

I am curious as to what it is that Linare is doing that is supposed to make linux so much more friendly?
I have a huge problem with this statement in general, and the lackidaisical way in which it is tossed around.

Linux is user friendly. It is not moron friendly.

I am the biggest proponent of the open source movement that you will ever meet, but, that being said, there are people that should not be running linux, nor should they attempt to.

I feel, that computing, in general, is universal, and something that all people should have access to.

Light, fluffy, make me feel good inside, hold my hand, and show me how kinda computing has been done to death.
We have MS, and AOL, and others for this type of crap. It is this placation of the public, that has led them away from reasoning, and the ability to think for themselves when it comes to computers.
I can't tell you how many people have sat down at one of my linux boxes - to check a movie showtime for example, and did not know how to get on the internet, because the couldn't find the "Big blue 'E'".
This is disgusting, but, unfortunately, neccesary. As I said - not everyone can run linux - not everyone should - but everyone, should be able to compute.

It has been said before, that Linare is more or less attempting to mimic XP as closely as possible. This, more than anything, infuriates me.
It is understandable, that there are people out there, that will attempt to use it, just because it looks somewhat familiar. However, I just have a question:

When the hell are we going to start touting the wonders of naitive linux, instead of conveying it as something that it's not????

This is akin to attempting to sell an Aston Martin DB7 Vantage to a soccer mom, by telling her "It's got a steering wheel, and a gas peddle, just like your minivan!!!!" Little does she know the difference, or the wonder of what's under the hood.

I think there are a lot of people out there who hate the slowness of Windoze but are unaware of the Open source situation. Linare looks user-friendly, and, as it does have a slight Windows look, it would make quite an easy bridge between Windows and Linux.

Judging by the screenshots of the installation, it looks like it was built around Redhat and Fedora Core.

And, linareuser, please post when there is an iso available for download. I would like to have a look at it.

Yes... the linare installation is definitely based on the RedHat anaconda installer... It may be user friendly... I have been looking for something my mom can use... as she ahs absolutely no sense of internet security... maybe ill check it out for her sake... but i definitely won't be switching to it... I love my Debian...

I seriously doubt your soccer mom is going to give a rats patootie what's under the hood. The question she wants to know is, "will it get my brood and I from point A to point B?"

This is a situation that infuriates me about Linux users. There are many, many, many computer users out there who couldn't care less about the technical details of their computer systems. My wife is one of them. She doesn't care! You and I are technical geeks. We care because that's what interests us. We get our kicks out of tweaking and prodding our systems until they run at the best possible efficiency.

We're like car enthusiasts, only we deal with micro-electornics and lines of code.

All my wife wants to do is check e-mail and browse the net. As long as she can get those things and do what she needs to do, she's happy. You can do that on almost any computer. And do it just as fast and efficient.

One thing that I have found that most linux techies don't understand is that there are people out there who want a free, open-source OS, but don't want to (or have time to) learn the intricacies of computers. I fall into the situation where I don't have time for it. I need a system that does exactly what I want it to, without having to spend days upon end getting the damn thing to work.

And don't tell me that I don't have to do that with Linux, because I do.

I think that's what Linare is trying to do, here. They are trying to provide a system that doesn't require a bunch of tweaking in order to make it work the way people want it to. I don't know if they are successful, but I believe that's the gist of their attempts. And if they are successful, then I want to know where to sign up.

Unlike apparently most of the linux techies I've run into, I have no time to spend getting Linux to work on my system the way I want it. I have a full-time job, I teach part-time at the local college, and I'm taking Cisco classes. On top of this, I have a domestic life - a wife and 3 children - who need me to spend time with them. From what I've seen of the linux community, most techies seem to have so much time on their hands that they can afford to spend hours on end tweaking.

I just want an OS that Is easy to configure, doesn't require a lot of time to configure, and lets me do what I want without having to learn a bunch of criptic commands. Right now, Windows does this. It looks like Linare is trying to get there with their distro. Until they provide a free ISO that I can download, I won't find out anytime soon.

All I can say is, if you want me to give up my Gentoo, bring tanks or make it better than Gentoo. Wish you the best of luck too.

Sort of does look Mandrake'y. (sp?)

Later



Uh oh. Can a mod delete this? Hit mouse, causing "premature" posting. Sorry.

All I can say is, if you want me to give up my Gentoo, bring tanks or make it better than Gentoo. Wish you the best of luck on that last one too.

Sort of does look Mandrake'y. (sp?)

Did think about buying that Wal-Mart thing and puting Gentoo on it. Prolly has all that built in crap though.

Later

///I am the biggest proponent of the open source movement that you will ever meet, but, that being said, there are people that should not be running linux, nor should they attempt to.///

Well, aren't you the elite little techie? If there are people who shouldn't be running linux(to immoral? wrong color? wrong religion? bad politics?)perhaps they shouldn't be running anything at all. But that is not a judgment for me to make. My experience has been that anyone who can find the start button can run Linux. Major(and a lot of the lessor lights)just aren't that difficult anymore. At least, no more so than Windows or Apple. Any user who can use those can just as easily use Linux.

Not completely true there. Some people can't even "really" run windoze. That is one of the reasons spam and viruses are so bad. People tell them, "do NOT respond to spam" and "do NOT open attachments". What do they do, open the thing like a idiot. Some are worse than 3 year old kids. Tell them not to do something and they do it every time.

Linux is getting better, but I think if you start out with windoze, it is harder to get over that curve. Linux is different, better, but different.

Later