Download Squad

Xandros isn't exactly a household name, but the little Linux distribution struck it big (well, biggish anyway) last year when Asus decided to slap a customized version of the operating system on its uber-popular Eee PC laptop lineup. And now Xandros appears to be flexing its muscles a bit. The company this week announced that it has purchased Linspire, the company behind the Linspire and Freespire Linux distributions.

Linspire started its life out as Lindows, and was designed to be as much like Windows as possible. The idea behind the Linux distribution was to make the transition from Windows to Linux nearly seamless. That never quite happened, but Microsoft still didn't take too kindly to Lindows and forced the company to change its name to Linspire a few years ago.

While Linspire (like any Linux distro) can run many Windows programs thanks to WINE, the company's primary advantage over other distros is its super-simple "Click'N'Run" (or CNR) repository system which allows users to download and install free and commercial applications.

Xandros has no plans to eliminte the Linspire (which costs $50) and Freespire (the free version of Linspire). But the acquisition will give Xandros access to Linspire's intellectual property like CNR, which means new versions of Xandros could be even easier to use than the version Asus is using for the Eee PC.

[via E-Commerce News]