CNR

[Xordan]

http://www.cnr.com/

This is the package manager for Linspire, only now they're extending it to support lots of other distros. Imo this is a very good thing for linux if it succeeds. No crappy licensing problems, cross-distro so people can just click and get a program without worrying if their own package manager has it, you can also buy commercial software through it. Also they're the only company with the legal right to ship Linux ports of Windows Media Format codecs, including QuickTime capability.

This makes life much easier for Joe Blogs. What do you people think?

How is CNR different from other installation systems, such as apt-get, YAST, etc.?

CNR is different from most other software management system in many ways:

• One-click graphical install and uninstall of thousands of programs.
• Automatic update notification and one-click updating of OS components and software applications.
• Program and services management.
• One-click access to proprietary codecs, drivers and software.
• Allows you to buy dozens of different commercial programs, such as DVD Player, StarOffice, games,
accounting programs, Win4Lin, Crossover Office, Cedega, etc.
• Menu entries and desktop icons (optionally) are automatically added when installing and removed when uninstalling.
• "Charts" to easily find the most popular software programs by category.
• Search feature to easily find software programs by name, category, keywords, similar programs, author, etc.
• Clear, easy-to-understand product pages, including:

    • Screenshots of programs
    • User reviews of the programs
    • Description, versions, specs, file size, source, etc.
    • User support and help by program
    • Release Notes
    • Screenshots


• "Aisles" to group applications together for one-click install of multiple applications.
• Dedicated, high-speed server farms with huge bandwidth pipes for fast downloads.
• Friendly naming shown alongside normal package name.
• "Voting Booth" where users help prioritize new software to be added or updated.
• Automated, on-line Publisher Program where anyone can submit software to be QA-ed and tested for inclusion in the CNR Warehouse.
• Automatically retries and fixes any problem downloads.
• CNR has a better than 98% success rate. (The < 2% failures are usually a result of modem dropoffs, in which case CNR will can automatically resume when connected, providing the user with a successful install.)
• Many of the most popular applications are enhanced and improved before adding them to the CNR Warehouse.
• Products and services which are found exclusively in the CNR Warehouse.
• Tracks problem packages on the server automatically, 24/7, and immediately hides the product from CNR users and instantly notifies the maintainer when a problem occurs.
• Easy, one-click access to a program's source code.
• User profiles based upon machine for managing multiple machines per user.
• Local or networked software repository for quick install of same programs on multiple computers on the same network or from a CD.

[miadon]

I just dislike the word Linspire next to anything. Altough linux is about choice so for those who like this sort of thing its good for them

[Xordan]

Just like people who say all Microsoft products are automatically crap because it's Microsoft?

[miadon]

indeed , but I sometimes prefer the harder way, helps me learn more.

[emeraldfool]

...
Why do you hate the technologically-challenged so much? Is this your revenge for all those annoying tech-support calls or something?

[miadon]

no I love noobs.

Altough this doesn't affect me anyway, as I use Slackware, and Slackwares package management sucks anyway. But I still lub my Slackware.

[bilbous]

Personally I do not think this is going to go anywhere. I had a look at the site and it is just an advertisement at the moment but I think it is a back door way to try and monetize the installation process and if they were to capture the market there would be nothing free anymore. I really do not see anything that Linspire has given back to the community nor do I think they ever intend to do so. All the major distributions have development teams working with others to enhance the pool of open source code along as well as teams working on their own proprietary customizations. I do not believe CNR is open source and I do not think Linspire has given anything back to the larger community although I may be wrong on both counts. Indeed if the first is wrong it would mean the second was too although if the server side portion of CNR remained proprietary then the value of the contribution would be diminished.