Linspire’s “one-click” installation website and client software known as CNR, click-and-run, has expanded its field to include Ubuntu users, as well as Linspire and Freespire. Support for Debian, Fedora, and OpenSUSE is coming soon. Systems like this for installing software attempt to create one website that you can go to and click one button to install any piece of software you want, but have previously been limited to a single, or just a few, distributions. Although the concept itself is not new, there are two things that distinguish CNR from other similar systems. First, CNR spans multiple distros that are not directly related. Second, the software offered is not just free software, you can get commercial software there too.

Another interesting aspect of CNR is the premium subscription. For $50 per year, you get discounts on commercial software, professional support, and some other benefits. What interests me is the professional support. I cannot find anywhere on Google or on CNR.com if that means support for CNR or support for the applications. If that means support for the applications, it could be quite useful to new Linux users who are switching to new, unfamiliar software.

Overall, I think that CNR will be a useful asset to many Linux users and may attract some people to Linspire’s products, but I don’t think that it will become the standard for installing software on Linux. While I do believe that Linux would be greatly helped by a universal system similar to CNR, I don’t think that most distros will be willing to include CNR by default while it is still tied to Linspire. Although I could be wrong, I believe that most distros will wait for a fully community-operated service similar to CNR before integrating anything into their OS.