Licensing
Source Code
Open Source Support, Projects & Initiatives
Distribution of Linspire
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To view the Terms and Conditions for the Linspire web site, click here.

Linspire, as well as most of the applications in the Linspire Warehouse, come with "Family Licensing." To view the Linspire End User License Agreement, click here.

The Linspire product is a mixture of open sourced code as well as proprietary, 3rd-party licensed software. In addition to the proprietary, 3rd-party licensed software, some of the software programs included in Linspire are licensed (or sublicensed) to the user under the GNU General Public License (GPL) and other similar open source license agreements which, among other rights, permit the user to copy, modify and redistribute certain programs, or portions thereof, and have access to the source code.

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The GNU General Public License requires that for any software covered under the GPL which is distributed to someone in an executable binary format, that the source code also be made available to those users. Those who have received from Linspire the binaries for any GPL'd software can also find the source code for those GPL portions available for download in their my.linspire.com account or on their computer if they purchased Linspire pre-installed on a new computer.

Source code for individual products found in the Warehouse which are covered under the GPL can be found by clicking the Specifications link on the page for the product (example).

If you have questions about the GNU General Public License, click here to learn more.

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Linspire is pleased to be a proud supporter of open source projects through conference sponsorships, financial support, and code development. Linspire contributes back any and all changes we make to Open Source projects that would help improve their product for the benefit of all.

If you'd prefer to receive a CD with the source code on it, please contact our support department with your name and address and we'll send you the CD.

Linspire is heavily involved with the support and development of several desktop Linux open source projects.  Here are some of the many open source projects we are proud to sponsor: 

• Linspire sponsors the annual Desktop Linux Summit (http://linspire.com/summit) every spring in San Diego.
• Linspire founded, maintains, and is the lead sponsor for Lphoto, a photo-management application that allows you to download, store, edit and publish your entire photograph collection.
• Linspire founded, maintains, and is the lead sponsor for Lsongs, an all-in-one application that allows you to rip your favorite music, organize it, play it, burn your music CDs, and sync with portable MP3 players.
• Linspire founded, maintains, and is the lead sponsor for Nvu, a complete, easy-to-use Web Authoring System for Linux (such as FrontPage and Dreamweaver).
• Linspire contributed nearly a half million dollars to CodeWeavers, other 3rd-party developers, and our own in-house engineers to help get Microsoft Office to run on Linux with WINE. 100% of all the code we developed, as well as any code we've paid to have developed and continue to develop, was contributed back to the open source WINE tree.
• Linspire is a proud sponsor of the KDE League at the highest Corporate Affiliate level.All changes made to KDE are open source and the code is made available to be put in the main tree.
• Linspire is a proud sponsor of KDE-look.org. KDE-look.org is the premier site on the web to obtain icons, wall papers, themes, etc. for KDE.
• Linspire is a proud supporter of Mozilla and Firefox. All changes Linspire makes to Mozilla/Firefox are open source and the code is made available to be put in the main tree. Linspire is the lead sponsor of the Mozdev.org website.
• Linspire is the proud sponsor for the new and amazing Reiser4 file system. The world's first "unbreakable" file system with incredible stability and significant speed improvements.
• Linspire is the proud sponsor of gaim. All changes made to GAIM are open source and the code is made available to be put in the main tree.
• Linspire paid for the development of a "kids" theme for KDE which was then contributed to all as open source.
• Linspire is a proud financial supporter of Debian and sponsored the registration site for the 2002 DebConf2 (Debian Conference - http://linspire.com/debconf2).
• Linspire sponsored the first wineCONF (http://linspire.com/wineconf) conference for WINE. (Video from the last conference, held at our offices in San Diego.) Additionally, we paid for the costs to have dozens of WINE developers from all over the world travel to this event.
• Linspire contributes all changes to Mozilla, Firefox, Lsongs, Lphoto, Nvu, KDE, WINE, Debian, etc. back to these projects as well as making the source code available. (http://linspire.com/licensing).

It's important to remember that Linux needs more contributions than just lines of code. As with any good idea, if it is to succeed, it will also need leadership, vision, marketing, etc. In addition to all the financial and technical contributions we make to Linux, as shown above, perhaps one of the most important ways Linspire, Inc. is contributing to the advancement of Linux is by bringing thousands of new people to Linux by reaching out to the non-technical, "mass markets" with Linspire. For example, we broke new ground by offering the first Linux OS from Wal-Mart. Linspire is available pre-installed on hundreds of different computers, and distributed nationwide in retail stores such as PC Club, Fry's and MicroCenter. Having Linux pre-installed on computers available at retail is paramount for the success of desktop Linux. These types of advancements will prove invaluable to the future success of Linux on the desktop.

Still have questions? Click here.

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If you're interested in distributing Linspire, we have several affordable options loaded with value for you to choose from to distribute authorized copies of Linspire. Please visit http://linspire.com/builder and http://linspire.com/reseller for more information.

As discussed above, parts of the Linspire product are licensed under the GPL. Linspire fully supports the use and redistribution of those parts of Linspire which are covered under the GPL. There are, however, also 3rd-party components in Linspire which are not GPL (installer, CNR Technology, fonts, spell checker, Flash, Java, etc.).

Those who have obtained a copy of Linspire can find the source code for any of the GPL portions of Linspire in their my.linspire account or on the computer if they purchased Linspire pre-installed on a new computer. These individuals are free to modify and redistribute those GPL portions of Linspire found there. To honor our trademark and to avoid confusion among Linspire customers who wish to obtain a full and complete copy of Linspire, such products should not be called "Linspire," since they would be a different product (since they wouldn't have the non-GPL licensed parts, Linspire support, etc.)

Linspire wishes to insure that everyone purchasing the official Linspire product, gets the complete version, all 3rd-party components legally licensed, as well as full support from Linspire. We wish to avoid having anyone confused, assuming they are getting the full Linspire product, support, etc. when purchasing a modified or repackaged OS that has been based on the GPL pieces of Linspire.

If you would like to redistribute full and authorized copies of Linspire, we encourage you to visit http://linspire.com/builder and http://linspire.com/reseller where you will find information on our very reasonably-priced, and easy-to-join Builder and Reseller programs. For distribution and licensing information for businesses, groups, non-profit organizations, and/or government, click here. OEM's, VAR's, System Builders, etc., click here. Retailers and resellers, click here. Educational institutions, click here.

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If you have any comments or questions about the Licensing, Source Code, or the Distribution of Linspire, please click here.

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