In what"s certainly a different twist in operating-system marketing, Lindows is offering a CD bundle of not just its own Linux operating system, Linspire, but also the latest versions of two other popular Linux distributions: Fedora and Mandrake. The Desktop Linux Comparison Kit, or Linux Shootout, includes Linspire 4.5, Red Hat Inc."s Fedora Core 2, MandrakeSoft SA"s Mandrakelinux 10.0 Community Edition and what Lindows describes as a comprehensive, online and printable checklist.
The three distributions were selected because of "their product completeness and commercial familiarity," Ellie Sanchez, public relations manager at Lindows Inc., said in a statement. "Linspire was selected for its ease of use and extensive feature set; Mandrake has a well-established following by technical professionals; and Fedora is especially tuned to interoperate with Red Hat"s Linux server software," Sanchez said.