Linspire

Linspire, previously known as LindowsOS, is a Linux Distribution based on Debian Linux and later Ubuntu. Linspire is published by Linspire, Inc. and focused on "easy of use", for home PC users. Based in San Diego , Ca , USA , Lindows Inc. is founded in 2001 by Michael Robertson with the purpose of developing Linux Based OS running Microsoft Windows applications. Linspire is based on "Wine" - Windows emulator for *NIX like OS. To get to this Linspire Inc. are devoping "CNR" - "Click'n'Run". In 2002 Microsoft sue Linspire Inc. with the claim that the name Lindows constituted an infringement of their Windows trademark. Microsoft's claims were rejected by the court, which asserted that Microsoft had used the term windows to describe graphical user interfaces before the Windows product was ever released, and that the windowing technique had already been implemented by Xerox and Apple Computer many years before. On 8 Feb 2008 Linspire Inc. and Canonical Ltd. , lead sposor and developer of the Ubuntu Distribution announced plans to make Linspire Ubuntu Based.
 Live CD
Just like many other Linux Distributions Linspire is available on a Live CD with all the features of Debian Based Live CD , with the little difference that Linspire costs ~50$. Freespire Live CD is a Linspire modified version also available for FREE Download.  Software
Linspire's CNR is a software distribution service based on Debian's APT. It is designed to serve as a GUI-based, user-accessible means of downloading and installing various applications, both free and proprietary. The service allows users to install available applications using a single click. CNR also includes a set of Click and Buy (CNB) software, which includes many commercial applications to members at a discounted rate. Currently CNR has over 38,000 different software packages, ranging from simple applications to major commercial works such as Win4Lin and StarOffice. CNR was originally subscription-based with two tiers: basic service cost $20 annually, and gold, featuring discounts on some commercial applications, $50. In 2006, Linspire announced that the basic service was to be made available for free. Linspire planned to port CNR to the Ubuntu distribution, the company announced on April 24, 2006 that CNR would be released under an open source licence. The release of the free CNR client is planned to coincide with the release of Freespire 2.0 and Linspire 6.0. On January 23, 2007, Linspire announced that it intended to provide CNR for other Linux distributions, both APT- and RPM-based, including Debian, Fedora, OpenSUSE and Ubuntu. This support is expected to appear in mid-2007. On February 8, 2007, Linspire, Inc. announced a partnership with Canonical Ltd., publisher of the Ubuntu Linux distribution. This deal, to take effect before the fourth quarter of 2007, would see Linspire and Freespire migrate from the unpredictable Debian release process to the semiannual Ubuntu release cycle. This means that the main Ubuntu distribution will become the first recipient of the opening of the "CRN" service to Linux distributions besides Linspire. www.CNR.com also provides access to thousands of web-based applications, providing the Linux community with the option of local Linux and web software, available through a single source (as of February 2008). The same capabilities to browse and search the library of products with additional capabilities planned to improve the web software experience. The community will also have the capability to add new products to the already extensive library of applications available.
Available Versions
-- Linspire 6.0 - October 2007 (last stable version)
-- Freespire 1.0 - August 7, 2006
-- Freespire 2.0 - August 7, 2007
There is also a book available Linspire book at AMAZON.COM. It is for Version 5.0 , but still may be helpfull.