Ubuntu vs Freespire

[Alain Muls]

Hello,

I am using since 5.04 (K)Ubuntu (after having used SuSE for about 6 years) and use it to develop (commercial) programs that run on both Linux and Windows. I like the Ubuntu approach where you start with a system and add services/programs/libraries that you need. Also when I decided to switch from SuSE to Ubuntu, the hardware detection was much better and the SuSE RPM dependency problems has never had a similar problem using the apt-tools. Great job from the developers.

I also have my kids on (K)Ubuntu and that is where I have some problems, namely in the multimedia arena. I decided a couple days ago to try out FreeSpire to find out how much different the multimedia experience is. I tried the LiveCD of Freespire and Ubuntu on the new DELL Inspiron 5400 PC of my wife (which runs windows XP). Here some results:

Hardware detection:
neither OS detected the Wireless card or the sound card
Ubuntu gave a 1280x1024x24b display while FreeSpire gava a 1600x1200x24b display. In XP I have 1920x1200 display => FreeSpire does better
FreeSpire has network manager installed whilst (K)Ubuntu has not. After apt-getting it in Ubuntu on my PC (DELL Inspiron 9300) I cannot get it to run  => FreeSpire does better
I never had the possibility under Linux (although I install all codecs using apt-get and EasyUbuntu) to see a movie trailer (http://www.apple.com/trailers/) in the browser, well FreeSpire did it immediately. I was amazed by how well it worked using the mplayer plugin. I do not know how to install it for firefox in (K)Ubuntu.
I have not tried out the CNR service, but I read that a one click CrossOver Offcie can be installed which would be something useful for my kids since they need Word/Excel/Powerpoint for school.

I do not want to move from (K)Ubuntu to FreeSpire, but I would like to have a similar (or the same) multimedia experience as FreeSpire. If I have to pay for that (I read about releasing CNR for Ubuntu), I do not care. Any suggestions?

-- 

mvg/Alain
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