Freespire Roadmap (Historical)
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Below you will find the archives from historical Roadmap. You can view the Current Roadmap here.
FREESPIRE BETA 1 (0.0.69) (English)
Distribution: Freespire - Based on Release: Marlin - Version: Beta 1 (0.0.63)
Projected Release Date: August 1, 2006 - This was released on July 13th, a few weeks ahead of schedule. =)
General Notes: This will be the first version of Freespire to be made available publicly to the Freespire community. This version will be at "beta" stage, but because it is built largely from a stable Linspire 5.0 (Marlin release), it is expected to only need limited testing before stabilizing with Freespire 1.0, about 30 days later. Freespire Beta 1 (and subsequently Freespire 1.0) will have largely been created by Linspire, but these will serve nicely as the "launching off spot" for future versions of Freespire, which will then start including community involvement. The idea is to move as quickly as possible to put Freespire Beta 1 and Freespire 1.0 "in the can," so that the real interesting work can begin on Freespire 2.0, with community involvement.
Major Features planned for this version: Freespire Beta 1 will be very similar to Linspire 5.0, but with the following high-level differences:
- There will be two versions available:
- A "hybrid" version will include proprietary codecs, drivers and software for an enhanced, "out-of-the-box" user experience.
- A 100% open source version.
- Users will have the ability to use CNR or apt-get to install software from the CNR Warehouse (or other Debian repositories).
- The CNR Warehouse and the CNR Client will use standard .deb packaging for all free, open source software. (Only certain 3rd-party,proprietary commercial applications might at times use an encrypted .deb file, as per the copyright holder/vendor's specification.)
- During install, by default, an Admin account (a user account with full access rights, "pseudo-root") is created. Logging in as root is still possible, but is not the default and must be intentionally set up after installation is completed. (Visit Creating a Root Login Account to learn more.) Additional user and admin accounts may be added or removed at anytime, each with varying access rights assigned manually.
- As with Linspire, when you boot the Freespire CD, you will be given the option to either run the OS "live" from the CD, or to install it to a partition on the hard drive. However, a new third option has been added for Freespire, allowing the user to add to or modify the partitions on their hard drive before installing the Freespire OS.
- The Freespire default web browser and email client will be based on Firefox and Thunderbird, respectively, not Mozilla. However, both of these programs will still include the advanced features and many improvements Linspire makes to enhance these programs, such as misc. bug fixes, in-line spell checking, "hot words," MailMinder, etc. The term "Linspire Internet Suite" will not be used, but rather the simple generic terms "Web Browser, Powered by Firefox" and "Email, Powered by Thunderbird."
- A new kcontrol module will be included for easily changing the default browser.
- Freespire will be made available as a VMWare Virtual Appliance.
- New "Freespire" wallpapers, icons, themes and other branding in the OS will be included.
- Basic developer tools and packages will be included in the OS by default. (Additional developer tools can be added with CNR or apt-get.)
- Autorun will be removed for .exe files, Amorok, CDs, etc.
- Most of the tutorials will not be installed by default but may be added via CNR or apt.
- The VirusSafe and SurfSafe icons will be removed from the system tray unless installed by the user with CNR.
- The Start-up Wizard content will be updated.
- The Lassist software suite will be removed from the OS but can be added using CNR.
- The Linspire Ref Guide will be removed.
- Example media files will be in free software formats such as .ogg instead of .mp3.
- A new graphical networking debugging tool will be included.
- New EULAs will be included which are different from those used by Linspire.
- Misc. changes and bug fixes.
- NOTE: It has been decided that for Beta 1, Kopete and AmoroK will NOT be swapped in yet. The functionality still is just not there yet for these two programs, so GAIM and Lsongs will remain in the default distribution. The community can then have input on this moving forward. Ideally, we'd like to see more community support for Lsongs, as it's a great program, but just needs more development work from others. Naturally, Kopete and AmoroK will be in the CNR Warehouse for those who prefer these programs. Picasa will also be in the Warehouse, and there is some discussion as to replacing Lphoto with Picasa over time. More on this after the release of Beta 1.
FREESPIRE BETA .7x, etc. (English)
Distribution: Freespire - Based on Release: Marlin - Version: Beta .xx, .xy, .xz, etc.
Projected Release Date: Multiple builds between July 13th & Sep. 1st. These were all released ahead of schedule.
General Notes: These are additional beta builds of Freespire which will be released (approximately weekly) to fix bugs, preparatory for the release of Freespire 1.0.
Major Features planned for this version:
- Bug fixes (IMPORTANT: Most hardware compatibility issues will wait to be resolved with the Freespire 2.0 release, which includes a new kernel and KDE 3.5. Trying to get newer hardware to run on an older Kernel will just eat up time that can be spent in moving quickly to Freespire 2.0.)
- Misc. minor changes
FREESPIRE 1.0 (English)
Distribution: Freespire - Based on Release: Marlin - Version: 1.0
Projected Release Date: September 1, 2006 - This was released on August 8th, a few weeks ahead of schedule. =)
General Notes: This will be the first stable version of Freespire, and should come about 30 days after Beta 1 is made available on August 1st. Freespire 1.0 will have largely been created by Linspire, but it will serve nicely as the "launching off spot" for future versions of Freespire, which will then start including community involvement. The idea is to move as quickly as possible to put Freespire 1.0 "in the can," so that the real interesting work can begin on Freespire 2.0, with community involvement.
Major Features planned for this version:
- Bug fixes (IMPORTANT: Most hardware compatibility issues will wait to be resolved with the Freespire 2.0 release, which includes a new Kernel and KDE 3.5. Trying to get newer hardware to run on an older Kernel will just eat up time that can be spent in moving quickly to Freespire 2.0.)
- Misc. minor changes
