Linspire has scrapped the charge for its Click ‘N’ Run service, making it entirely free of charge. The service allows users to install a whole raft of Linux software (both proprietary and open source) by simply browsing a catalog and clicking a link. There’s no rpm/apt-get console commands and no compiling from source.

The move is undoubtedly because of competition from Ubuntu, which aims at a similar desktop market and provides a similar one-click solution for software installation. Yet Ubuntu is entirely free of charge.

Linspire and Ubuntu have a surprising number of similarities. Both are based on Debian and both hope to conqueror the desktop. Both are headed by enigmatic dot.com millionaires prepared to pump cash into their projects (Michael Robertson in the case of Linspire and Mark Shuttleworth in the case of Ubuntu).

Yet Linspire started years before Ubuntu and has seen only a fraction of the success. Why?

It’s because the two distros took very different routes to reach the same destination.

Ubuntu took the open source road. From day one it embraced the values of open source software. A huge community of users was formed, around focal points such as the forums. The Ubuntu team also created a list of ideals, which included embracing free software ethics and making Ubuntu freely accessible by all people, everywhere in the world.

This is nothing less than the essence of Linux. Ubuntu took Linux and applied it to the real world.

In contrast, Linspire took the commercial route. It attempted to turn Linux into a product and all-but turned its back on the community. It created a distro that was sold for a fee. Key components were proprietary software and weren’t shared with the community. Even key open source products used in the distro were renamed to fit in with the overall Linspire branding. It felt like Linspire was trying to forget that it was Linux, despite the name.

Rather than embracing open source values, and benefiting from them, Linspire tried to turn Linux into something it didn’t want to be.

The decision to make software downloads freely available isn’t the first community-friendly move Linspire has made. A few months ago it released a community-driven edition of its distro called Freespire. But all of this might be too little, too late. Users might be right to be cynical because it feels as if Linspire missed the point and is now hastily copying the actions of another more successful distro.