Pushing Linux customization to a whole different level, Linspire just announced that it will now create unique Linux distributions for individual customers. That’s a potentially sweet deal for Linspire, as it may then be able to box customers inside an ongoing support contract.

Linux and open source typically encourage independent development and tweaks, but though that stimulates innovation and new thought processes, it also introduces gaps in compatibility between different systems.

Linspire claims it’s responding to customer need, its president Larry Kettler says “with desktop Linux, more and more partners are asking for customization so they can take control of the OS. This service will not only provide the feature sets they want, but cut the time it takes to get to market with their products, as well as greatly reduce the overall cost to deliver a custom desktop Linux operating system.”

More specifically, “the Custom OS Build Service tool set will provide the ability to quickly produce clean Debian or Ubuntu-based desktop Linux operating systems, with customizable software stacks and other customizable features. As part of the OS Build Service, companies will get to leverage Linspire’s expertise in building desktop Linux operating systems for over six years, saving them the inherent time and resource costs associated with producing and supporting a custom desktop Linux operating system themselves.”

But how many companies truly require a custom operating system to meet their needs versus buying or creating a smaller software application to meet the need? It looks like Linspire aims to find out.

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Entry was posted on Thursday, January 31st, 2008 at 6:13 pm under Linux, Open source.

Read more entries by Matt Jansen.
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