CNR for all - An easy way of installing software on any Linux distribution with just a few clicks

Linspire is synonymous with the popular CNR ("Click 'N Run") software where you download a package of your choice from the Linspire CNR store and install it just like you do in Windows - that is by double clicking on it. The CNR warehouse has a collection of over 20,000 Linux packages, libraries and products, some of them commercial products like Win4Lin Pro, CodeWeavers' CrossoverOffice and TransGaming's Cedega which are made available to the Linspire / Freespire users. And the users can search for applications by title, popularity, user rating, category, function, or author.

Till now CNR contained software primarily for Linspire or Freespire Linux distribution users. But Kevin Carmony - the President and CEO of Linspire Inc who operates the CNR repository has now made public, his intension of supporting all other Linux distributions via its CNR one click install software.

Just to bring it in perspective, consider this scenario... At present, if you are a Slackware Linux user and you want to install say, GNUCash - a financial software, there is no easy way of installing it other than downloading and compiling the source of GNUCash and all its library dependencies. This is because the Slackware distribution does not support Gnome or GTK2 based software and so the official Slackware repository does not offer a compiled version of GNUCash.

With CNR supporting all Linux distributions, it will be possible to download the GNUCash binary from the CNR website and install and run it on Slackware with just a couple of clicks. It will be easy to upgrade any software to the latest version with ease. Finally, we will have a process of installing software using the CNR installer, just like you do it in Windows, that too for any Linux distribution.

Fig: The CNR warehouse with the software packages divided into categories

Kevin Carmony claims CNR does dozens of things to make finding, installing and managing software on your desktop computer extremely easy. For example, it is very easy to find the right piece of software with user reviews, charts, screenshots, descriptions, friendly names, and so on. Once you've found what you're looking for; with literally one click, the software is installed to your computer and icons added to your desktop and Launch Menu. CNR then notifies you when updates are available, which you can then install with one click. With this anouncement, CNR now has a new website at CNR for all.