A technological irony

For those of you who follow technology, here's a neat little experience I had, rooted in the deepest of ironies:

finding an article on google news about something ironic: 0$
following the steps through to a download page: 0$
downloading normally pay-for software for free: priceless

No, I'm not talking about the latest p2p file-sharing program. I'm talking about the somewhat unique and sometimes controversial Linspire operating system. For those of you who haven't heard of it or don't remember, this was a linux-based operating system originally called 'Lindows' because it could run many windows programs and was simple to use. Microsoft sued the company because it said the name was too similar to windows, and eventually forced them to change the name to 'Linspire'.

Linspire, unlike most linux projects, is not free. It is cheaper than windows and more virus- and crash-resistant. Some people think it's a great alternative to windows. Some people think it pollutes the whole idea of open source programming by selling something based on free software. Anyways, one guy decided to take Linspire and strip out all the non-open source software. He called his little project 'Freespire.'

Now here's where the massive irony sets in: Linspire took issue with his name and asked him to change it! The same company that changed one measly little letter(although they claim the next two were just a coincidence) to form their own product name had issues with a name that differed from theirs by a full four letters, or half of the whole name! Rarely in history has anything ever been as ironic as this.

Realising the precarious position they had put themselves in and the potential damage to their 'free spirit' image, Linspire attempted to counteract the move by allowing people to download a free copy of the Linspire operating system at linspire.com/freespire with the offer expiring on September 6th.

Immediately, their servers were completely flooded. I managed to beat my way through and actually download a free copy. I'm not sure if they even require a license, since I couldn't see one in my receipt, although my order number may count as one. Anyways, I found the entire experience fairly enjoyable and hilarious.

Now, to be fair to Linspire, they didn't threaten legal action or anything. They just had problems with people getting confused about what exactly Freespire was and who was behind it. Nonetheless, plenty of irony that they would face confusion over a product name given their history with Windows.