Linspire, developer of the popular commercial desktop Linux operating system of the same name, today announced plans for a no-cost version of their operating system called Freespire. Kevin Carmony, Linspire’s President and CEO, unveiled the Freespire project in his keynote address this morning at the 4th Annual Desktop Linux Summit, running today and tomorrow in San Diego. In his remarks, Carmony explained how Freespire is a community driven and developed project, but unique for open source Linux distributions in that it will allow users the choice to download a version that is 100% open-source or one that includes proprietary software.

As part of the Freespire project, Linspire’s flagship CNR (click and run) technology (a one-click download and install software management system), will be open sourced to facilitate the building of a truly “free marketplace” for all Linux software, including proprietary, open source, free, or commercial. Many proprietary codecs, drivers and software will be offered in Freespire’s core distribution, while a few that have a larger per-unit licensing fee, such as DVD, must be purchased and installed via CNR.