Linspire, developer of the commercial Linspire and Freespire community desktop Linux operating systems and CNR.com, a free Linux software delivery service, today officially announced an initiative to offer a custom desktop Linux OS Build Service to partners.

Designed to provide custom desktop Linux OS configurations, the Custom OS Build Service will also help partners cut time to market and greatly reduce the overall expense required when building a desktop Linux operating system.

“With desktop Linux, more and more partners are asking for customization so they can take control of the OS,” stated Larry Kettler, President & CEO of Linspire, Inc. “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.”

Initially developed to make the release management process for Linspire’s partners more resource efficient and less prone to defects, 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.

“Our expertise and advancements in producing efficient tools for packaging and building the Linux operating system will translate into a lower overall cost in terms of time and money for our partners,” said Cary Harper, Vice President of Engineering at Linspire, Inc. “As the desktop Linux operating system continues to mature and offer real cost savings as an alternative operating system, this service will allow companies to take advantage of this technology without having to deal with all the complexities.”

In addition, as a desktop Linux operating system is deployed into the channel, a partner also has the task of maintaining the OS builds with patches and fixes to the three thousand plus files that make up the installed file base of the operating system. With the Custom OS Build Service, partners are provided the necessary packaging tools and services to eliminate this problem through the use of the free and bundled CNR Service that provides access to a one-click software repository delivery system.