Freespire, like Linspire, is not a fork in Debian. Freespire is an additive to Debian's work. Even though Freespire will often be ahead of Debian with package releases, all applicable work on Linspire and Freespire are contributed upstream in an effort to keep Freespire and Linspire as closely in sync with Debian as possible. As Debian gets better, Freespire gets better, and as Freespire gets better, Debian gets better.

Freespire has an experienced Leadership Board, composed of thinkers, business people, and key members of the Linux community, such as Ian Murdock, Jono Bacon, Kevin Shockey, Martin Michlmayr, Kevin Carmony, and more. You will find these leaders active in the forums, discussion lists, and are always accessible by all. Freespire has a strong, active and vibrant community, where all are welcome to participate at any level their time and talents will allow. Although community support is provided at no charge, an optional enhanced support service is available.

With Freespire, the choice is yours as to what software is installed on your computer, with no limitations or restrictions placed on that choice. How you choose to maximize the performance of your computer is entirely up to you.

The entire Freespire open source application pool may be accessed using apt-get, Synaptic Package Manager, or the optional use of the Linspire CNR (Click N Run) Service. Freespire also includes a total development environment that can be easily expanded.

Freespire is powerful enough for the most sophisticated Linux user or developer, yet easy enough for someone completely new to Linux. Freespire should appeal to both users and developers who want to see an easier-to-use desktop Linux that, out-of-the-box, supports more hardware, software, and media formats.