Open source company Xandros has bought Linspire, the company that once got under Microsoft's skin using the name Lindows. We'll miss Linspire for all sorts of reasons.

In its day, the company did a lot to promote Linux on the desktop, and won a lot of friends by beating Microsoft in a lawsuit over its use of the name Lindows. Last week, it was acquired by Xandros - the supplier of Linux for the Asus Eee.

After its court victory, things went sour for Linspire. The company changed its name from Lindows, pulled out of an IPO, and then did a licensing deal with Microsoft, much like the ones signed by Xandros and Novell - only Linspire's was even less popular.

Linspire CEO Michael Robertson has said, more or less, that Linspire - and desktop Linux - failed:

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