CNR or Click and Run is a free one-click software delivery service designed to standardize the process and eliminate the complexity of finding, installing and managing Linux software for the most popular desktop Linux distributions according to the Linspire folks.

Though installation of software in Linux distributions like Ubuntu have never been easier, however installing paid applications, custom applications, and proprietary software is not so easy as it is not included in the standard repositories. Many proprietary system developers do provide easily installable .DEB like Google Desktop , however updating them is not as easy as through the repositories and the user has to either Add Custom Repositories or uninstall and reinstall the software. But CNR is just right in such situations.

Installing programs using CNR requires installation of the CNR client. The CNR client can be easily installing by heading to CNR website and download the installer of your distribution. CNR currently supports only Linspire, Freespire, Ubuntu, and Linux Mint. It will support Debian, SUSE and Fedora in the future.

I installed CNR for Ubuntu by downloading and installing .DEB installer. Installation was smooth and hassle free as in most .DEB installation. Then I had to Log Out and Log In again for changes to take place (I pressed Ctrl + Alt + Backspace).

CNR had put its shortcut in the System Tools Submenu and I launched it. It automatically syncronised with the CNR repositories and offered to update all the packages, and then the CNR Client showed itself.

CNR could be easily configured using this application but no such configuration was required.

Now I wanted to test CNR to install something. I launched the CNR installer client by clicking the Running Man in the notification box. It launched Firefox and showed a webpage where I could search, select, and install the application of my choice.

I thought I install bygfoot, a football management simulator (I know it is in the Ubuntu repository but I wanted to try something). I searched for bygfoot and installed it with ease using CNR.

As I said it was easy and cool. Now I could launch bygfoot using the Menus.

Bottom Line

CNR achieves what it strives to be, easy installation of programs, especially for newbies. What is great about CNR is that it integrates with the distro’s package manager and thus make making life much easier unlike other projects like Autopackage. However it is not as easy and great to use like Add/Remove in Ubuntu and is not as vast as the official Ubuntu repositories and many programs are not available but is not far behind. It is still in the beta-development phase so I expect more innovations in the future. And as I said before, it is great for purchasing and installing proprietary programs.

However most users of Ubuntu do not need CNR as such but it is good to have options as well.