The CEO of Linux distributor Linspire has confirmed that rival desktop Linux maker Xandros Inc has acquired the firm.

Michael Robertson said in a blog post on his website yesterday that he was “excited to see the Linspire, Freespire and CNR [Click 'n' Run] technology go to a worthy competitor.”

He added: “Linux is going through some healthy and necessary consolidation which will give resulting companies greater assets and size to deliver on larger initiatives so Linux can touch more people.”

The new company will be named Digital Cornerstone Inc. Financial terms of the deal were kept secret.

His comments follow bitter remarks made by the firm’s ex-CEO and Linspire shareholder Kevin Carmony, who revealed earlier this week that a deal between the two Linux companies was underway.

Carmony laid into the takeover by accusing Robertson of being a sell-out and abandoning a “sinking ship”.

But yesterday Robertson, in a move to undoubtedly silence critics, insisted that he was “proud” of what he had “tried to accomplish at Linspire”.

But he also admitted that Linspire failed to “succeed in bringing Linux to the masses as we intended to do. Even with Ubuntu's success, Linux on the desktop is still the domain of software engineers and technical people.”

Carmony yesterday hit back at the acquisition and called for an immediate meeting of shareholders to discuss the take-over.

Xandros's press release is here. ®