Thursday, August 31 12:00 AM ET

Paris Hilton Releases Tinkerbell Linux

New York, NY - The Linux world grew by yet another distribution this summer, as Paris Hilton announced the release of Tinkerbell Linux.

On her MySpace blog, the New York socialite announced the release named after her famous Chihuahua, Tinkerbell.

"First," she writes, "I think The Open Source Movement is, like, really hot. I've been dabbling with coding for ages, but it's taken me some time to find the courage to release it. As you know, I'm a shy and modest person, and wasn't sure if it was good enough for the strict standards of the coding community."

So far, reviewers of the distribution have been positive. Avis Blackshire from Teen People writes that "this software is no dog! Like its creator it has a flashy and highly polished feel to it while remaining easily accessible - both front-end and back-end."

Many Linux users said they appreciate the exposure a star like Paris Hilton can give to the Linux movement, and added that they can "appreciate someone who can compile without panties on."

To Marlon Hatton, a glamour anthropologist, Paris Hilton's move is no surprise at all: "I don't think anyone fully understands what pressure today's stars are under. They're expected to be well-rounded, multitalented, and nearly superhuman. Today, it's no longer enough - like Ms. Hilton - to be a talented actress, singer, designer and lover. So she's moving on, trying to widen her brand. And what would be more obvious than to show us her geek side - boldly going where no star has gone before. Oh, except, um - what's he called? That kid who was on Star Trek? I'm glad Paris has found the courage to do this."

Critics of the distribution claim that applications they built using Nicole Ritchie's GUI toolkit for KDE aren't compatible.

Tinkerbell Linux is based on Slutware Linux and will be distributed on Paris Hilton's next music CD entitled "Crontab for Love." Until then the distribution can be downloaded from http://www.parishilton.com/tinkerbell/.