Linked by Tarmo Hyvärinen on Thu 5th Feb 2004 20:41 UTC
Lindows.com offered LindowsOS Developer Edition free for one day, GoogleDay (Whatever that is, I don't know, google's birthday perhaps?) so I decided to test it. My favorite distribution this far has been (and still is) Slackware Linux, which has always, well, just worked. I've been using Linux for some years now, I use Solaris at work (I work as software designer). Trying out Lindows after Slackware was totally different world, and here's some of my toughts after trying out Lindows.
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My opinion is that Lindows is doing a great thing.
By packaging a Linux distribution and making it accessible/palatable for the masses, it drives forward the development of Linux as a desktop OS.
Going the way it had been going, Linux was mostly a Geek/Server OS.
We know it's possible. Look at MacOS X, that went from a variant of BSD to a highly polished and usable desktop OS in two years.
The problem with Linux being free, is that people who contributed to development, worked on whatever they felt like. Adding "Geek Features" to the OS. Adding arcane utilities with command line switches.
All that is well and good for that segment of computer users. But, for Linux to be a desktop OS, it has to be easy to use. Easy to maintain. And easy for end-user support.
I don't think what Lindows charges is out of line. Considering what you get for the money, it's quite inexpensive.
All of you who say that Lindows is charging for something you can download free with a broadband line, are missing something major.
Most of you who can do that, have something that most people don't. Highly developed skills in Computing and Linux in particular.
To get where you are (I'm no dummy, having been in the business since 1979 and owning nearly every major brand of Micro at one time or another. And I found doing a Gentoo install WAY too hard and time consuming.), people would have to spend thousands on training courses.
Your skills didn't come free or easy. They are actually worth money. Which is why most all of you who can do this, are gainfully employed in the computer industry.
The people who would be target consumers of Lindows look at a computer like a toaster. They just want it to work. They no more want to tinker (or enjoy tinkering) with their computer, than they want to tinker with their toaster.
Lindows is not meant as an alternative to other Linux Distributions. But, as an alternative to Windows. And I think it succeeds quite well in that area.
It's fast, simple, full featured, and supports a lot of hardware out there.
And since Lindows contributes back most all of it's changes to the Open Source Community. Those people who are paying the $5.00 a month (I used to be one, before becoming a lifetime member), are contributing financially to the development of Open Source Software.
NVu (www.nvu.com) is an example of this.
Lindows is a Win-Win for everyone concerned (except Microsoft... LOL!).
This isn't religion. This is about people wanting to buy a cheap computer and get their work and play done.
Lindows contributes mightly to that space.
If you don't like it, don't use it. There are plenty of other alternatives out there for someone skillful enough to go get them.