http://www.osnews.com/story/5758/Q_A_Lindows_com_s_Kevin_Carmony_Get_LindowsOS_Dev_4_5_Free Exploring the Future of Computing en-us Copyright 2001-2009, David Adams adam+nospam@osnews.com Sat, 04 Jul 2009 12:08:38 GMT http://www.osnews.com/images/osnews.gif http://www.osnews.com http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? First, great interview, cant wait for 5.0!

Im a lifetime member, the choicepc thing, but I cant see the development iso in my downloads over at lindows.com..
Should I bother to dowsload it for free now? Thu, 22 Jan 2004 09:43:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? Sure, go ahead. If it doesn't show up in your special cart, use the text coupon to download it from the normal cart. Thu, 22 Jan 2004 09:44:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? This interview seems to put Lindows pretty much in a good light, actually to the point one can understand their position. I guess to be fair it seems theyve created a good desktop distribution of Debian Linux. Still though I think he was a little dimisive about competition from at least Xandros. Though I dont know of Xandros being on OEM it doesnt appear to be a good desktop distribution as well. As far as I go, I dont like making computers on the cheap ;-) so I wouldnt opt for the OEMs if I were to get Lindows, though I'll wait to see the reviews of their 5 version first. Thu, 22 Jan 2004 09:50:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? does* Thu, 22 Jan 2004 09:52:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? And just how much market share do you think Xandros have? 0,1%?
Just like Kevin says, the real market lies not within the existing Linux community - not for a product like Lindows.com.

/ealm
LindowsOS Lifetime member since 2 days ago Thu, 22 Jan 2004 09:59:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? You need a credit card to get the free download and I don't have one. So much for that.
I got excited there for about 3 minutes. Thu, 22 Jan 2004 10:01:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? Good to see Lindows communicating with the people. I don't know much about Lindows, though we are selling it, and I think Germany will stay SuSE-country.But: It is good to see people concentrating on the desktop, there are not many choices for real beginners. And I think that is the point: the time is now, where you don't necessarily come from Windows to Linux but can grow up with a Linux Environment from the Beginning. If my parents would switch to Linux, there must be a good and easy distribution: Easy to set up, easy to install applications, easy to use etc.If Lindows can provide this: Very good.
Linux needs normal users. We actually have enough freaks.
Let the flaming begin ;-) Thu, 22 Jan 2004 10:03:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? >You need a credit card to get the free download and I don't have one

It didn't ask me for a credit card... Thu, 22 Jan 2004 10:08:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? Yea very fulfilling interview. Lindows.com has my full support even though my main OS is Windows XP with a full firewall + anti virus software running non-stop but I always look forward to switching to a Linux based OS. At the moment I keep an eye on LindowsOS and XandrOS. I may wait until LindowsOS 5.0 comes out. Good luck to both of them. Thu, 22 Jan 2004 10:10:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? It asks for a credit card no for the CNR, first 15 days it's free after that you'll have to pay. So you could evaluate Lindows OS for free for 15 days. Thu, 22 Jan 2004 10:17:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? >It didn't ask me for a credit card...

I had to make an account. I guess that's what required the credit card number. All I had to do was hit cancel and I went back to my cart.
Everything is fine now. Wish me luck, I'm on 56k. Thu, 22 Jan 2004 10:18:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? I can only recommend the ChoicePC deal. For $100 you get every version of LindowsOS + Click n Run for all of your/Lindows lifetime. It's the same price as 5.0 + 1 year of CnR so go figure... Thu, 22 Jan 2004 10:18:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? Forgot the URL: http://choicepc.com/ Thu, 22 Jan 2004 10:20:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? I registered @ their site but it asks me for my credit card number. The problem is that don't have one Eugenia, how did you downloaded lindows? Thu, 22 Jan 2004 10:33:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? Go here: https://shop.lindows.com/shopping/shopping_coupon_redemption.php

Type "IReadOSNews" in the coupon code field.


The reason you people missed this is since you didn't read the check-out page carefully enough Thu, 22 Jan 2004 10:38:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? When you get to that screen just click My Products at the top and it will take you to the download page.

Dougie Thu, 22 Jan 2004 10:38:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? Good interview,

It was good to see inside the mind of a Lindows guy. I wont be giving up SuSE as my Linux distribution, not ever. But, it did give me a better understanding of Lindows.com. Thu, 22 Jan 2004 10:48:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? i selected "My Products / CD Downloads / LindowsOS 4.5 Developers Installation CD"
is this correct? it's 544.01 MB big Thu, 22 Jan 2004 11:03:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? I'm downloading the iso right now, thanks to Kevin & Eugenia for giving me this chance. =) Thu, 22 Jan 2004 11:05:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? and there are multiple products listed for download, so i am wondering if i'm in the right place since someone above said it would take you right to the download page Thu, 22 Jan 2004 11:05:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? I must admit, I held alot of misconceptions about Lindows. I frankly never was very interested in even looking into it.

Also, I certainly appreciated the candidness, the lack of market-speak, and the free download. I probably never would have tried Lindows out before, but now Im definatly going to give it a go on one of my boxes. Who knows, maybe I'll like it after all.

I'll at least have some fun finding out. Thu, 22 Jan 2004 11:10:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? Wow, great interview. I was skeptical about Lindows before, but this does a lot to win me over. For example, it convinced me that Lindows.com has healthy long-term plans and a lot of energy, meaning it's probably worth supporting. Gonna download that ISO now. Thu, 22 Jan 2004 11:11:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? I am downloading it right now. I am a big debian fan (writing this from debian unstable bootstrapped from a knoppix cd), and I always wanted to try lindows.

But since I have no real need for it it would be hard to justify spending 60$. But since they seem to support my favorite desktop environment (KDE) and my favorite file system (Reiser) financially, I just might buy a copy for my mother if I like it. Thu, 22 Jan 2004 11:11:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? Thank you very much! Thu, 22 Jan 2004 11:20:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? Thanks for the OSNews coupon. Will be good to see your OS in action. BTW - Ever thought of doing a Live CD and marketing it in a cool way? Thu, 22 Jan 2004 11:26:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? There is a LiveCD already. Thu, 22 Jan 2004 11:46:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? IMO the Lindows live-CD won't be that great .
What really makes Lindows shine is it's CNR but the liveCD doesn't have it.
If this thing works I'll consider the ChoicePC thing; France still has a hundred vacancies. That's a pretty damn good deal
:) Thu, 22 Jan 2004 12:00:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? that's a joke, right...?!

i nearly fell out of my chair when i read that while getting my free copy. i remembered something around $5 per month (or was that some sort of "light" - membership, anyways, i was informed during the process just of the regular membership) which would be ok given the prices of red hat and sun (but suse is still way cheaper), but $15...sorry, this is simply ridiculous (especially if you consider that win xp i delivered with every computer and you've payed maybe $50 for it)!
btw, is c&r membership needed for access to bugfixes/small updates? Thu, 22 Jan 2004 12:05:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? I don't know from where you've got that.
CnR costs $50/year or $5/month:
https://shop.lindows.com/member/lindows_home_member_step1.php


Of course you can still get the lifetime of both CnR and all LindowsOS'es for $100! (http://www.choicepc.com) Thu, 22 Jan 2004 12:15:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? Thank you for giving us the opportunity to try Lindows. I'm wondering, when I go to My Products -> CD Downloads it seems that I can download all the CD, not only the Developers one ? Thu, 22 Jan 2004 12:25:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? I was just about to install NetBSD to my testbox but now I think I'll test drive Lindows for a couple of days first, thanks to your generous offer.

I've given to understand that Lindows defaults to KDE desktop. I'd like to see a company like Lindows to pick some light-weight window manager (XFCE, WindowMaker, Fluxbox) and turn it into a polished desktop. Now, that would be something I would (almost) be ready to pay for.

BTW, does anyone know a GNU/Linux distro that uses WindowMaker as the default window manager? Thu, 22 Jan 2004 12:27:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? Aye.. I'm tilted in favour towards the ChoicePC thingy. Esp. that I'm still so young Thu, 22 Jan 2004 12:27:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? "I don't know from where you've got that."

http://shop.lindows.com/user/mylindows_welcome.php

quote:
[...]
Secure your FREE Trial Now!

To make sure that we have the correct billing information on file for charges incurred beyond your trial time, please click on the Sign Me Up button below and choose a payment method.

You will authorize Lindows.com to debit your account for any charges incurred in excess of your free trial period.

Remember! Your first 15 days are FREE!
You won't be charged the monthly $14.95 membership fee during your trial time! And, you can cancel at anytime.

unquote

afterwards, you're supposed to give your billing-information for c&r which suggests that you have to give it before you can download lindowsos which - supposed you're clever enough to look for and chose the download-category at the left side of the screen which many users (especially unexperienced) might not - is _not_ the case!

leaves a _very_ bitter taste, i must say... Thu, 22 Jan 2004 12:30:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? This interview really clears up some important points. As lifetimemember (beside my Xandros V2 I have to admit that your statements form a more detailed look towards LindowsOS.

But I have to disagree with that "long-term"-issue about beeing "root" as "normal user". In your answers you forget that beeing a "normal" users will prevent you for doing "stupid faults" like deleting everything form "/" in konqueror or doing a capital fault while learning some things in a console window (rm -rf ....

So YES - TODAY its very unlikly that a LindowsOS-user as root will suffer form an "outside"-attack (this will maybe change very fast when Linux will have to deal with virus, hoax and worms in the mid-near future)

BUT - beeing "root" is a hudge security hole if the "administrator" itself is the "average user" (PEBCAC Thu, 22 Jan 2004 12:36:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? After reading this, as far as i'm concerned, any GNU/Linux user who disparages Lindows can go to heck. They're giving back to the community (more so than many GNU/Linux companies), promoting GNU/Linux positively and helping make advancements in GNU/Linux on the desktop.

I'm not a Lindows user, but looking at the next release, Kernel 2.6, KDE 3.2 - it looks fantastic and those who use Lindows seem to be in for a definite treat. Thu, 22 Jan 2004 12:41:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? I think these Lindows and Xandros guys are being too cute by half, when they claim that they compete against m'soft and not eachother.

example:

- lindows released 4.5 (minor version update) on the exact same day as xandros released their major version release 2.0
- for a while when u searched "lindows" at google, a xandros google ad would appear on the right.
- lindows has hired ex-xandros developers

no competition? its literally cut throat. both excellent distros and nice interview! Thu, 22 Jan 2004 12:48:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? Well I'm kinda surprised it had to take a big interview like this to clear some of these issues up, ie. hasn't it been known for a while now that Lindows doesn't make users root by default?
Anyways, I liked that analogy about the crossection and linux security.. Innovation has always been the driving force of real successfull companies and we need more thinking like that in the Linux world (too many distro's just copy paste imho).
Nice long interview, good read. Thumbs up for the free download, very nice gesture! Thu, 22 Jan 2004 12:52:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? I don't know whether Kevin Carmona will read this, but I hope he does. One of the biggest problems that new Linux users face is the lack of standard and easy-to-follow manuals to teach them how to use the operating system.

If you walk into any major bookstore, you wil find hundreds of books on how to use Microsoft Office or Microsoft XP. This actually does lower the cost of ownership of a product by reassuring the user that there will be a knowledge pool from which she can draw, if she ever needs it.

While Usenet and the linux documentation project are great, professionally written and edited documentation is needed. Red Hat's Linux Bible books were a good start, but not generic enough to apply fully to other distributions, and I presume those will be discontinued after Red Hat extricated itself from the retail market.

The task of writing a good generic book for desktop users is complicated by the fact that each Linux distribution creates its own menu structure, and in the case of Lindows, its own nomenclature for menus. Additonally, the directory layout is not uniform so that RedHat, Debian and Mandrake place their init scripts in one place while Suse and Slackware place them in a different one.

I happen to agree with you that Linux distributions can only grow significantly by taking marketshare from Microsoft, rather than from each other. Based on this assessment, what is preventing closer cooperation with the other major distributions to resolve some of the problems I mentioned?

Specifically, I believe if the menu lay-out options were unified, then a generic book could be written with specific chapters, addressing the configuration tools of each distribution. Doing tech support becomes significantly easier when a given menu option can be expected at a defined location.

BTW, great interview and thanks for the download. Thu, 22 Jan 2004 12:53:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? We made this shift almost two years ago, but it's funny how long it takes to get past the first thing someone hears about you. I guess it's true what they say about first impressions, they're very hard to shake.

Not merely first impressions. Most people disregard the OS and .com ending of names. Once that happen, there is only one typological difference with Windows. Even if people imagine it as Lindows.com and LindowsOS instead of Lindows, Lindows guys have to be honest with themselves - why Lindows? There are hundreds of possible better names - why a name that would forever be associated with a competitor's product?

And when you no longer what to keep the company associated with your competitor's product, keeping the name seems a little dumb. Face it, Lindows is new, it is easier to change brand names today than much later on when the need to shrug off its Windows connection grows much bigger.

Considering we're not profitable and lose money each month, I'm very happy with the amount of support we give to open source projects.

If by two years my company isn't breaking even, I wouldn't be happy in throwing around money on things my potential competitors can and possibly will use. It makes amazingly little sense. If you are making much money, I can relate. But how does KDE-look.org and KDE-app.org benefit Lindows? Little. All good themes end up in KDE's CVS anyway.

So, Linux also needs marketing, distribution, education, leadership, vision, and so on. I'd like to think Lindows.com is doing a great deal in this area.

I would think not. Linux wouldn't win by getting unto Walmart.com. Where the money comes is from the corporate market, and quite frankly, LindowsOS isn't that attractive (no offence). And (what I assume) Lindow's money maker, CNR - I have doubts corporations would be that interested.

(BTW, I'm not debating that targeting home users won't work, I'm saying targeting the corporate market makes far more money).

As long as Dell only offers MS Windows on their desktop computers, even the smallest system builder can now beat Dell pricing, simply by getting rid of the expensive "Microsoft Tax."

No. I once was part of an OEM company. The smallest companies can beat Dell anyday with or without Windows. For American OEMs, the cost of an OEM license is $40, not much when the cost is transfered to the customer.

The KooBox is a good example of this. This is full computer with a flat-pannel LCD monitor for only $449. Dell can't get to those prices, because they have to pay Microsoft and The KooBox doesn't.

No. Just say Dell decides to dump Windows and load Lindows. Does the price drop dramaticaly? Why should it? Considering its volume, I would be suprise they pay any more than $20 per computer for Windows, they couldn't slash out a few hundred dollars.

And does KooBox offer the same degree of support as Dell? (i.e. if you move to, say, Netherlands, where do you get support, claim warranty, etc.?)

BTW, thanks for the free download. Downloading now, doubt I would keep it long (I'm increasingly attracted to using FreeBSD). I doubt I would have much need for Lindows - the only reason why I use Windows is applications (and the same goes for my family). Difficulty and polish matter very little to me. But I must commend you, this is a very good marketing pitch - you would get customers that probably would have never considered Lindows. Thu, 22 Jan 2004 12:55:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? And does KooBox offer the same degree of support as Dell? (i.e. if you move to, say, Netherlands, where do you get support, claim warranty, etc.?)

Because of Dell's lousy support I will never buy a Dell again. They didn't ship the right products in first place and their phone support has been worse than bad.


If by two years my company isn't breaking even, I wouldn't be happy in throwing around money on things my potential competitors can and possibly will use. It makes amazingly little sense. If you are making much money, I can relate. But how does KDE-look.org and KDE-app.org benefit Lindows? Little. All good themes end up in KDE's CVS anyway.

Maybe because people (like me) feel good about such companies. In my case it led to a lifetime Lindows membership.


...Linux wouldn't win by getting unto Walmart.com. Where the money comes is from the corporate market, and quite frankly...

...and there's more money in selling weapons than in any computer business. Still everyone doens't sell weapons!
Seriously though - heard of LindowsOS Professional? (http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,4149,1437960,00.asp)

No. I once was part of an OEM company. The smallest companies can beat Dell anyday with or without Windows. For American OEMs, the cost of an OEM license is $40, not much when the cost is transfered to the customer.

For a sub $200 computer, $40 is over 20% of the price. And then you won't get all the free applications of CnR. Thu, 22 Jan 2004 13:12:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? There is an other good interview at DesktopOS.com
Thye both come out at the same time...
http://www.desktopos.com/sections.php?op=viewarticle&artid=1 Thu, 22 Jan 2004 13:47:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? Because of Dell's lousy support I will never buy a Dell again. They didn't ship the right products in first place and their phone support has been worse than bad.

I once worked for a Dell Service Provider, most of the customers would give a good review. In fact, compared with any other tier one OEM, Dell gives the best support. But like every product and service, there is always customers that get burned.

As for shipping of the wrong products, unless you directly request for something, the Call Center normally diagnose the problem and predict the required product for a repair.

...and there's more money in selling weapons than in any computer business. Still everyone doens't sell weapons!
Seriously though - heard of LindowsOS Professional? (http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,4149,1437960,00.asp)

Is it out now?

For two years, they have been targeting home users. Think of your average home user - would they really care what OS they would use? Nope, not really. And if you think about it - how much incentive is there for them to change OS? If they buy a Mac, for example, they can manage their photos and music easier out of the box (as well as buy downloaded music legally), easily edit their videos, and now, their own music.

In other words, I have no reason to use Lindows if I was a normal Windows user.

Besides, my father keeps a copy of Windows 2000 on his laptop even though the laptop came with Windows XP. Wonder why? His office uses Windows 2000. In addition to that, the office uses Office 97, and while he has the potential to buy Office 2003, he buys Office 97.

You may be asking, WHY?!? He doesn't the complications of having different versions. Now imagine different *software*.

For a sub $200 computer, $40 is over 20% of the price. And then you won't get all the free applications of CnR.

For $200, you can probably get a VIA C3, around 800MHz, 20GB of hard disk space, 64-128MB of memory, basic keyboard and mouse and probably a cheap 24watt speaker. Not much of a market, no? Most people buying a new computer want at least CD burning capabilities, probably the ability to watch the DVDs they bought, play a few games if need. That $200 box does none of that.

So unless you don't plan to use the computer much, except for a few times a month, that $200 PC makes little sense. Or a computer for that toddler to do her pre-school games while you do some serious work on the main family computer Either way, the market is very small, very unprofitable.

BTW, the average price for computer sold is $800, which is more or less 20% of the Asian (minus Japan) market. I expect North America, the average price to be higher.

Besides, my point was that Windows licenses play a small part of an average computer's cost, and big OEMs are a hundred or two more expensive than small-time OEMs not because of Windows, but because of things like support cost, warranty, transport, etc. And all I'm saying that if small-time OEMs can't bring companies like Dell down now, Lindows would be little help. Thu, 22 Jan 2004 13:48:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? When i type IReadOSNews i get this error

Coupon iREADOSNews is not intended for the product/service you are trying to apply it to.

How do i type so the letters dont change capital Thu, 22 Jan 2004 13:49:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? damn the download is confusing once you create the account the n you have to click on the tabs on the left side to access the iso download and wait in line for the download to start not enough info about what to do instead you get plastered with the 15 day trial thing that asks all your details and stuff.. i thought it would email me instructions or allow me to download after the invoice. well confusing.
ended up making 3 order invoices.. sorry about that heh heh

to be honest when i first heard of lindows alarm bells sounded wasnt sure whether to trust them or not and at first i have to say they got a lot of bad press by people not trusting your actions, i didnt trust them at all aswell. It just seemed like some fat cats coming in turning other peoples hard work and trying to claim all the credits, what microsoft is known for..

in all honesty WHEN you become successful, i hope you dont become greedy and turn all your attention to being like another microsoft. As in i hope you continue contributing. Which if as you say you already have spent such amounts of money and carry doing so, it can only be a good thing as the developers can in turn devote more of their time to developing while at the same time every one benefits, even cornering 10 % of the desktop market share would be awesome.

also to rajanr corporate desktops may have more money to pay up front, but to put you in a situation say alot of people end up running lindows and they for example call up their isp for technical support and the isp turns around and says sorry we dont support that platform after a while if they get more and more calls they will then have to support that platform to support it they in turn will need lindows running locally. Basically once you crack the home users business users will have to support the home user, so its a wise decision but a risky one aswell. because lindows has to have a fat share of the home user market which again is a good thing, the less share microsoft has the better the more the market space opens up and microsoft will have to compete with better software rather than bullshit FUD, the very emergence of linux as a good alternative caused the shake up which is windows 2k and xp, if they hadnt had done something they would have lost market share, if linux didnt exist i would bet there would be another resell of the 9x shit, because they could and because milking a shit product was within their power.

one thing thats kind of pissed me off is if you were the ones that helped codeweavers setup and established cross over office and contributed half a million to codeweaveres it seems kind of greedy the amount they charge for their tool, I can understand their need for money still, but the 60 odd dollars is just plain extortion. I refuse to pay that, as its just damn right greedy.

Well im gonna give this thing a trial run who knows if its good, i may well buy the 5 when it comes out. (long time debian user) Thu, 22 Jan 2004 13:55:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? Well, I've got a much better impression of Lindows after reading this interview. I'd echo Rajan that they seem remarkably prolific for a company that isn't making money, but I guess they have a plan. We'll soon find out if they don't.

The audio tutorials were impressive, though unfortunately the Linux version of macromedias flash player shows its suckyness once again - I got constant freezes thanks to esd

SELinux over user/root, yes, very smart. I'd not be surprised to see this happen soon, probably after Fedora 2 comes out with it.

As for Wine - well, of course I still think it's very important but then I'm a Wine developer so I would. While I agree that using Wine to run apps for which there are good free software equivalents is pretty silly, many computer users have existing software libraries (games in particular) that they simply won't leave behind. Thu, 22 Jan 2004 14:04:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? "...and there's more money in selling weapons than in any computer business. Still everyone doens't sell weapons!
Seriously though - heard of LindowsOS Professional? (http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,4149,1437960,00.asp)"

Is it out now?

For two years, they have been targeting home users. Think of your average home user - would they really care what OS they would use? Nope, not really. And if you think about it - how much incentive is there for them to change OS? If they buy a Mac, for example, they can manage their photos and music easier out of the box (as well as buy downloaded music legally), easily edit their videos, and now, their own music.

In other words, I have no reason to use Lindows if I was a normal Windows user.

Besides, my father keeps a copy of Windows 2000 on his laptop even though the laptop came with Windows XP. Wonder why? His office uses Windows 2000. In addition to that, the office uses Office 97, and while he has the potential to buy Office 2003, he buys Office 97.

You may be asking, WHY?!? He doesn't the complications of having different versions. Now imagine different *software*.

I think the one thing that needs to be acknowledge is this. Linux software sucks.

I'll give you a real world example from 3 months ago. A family friend, running Windows 2000 was hit by the blaster worm, he was rather disgruntled from the point of view that he does the right thing. He updates the software, checks for virus definitions on the net and defrags the hard disk, in other words, he a perfect user.

He doesn't use his computer for a couple of weeks as he used his work laptop in that time. He turns on his computer and connects to the internet to do a bit of surfing. Within a few minutes he was infected with the Blaster worm.

He calls me over and I get rid of the worm, update his software and virus definitions. We got talking about Windows and he asked, "is there an alternative to Windows? I'm sure there must be something better out there". I explained that there is Linux and FreeBSD, however, I would suggest Linux for a first time user. We got chatting and he was quite impressed about running Office 2000 on Codeweavers wine, surfing the internet, sending emails. He enjoyed the whole experience.

Now, the big crux was the fact that he couldn't run the games he wanted to. He had a Joystick and a number of flight simulation games. If it were just the Office suite, a few card games and so forth, it wouldn't be much of an issue, however, the fact is that he could neither run the games he had nor go out and buy update versions that could run on Linux.

One thing I need to stress is this, he was quite happy to purchase a new flight simulator, however, since there is no flight simulator for Linux of similarity to Microsoft Flight Simulator or Janes Flight Simulator, I wasn't able to sell the concept of using Linux for this persons desktop.

That is what let down it. Not the desktop, the installation or even the hardware support. What let down the adoption was the lack of applicaitons.

What Lindows SHOULD do is stop trying to create NEW applications and instead work WITH Adobe, EA Games, Macromedia, Corel, MYOB, Quicken etc etc and partially/fully pay for the porting of applications to the Lindows operating system.

The fact is, people are happy with the chosen software, they just want an better operating system but still have the ability to run all the applications they use to. Why should I give up functionality for the sake of a better operating system? Its time Linux companies realised that it isn't the operating system itself but the lack of applications which is holding back Linux's adoption as a viable desktop solution.

Microsoft know this and hence, they aren't worried. They'll only start worrying when the Adobes and Macromedias of the world start saying, "there is a real future in Linux, we better start porting out applications over". The day that happens will be the day Microsoft will start shaking in their boots. Thu, 22 Jan 2004 14:12:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? http://flightgear.org/ Thu, 22 Jan 2004 14:38:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? How to get past this form??
Eugenia, how did you do that? Thu, 22 Jan 2004 14:45:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? For $200, you can probably get a VIA C3, around 800MHz, 20GB of hard disk space, 64-128MB of memory, basic keyboard and mouse and probably a cheap 24watt speaker. Not much of a market, no? Most people buying a new computer want at least CD burning capabilities, probably the ability to watch the DVDs they bought, play a few games if need. That $200 box does none of that.

Well, the low-end PC market has grown alot in recent years. This is also the home market where Linux stands the best chance against Windows.


I once worked for a Dell Service Provider, most of the customers would give a good review. In fact, compared with any other tier one OEM, Dell gives the best support. But like every product and service, there is always customers that get burned.

As for shipping of the wrong products, unless you directly request for something, the Call Center normally diagnose the problem and predict the required product for a repair.

Here in Sweden Dell is known for bad quality and service. (as well as lousy conditions for it's employees)


BTW, the average price for computer sold is $800, which is more or less 20% of the Asian (minus Japan) market. I expect North America, the average price to be higher.

True, but still the sectors growing most are laptops and really cheap low.end PCs. Lindows aims for both. Thu, 22 Jan 2004 14:46:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? http://flightgear.org/

As I said, commercial software. The box, support, documentation, updates and all the piddly crap that comes with buying a boxed product. Thu, 22 Jan 2004 14:50:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? Manish,
As stated among the earlier comments you don't need to get past credit card. Simply click "buy now" on the dev ed and then you'll see under the credit card stuff:

"Click Here if you have a coupon you would like to apply to any related items that are currently in your shopping cart. "

Click any of the words "click here" and then type in 'IReadOSNews" as your coupon code. Thu, 22 Jan 2004 14:51:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? If the Linux games aren't good enough and the windows games that run through wine won't do it either, you better stick to windows.
Linux never claimed to be a gaming OS.

I do agree though, that it would be nice if Lindows could bring more commercial games to Linux.
Had Loki Soft been here today I'm sure their sales would have been higher and we would have had alot more games.

Maybe Lindows should start a Linux gaming company together with some other desktop linux distributors? Thu, 22 Jan 2004 14:58:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? Well, the low-end PC market has grown alot in recent years. This is also the home market where Linux stands the best chance against Windows.

From what I see here in Malaysia, all the low-end PC makers (i.e. unknown OEM makers) are slowly targeting new markets or going bankrupt. So if you ask me, if this market is growing rapidly as you would imply, it certainly ain't making money.

Besides, again in Malaysia, most computer sales are mid-end, normally for gaming and work-related. Many are also taking advantage of low-cost broadband (as seen in Malaysia, Singapore, China, Taiwan, South Korea, etc.) where a $200 PC wouldn't really take advantage of.

As for laptops, why would anyone buy a laptop with Lindows? If I'm going for cost, buying a laptop from Dell, HP/Compaq, Apple, etc. seems a smart choice. If I'm going for size, Sony, Apple, Fujitsu, Sharp, etc. If I'm a doctor or in sales where I need a Tablet - does Lindows gives such a choice? If I want a desktop replacement, laptops from companies like AlienWare to Dell comes to mind.

My point is that Wintel companies and Apple already cornered the market and know how to keep it. Linux have little to no hope there. Thu, 22 Jan 2004 15:04:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? Click on the link to get to the product page, click on the developers edition BUYNOW button. On that page, towards the bottom, there is a link that says "Click here if you a coupon you would like to apply...". The enter the code IReadOSNews Thu, 22 Jan 2004 15:06:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? Thanks for this offer, I downloaded it and I'm going to give it a try on one of my spare Athlons. Thu, 22 Jan 2004 15:11:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? Lets see if I can get this to run in parallel to my "real" Debian via UserModeLinux Thu, 22 Jan 2004 15:16:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? As for laptops, why would anyone buy a laptop with Lindows? If I'm going for cost, buying a laptop from Dell, HP/Compaq, Apple, etc. seems a smart choice. If I'm going for size, Sony, Apple, Fujitsu, Sharp, etc. If I'm a doctor or in sales where I need a Tablet - does Lindows gives such a choice? If I want a desktop replacement, laptops from companies like AlienWare to Dell comes to mind.

Again, Lindows pretty much spanks the others price-wise when it comes to laptops. Try matching this deal with a Dell:

http://www.gearzoo.com/product_info.php?products_id=30

Co-incidentially the Lindows laptops are sold out here, but there's no need to despair - 300.000 more Lindows laptops are shipping from your region (Taiwan) right now:

http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,4149,1429035,00.asp


Besides, again in Malaysia, most computer sales are mid-end, normally for gaming and work-related. Many are also taking advantage of low-cost broadband (as seen in Malaysia, Singapore, China, Taiwan, South Korea, etc.) where a $200 PC wouldn't really take advantage of.

Fortunately there are Lindows machines more in the mid-range too:

http://koobox.com/


My point is that Wintel companies and Apple already cornered the market and know how to keep it. Linux have little to no hope there.

My point is that Apple isn't the market LindowsOS aims for (yet). Windows, otoh, is not like "one" market. Windows has got huge market share on ALL kinds of desktop use and it's some of these that Lindows now aims for.
Just the fact that Windows is dominant now doesn't mean it is tomorrow. Thu, 22 Jan 2004 15:18:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? Hi Guys.

My first post here - Great site with some great articles and feedback.

Anyway onto LindowsOS. Is it really necessary for these guys to deride M$ so much? I mean I can't stand M$'s business practices any more than the next guy and I'm certainly no M$ fan I can assure you. But this can't be good for the linux community at all. I've never felt it was wise for any business to deride another in any circumstance - Just get on with your business and build that better mouse trap and everyone will love you! These guys are over the top IMHO

Really, do they need to have Bill Gates Sucks in their hardware compatibility list?

http://www.lindows.com/lindows_hwsw_compatibility.php

Drop down the select a company form and you'll see it.
I know it might be all in fun and all, but it doesn't appear very professional and I'm sure no other of M$'s enemies has done things like this in the past, have they?

Till Thu, 22 Jan 2004 15:24:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? Actually I found out that Lindows laptop wasn't so very well priced in that matter, but it still sells very good so I guess you could say Lindows.com has very much succeeded here. Thu, 22 Jan 2004 15:25:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? Any Lindows user can create entries in that list, I bet it's not Lindows.com who created that particular one. Thu, 22 Jan 2004 15:28:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? If the Linux games aren't good enough and the windows games that run through wine won't do it either, you better stick to windows. Linux never claimed to be a gaming OS.

I do agree though, that it would be nice if Lindows could bring more commercial games to Linux.
Had Loki Soft been here today I'm sure their sales would have been higher and we would have had alot more games.

Maybe Lindows should start a Linux gaming company together with some other desktop linux distributors?

The thing is, I never play games. What I gave was an example of Joe average not being able to get the games and applications he wants. Replace the game name with "Joey Joes Card Making Kit" and you'll have the same result.

Face the facts, Linux applications in their current form suck. Anything beyond an IRC client, IM client, NNTP client or a web browser is crap. Just look at GIMP as one example, the interface is a usability nightmare, I know it, every professional artist out there knows it and yet, the developers of GIMP just "don't get it".

They get the whining and yet they put up the same defence that all OSS projects do, "oh, its because you're stupid" or "oh, its because ours is superior and you'll have to learn the superior way of doing things".

But hey, don't get me wrong. I don't expect the OSS coders to simply say, "bloody hell, we better listen to the almighty Chocolate Cheese Cake or fear the rath!", however on the other hand, Red Hat, SuSE, Mandrake, SUN, IBM and HP have done NOTHING to bring commercial applications to Linux. Yeap, not one bloody thing.

Why didn't IBM start at home and port the whole Lotus desktop produce line up to Qt/KDE? if they're so commited to Linux, why haven't they actually committed themselves in a real way? Why do they still insist on promoting Windows over Linux for the desktop? why don't they promote Windows AND Linux for their Thinkcentre line?

HP is the same situation, they promote Linux and yet they have the nerve DURING THE SCO vs IBM TRIAL, to go on the SCO Roadshow to promote SCO's snake oil. They then request SCO to pull down their logo off the website and then for the next couple of days conduct a bit of media spinning. 3 days later, the Linux zealots are now blinded to HPs real position; ride the Linux hype and hope the share price keeps growing towards the clouds.

SUN is even worse. They assume that all employees need is a web browser, IM client, office suite and email application. The fact is, the corporate desktop needs more than just a couple of OSS applications. Accounting deparment needs access to Peachtree or MYOB, the marketing department requires Adobe and Macromedia applications, and the IT department needs access to development tools.

What has SUN done to address their customers needs? have they actually sat down and asked, "what applications do you need in your day to day running of your business?". Find out and bloody well get them ported. Why is the bloody obvious always over looked by so-called "managers" who couldn't find a clue even if it was personally read to them by a guy with a huge hat and tap dancing to the song "a little Spainish flea". Thu, 22 Jan 2004 15:40:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? The thing is, I never play games. What I gave was an example of Joe average not being able to get the games and applications he wants. Replace the game name with "Joey Joes Card Making Kit" and you'll have the same result.

That applies to anyone switching platform, wether it's from/to windows/linux/macos/others.
The same apps usually don't run on other platforms and it's pretty simple - it is what makes these OSes different platforms that cause it.


Face the facts, Linux applications in their current form suck. Anything beyond an IRC client, IM client, NNTP client or a web browser is crap. Just look at GIMP as one example, the interface is a usability nightmare, I know it, every professional artist out there knows it and yet, the developers of GIMP just "don't get it".

They get the whining and yet they put up the same defence that all OSS projects do, "oh, its because you're stupid" or "oh, its because ours is superior and you'll have to learn the superior way of doing things".

People always complain on all products. Myself I'm pretty satisfied with the apps I have in Linux and I really think Gimp rocks.


But hey, don't get me wrong. I don't expect the OSS coders to simply say, "bloody hell, we better listen to the almighty Chocolate Cheese Cake or fear the rath!", however on the other hand, Red Hat, SuSE, Mandrake, SUN, IBM and HP have done NOTHING to bring commercial applications to Linux. Yeap, not one bloody thing.

Out of those companies only IBM and Sun create commercial (non-operating system leveled) applications, and they have both brought commercial applications to Linux.

Why didn't IBM start at home and port the whole Lotus desktop produce line up to Qt/KDE? if they're so commited to Linux, why haven't they actually committed themselves in a real way? Why do they still insist on promoting Windows over Linux for the desktop? why don't they promote Windows AND Linux for their Thinkcentre line?

Because Linux isn't the answer to everything. At least not yet. You also have to remember that IBM still is pretty new in the Linux game, as is the rest of the big companies supporting Linux.


HP is the same situation, they promote Linux and yet they have the nerve DURING THE SCO vs IBM TRIAL, to go on the SCO Roadshow to promote SCO's snake oil. They then request SCO to pull down their logo off the website and then for the next couple of days conduct a bit of media spinning. 3 days later, the Linux zealots are now blinded to HPs real position; ride the Linux hype and hope the share price keeps growing towards the clouds.

That's what makes it a commercial


SUN is even worse. They assume that all employees need is a web browser, IM client, office suite and email application. The fact is, the corporate desktop needs more than just a couple of OSS applications. Accounting deparment needs access to Peachtree or MYOB, the marketing department requires Adobe and Macromedia applications, and the IT department needs access to development tools.

What has SUN done to address their customers needs? have they actually sat down and asked, "what applications do you need in your day to day running of your business?". Find out and bloody well get them ported. Why is the bloody obvious always over looked by so-called "managers" who couldn't find a clue even if it was personally read to them by a guy with a huge hat and tap dancing to the song "a little Spainish flea".

Their Java desktop doesn't look too good to me either. Still they seem to take this whole desktop thing pretty seriously.
I don't know what they have in mind but it's too early to deem them out yet. Thu, 22 Jan 2004 15:59:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? >> When i type IReadOSNews i get this error

>> Coupon iREADOSNews is not intended for the product/service you are trying to apply it to.

>> How do i type so the letters dont change capital

Make sure that you are trying to order the developer's edition because the coupon likely does not apply to any other edition. Thu, 22 Jan 2004 16:03:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? I am not very familiar with LindowsOS. Will the installer give me an option to install on a separate partition without overwriting my Windows XP and Fedora partitions? Thu, 22 Jan 2004 16:06:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? I have never read anything like this from a leader of a company... then to give away their product just for reading it. I am downloading and installing Lindows 4.5 this week for sure!

I definitely understand Lindows more because I read this... Thanks so much for the freebie.

Also... you do not have to have a credit card for the download, but I did find it a little difficult to understand the process, maybe Lindows can fix their download situation and help newbie Lindows users figure out how to do a digital download. :-) Thu, 22 Jan 2004 16:08:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? I am not very familiar with LindowsOS. Will the installer give me an option to install on a separate partition without overwriting my Windows XP and Fedora partitions?

You will have to option of either selecting an existing partition to install Lindows over, or let it take over the whole drive. This is about the only question the installer will ask you Thu, 22 Jan 2004 16:10:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? I agree with you on the state of applications on Linux. I think what would be cool is a site that comes up with redesigns for popular Open Source applications like The GIMP. Then those of us who know a thing or two about UI design/interaction/usability etc. can come up with proposed "revamps" to the user interfaces. Have you any ideas for a revised interface for The GIMP? Thu, 22 Jan 2004 16:22:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? I'm all for it. Better design is always a good thing.
If web space is needed I can help you out. Thu, 22 Jan 2004 16:25:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? Thanks for those who took the time to read this long interview. I'll try to address some of your comments below.

Kevin Carmony
President, Lindows.com, Inc.


"You need a credit card to get the free download and I don't have one."

You don't need a credit card to get the free OS.

There seems to be some confusion about how to do the coupon code, etc. Here are the steps:

1. Goto http://www.lindows.com/lindows_storefront.php?own=no
2. Choose the "Buy now!" button for the Digital or Retail Package version of the DEVELOPERS EDITION of LindowsOS 4.5. (Digital will end up being free, Retail Packaged version will end up being $10 plus s/h).
3. On the next page that appears, click the link for "...if you have a Coupon Code..." at the bottom of that page.
4. Enter the code, IReadOSNews and click the Update button. This should show a $59.95 discount. Click the Continue button, the finish the checking out process.

To get to the .iso files, goto: http://shop.lindows.com/user/mylindows_download_library.php

If you need more help at that point, visit http://lindows.com/installhelp or http://lindows.com/support

--------------------

"When i type IReadOSNews i get this error: Coupon iREADOSNews is not intended for the product/service you are trying to apply it to."

You need to be sure and select the DEVELOPERS EDITION. The coupon code will only work with that product.

--------------------

"I can download all the CD, not only the Developers one ?"

Correct. This code will give you access to all .iso's that are of equal or less value as the Developer's Edition, so this means a few other versions of LOS, LindowsCD ("live" CD), etc. Great deal, I know. =)

--------------------

"Ever thought of doing a Live CD and marketing it in a cool way?"

We have a "Live" CD, it's called LindowsCD and you get access to this .iso as well using the coupon code.

http://lindows.com/lindowscd

--------------------

"As far as I go, I dont like making computers on the cheap ;-) so I wouldnt opt for the OEMs if I were to get Lindows..."

There are plenty of builders who sell high-power LindowsOS computers or let you build your own. WalMart selling $199 computers is only ONE of DOZENS of companies selling LindowsOS computers.

One example: http://www.prosourcepc.com

More examples: http://lindows.com/featured

--------------------

" Also, I certainly appreciated the candidness, the lack of market-speak, and the free download. I probably never would have tried Lindows out before, but now Im definatly going to give it a go on one of my boxes. Who knows, maybe I'll like it after all. "

" Wow, great interview. I was skeptical about Lindows before, but this does a lot to win me over. For example, it convinced me that Lindows.com has healthy long-term plans and a lot of energy, meaning it's probably worth supporting. Gonna download that ISO now."'

Thanks. Sorry we haven't been more open all along with the outside world. As I said, our users will tell you we are VERY open with them on our forums, but we've been so busy on the product and building the company, we haven't taken the time to share things with non-LindowsOS users as much. We're going to correct that.

--------------------

"$14.95 for c&r PER MONTH...??!!"

CNR is only $4.95 a month or $49.95 for a year. The $14.95 a month offer is for a lot of stuff, not just CNR. For that you also get Virus Protection, Web Filtering, Star Office, etc.

--------------------

" BUT - beeing "root" is a hudge security hole if the "administrator" itself is the "average user" (PEBCAC "

Right, that's why we make it super easy and educate our users about running as a user, not root. (Kevin bangs his head on wall... =)

--------------------

" I don't know whether Kevin Carmona will read this, but I hope he does. "

He did. =)

--------------------

" If you walk into any major bookstore, you wil find hundreds of books on how to use Microsoft Office or Microsoft XP."

Well, we're not as big as MS just yet. Here's a good start at least, that you'll find in most bookstores or Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1592000606/qid=107478...

--------------------

"But how does KDE-look.org and KDE-app.org benefit Lindows? "

We don't expect to be profitable day one with this mission. This is a long-term plan. We are INVESTING into these technologies because KDE and KDE apps HUGELY benefit LindowsOS and many Linux companies. Remember MS Windows 1.0? (flop), MS Windows 2.0 (flop again), MS Windows 3.1? (The rest is history. 95% market share today.) Rome wasn't built in a day, neither will desktop Linux, but by investing today, little by little, desktop Linux is getting there.

--------------------

"And (what I assume) Lindow's money maker, CNR - I have doubts corporations would be that interested. "

Businesses LOVE CNR. It's probably the #1 reason businesses choose LindowsOS. IT professionals love setting up a new computer in minutes (Install LOS in 7 minutes, CNR ONE "Aisle" and their work is done. No CD's to bother with. No activation codes. No messy licensing. No huge costs.)

--------------------

"For American OEMs, the cost of an OEM license is $40, not much when the cost is transfered to the customer. "

Dell and the biggest OEM's (HP, etc.) pay around $65 for a MS Windows license, most other companies pay around $100. If you know someone paying $40, I'm sure Michael Dell would like to talk to them.

MS makes over ONE BILLION dollars in PROFITS EACH MONTH from two products...MS Windows and MS Office (all their other products lose money). Trust me, they charge for MS Windows.

--------------------

" And does KooBox offer the same degree of support as Dell?"

Yes, KooBox offers great support options.

http://koobox.com/indexSUPPORT.html

--------------------

"The audio tutorials were impressive, though unfortunately the Linux version of macromedias flash player shows its suckyness once again"

Try these in LindowsOS and see how well Flash can work on Linux. This is one of those things you can help make better by focusing on desktop Linux.

--------------------

" I do agree though, that it would be nice if Lindows could bring more commercial games to Linux. "

We're working on this. We have a handful of nice commercial games in our Warehouse, with more coming all the time. As market share for desktop Linux grows, so will the game availability.

--------------------

" Really, do they need to have Bill Gates Sucks in their hardware compatibility list? "

We didn't put that in there, some user must have made that entry. (Users can input their own hardware experiences.) Thanks for pointing it out, we'll remove it. We agree it's not appropriate.

We don't "put down" Microsoft, we COMPETE with them. I have a ton of respect for Microsoft, but they have 95% marketshare, so of course that's who we're trying to compete with.

Thanks again,

Kevin Thu, 22 Jan 2004 16:30:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? Been there, done that. LindowsOS appears to be a very nice distro for GNU/Linux beginners. Lindows makes KDE almost bearable with their audiovisual enhancements and the overall system performance seems to be smooth enough for daily use. But the novelty wears off pretty soon. :-( Obviously this is not the distro for me. Oh well, next destination NetBSD... Thu, 22 Jan 2004 16:31:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? This download thing just is not working. I have tried it from two computers, and when you try to check out it sends you to the login page, which you can't get by unless you give credit card info. Yes I have read the other posts and I don't see the same things come up. Oh well, I didn't want it that bad anyway. Thu, 22 Jan 2004 16:32:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? "Will the installer give me an option to install on a separate partition without overwriting my Windows XP and Fedora partitions?"

Yes. During install you can chose the "Advanced Install," which will detect if your hard drive has partitions, and if so, allow you to choose which to install LOS to.

--------------------------

"I agree with you on the state of applications on Linux. I think what would be cool is a site that comes up with redesigns for popular Open Source applications like The GIMP."

That's the beauty of open source, anyone is welcome to jump in and help. If what someone does is seen as generally better, hopefully the maintainers of a project will incorporate the changes as well. This is exactly what we're doing with Nvu for example. (http://nvu.com) We started with Mozilla Composer (the main engineer we hired for Nvu is Daniel Glazman, who has been the chief architect for Mozilla Composer) and then added a much easier and more powerful interface. We're also working on similar projects for many Linux applications.

Also, as I pointed out, be on the lookout for the re-launch of KDE.com, where we'll soon be launching a bounty program to actually pay developers from around the world to help out with enhancing applications.

--------------------------

"This download thing just is not working."

Please email me (kevinc@lindows.com) and I'll get one of our support people to help you out. Sorry you're having problems.

Kevin Carmony
President, Lindows.com, Inc. Thu, 22 Jan 2004 16:44:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? Very cool. But how long will I be able to download it? Meaning, if you remove the coupon in a few days, will I be able to continue the download with GetRight (also even though my IP most likely has changed)? I'm at 143 MB now and have about 3 hours left, most likely I'll resume the download tomorrow. Thu, 22 Jan 2004 16:48:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? Just wanted to say awesome article/interview. I am pretty much a WIndows user, but would very much like to move to Linux. For me the huge issue is gaming, I use my Windows box for 90% gaming and until Linux can run games off the shelf it will only be a novelty thing for me. I am still hoping!!

Kevin,
Very cool that you posted here at OSNews!! I am going to take advantage of the free copy of Developers Edtion of Lindows. If you guys over at Lindows ever make it gamer friendly I'll be signing up. What I mean about gamer friendly is that I can go buy a game, like Call of Duty, and run it in Lindows with no problems. I can only hope...... Look forward to hearing more from the Lindows camp. Thu, 22 Jan 2004 16:51:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? How do we know these people aren't going to Brother Darl us down the road? Thu, 22 Jan 2004 16:52:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? "We're sorry, but an error has occurred while processing your download. Please try your download again. If you continue to receive this message, please contact our support team."

:( Thu, 22 Jan 2004 16:55:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? I had a hard time downloading it. And I apologize, it took me about 6 times to get it to download so forgive me for all the invoices.

And thank you Kevin Carmony, Lindows.com and staff. I'm newish to Linux and have only been using free distros. I have read some reviews of Lindows and wanted to try it, but was turned off for now by the price tag (as all I do is experiment with it, since my regular desktop is still winXP), but this gives me the chance to try you out. And this is very opprotune as well, as my roommate is trying to decide to buy Mandrake. If this is good, then maybe he will go this way (he rather would have debian).

A question, will this include CNR? Or do you have to use the trial 15days?

It's not so much as I want the software, I just wanted to try the service to see how it works.

Everything aside, this article painted a positive picture for you, and scored many brownie points today. I hope, even if I don't use you, all the best in the world.

Salute
Panik Thu, 22 Jan 2004 16:58:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? dosent get posted on /. Might take bring www.lindows.com down with people trying to d/l the free isos. Thu, 22 Jan 2004 17:02:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? > I do agree though, that it would be nice if Lindows could bring more commercial games to Linux.

Good luck!

> Had Loki Soft been here today I'm sure their sales would have been higher and we would have had alot more games.

What makes you think that? A small portion of the public uses Linux. A small portion of Linux users play PC games. That makes an a total of very few people to buy the games. So if few people are gonna buy them, why put resources into it. Liondows seems to be spreading them selves very thin as is.

> Maybe Lindows should start a Linux gaming company together with some other desktop linux distributors?

Games are one industry that is gonna stay proprietary. OSS model just does not work for them.Games require too much focus to work. Thu, 22 Jan 2004 17:02:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? I signed up as a Lifetime Supporter of Lindows last week (For France of all countries.. LOL! I guess that's why it's taking so long to sell all of those memberships for France when the others went in hours..)

I'll probably sign up as an insider when finances allow.

I was a plus user, since that allowed me to help Lindows out within my budget.

I am enjoying Kevin's contribution today, in the generous offer of the Free Version of Lindows, AND his great responsiveness on the board.

And I am REALLY looking forward to LindowsOS 5.0.

I just built a Duron 1400 System as my main Lindows box, as a Celeron 700 was just a little too anemic to do it justice.

It runs real nice on that, and I'm looking forward to what 5.0 will make available (2.6 Kernel ought to rock! And people are reporting that KDE 3.2 is smoother and faster than older versions).

A main point that gets glossed over by people is that in the years (24) that I have been in computers, every day people just don't use their computer in the same way me and my geeky friends do.

It's like the difference between a Race Car Driver and a Sunday Driver.

Race Car Drivers change tires several times a race. They tune up their engines every race. They use gas at a frightening pace.

The Sunday Driver changes tires once a year or less. Ditto with a tune up.

If Lindows was all there was, most people could get everything they wanted done with it. They have most everything they need to be productive daily.

Yes, more games would be good. A Tax Program like Turbo Tax would be good too!

But most people don't change their systems much. They want to send/receive E-Mail, IM, write letters or documents, maybe balance their checkbook, listen to some music...

Areas where Lindows addresses the need quite nicely.

I wish they had continued the WINE development, if only to allow more Windows Games to run on Lindows. I totally agree that spending $500 on Microsoft Office is ridiculous when Open Office serves most peoples needs and it's free... But, there are still LOTS of Windows Apps for which there are no Linux Equivalents.

I have NEVER been able to get WINE to work on Lindows.

I just would like to play with it. But, it doesn't work at all.

I still don't use Lindows as my "Daily Driver", but I see that I could if I wanted to.

Apple took BSD and made it a polished, end-user, desktop OS. In a remarkably short period of time.

Lindows could do the same thing given time, since they don't have the deep pockets of Apple.

I've been using Linux since the early 90's (On a 386sx 20 mhz box back then). I like Lindows. There are other nice releases as well. But Lindows comes up fast, polished and ready to go.

Can't beat that. Thu, 22 Jan 2004 17:03:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? I live in Alberta, Canada.

There is a field on their form called "State/Province" but there are no Provinces to choose from!

Also, what is a "non-US state"?!? Canada?

I'll stick with SuSE thank you very much.

Cheers Thu, 22 Jan 2004 17:04:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? I expected the coupon code to be entered before final checkout, but apparently it was a link earlier in the order process.

So ... I got charged full price. :^{

I emailed lindows support on this one ... here's hoping that they fix my mistake! I don't want the hassle of sending it back. Thu, 22 Jan 2004 17:09:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? I hope this article... dosent get posted on /. Might take bring www.lindows.com down with people trying to d/l the free isos.

Oh, I hope it does. Just to make those smug Slashdotters type "IReadOSNews." Thu, 22 Jan 2004 17:09:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? > I do agree though, that it would be nice if Lindows could bring more commercial games to Linux.

Good luck!

Since it worked for Loki a few years ago, why wouldn't it today with an even bigger market?



> Had Loki Soft been here today I'm sure their sales would have been higher and we would have had alot more games.

What makes you think that? A small portion of the public uses Linux. A small portion of Linux users play PC games. That makes an a total of very few people to buy the games. So if few people are gonna buy them, why put resources into it. Liondows seems to be spreading them selves very thin as is.

Again, Loki could do this and almost stay afloat a few years ago. Back then they even needed to create SDK and such in order to port the games. Today we have those technologies and a bigger market - so why should it be so impossible today?


> Maybe Lindows should start a Linux gaming company together with some other desktop linux distributors?

Games are one industry that is gonna stay proprietary. OSS model just does not work for them.Games require too much focus to work.

I talk neither about OSS nor creating games. I talk about porting commercial Windows games. Since you obiously have no clue about what Loki Games did I do not understand why you're talking and opposing me.
Sometimes it's better to remain silent. Thu, 22 Jan 2004 17:10:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? Well I also live in Alberta, Canada and were pretty limited in the number of high profile retail stores. Does lindows plan on expanding in Canada? Right now the best we have is Staples/Futureshop but they only sell Mandrake 8.2 Powerpack. Thu, 22 Jan 2004 17:11:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? http://www.lindows.com/lindows_feature_reseller.php#canada Thu, 22 Jan 2004 17:15:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? I hope this article... dosent get posted on /. Might take bring www.lindows.com down with people trying to d/l the free isos.

Oh, I hope it does. Just to make those smug Slashdotters type "IReadOSNews."

LOL Thu, 22 Jan 2004 17:17:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? Hey Kevin - looking forward to Lindows OS 5.0 - and really hope it would be sth more professional - KDE 3.2 & Kernel 2.6.x would kick ass - and stay as open as you can here to the OSNews.com Community - thx for the nice interview! Also, it was a nice Marketing Trick to gain widely Acceptance for Lindows with the Freebie, i am curious how long it would be avialable exactly? you said a day or two..so DL'ing on SAT still will do? =) Thu, 22 Jan 2004 17:26:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? Nice, thanx for the link Thu, 22 Jan 2004 17:31:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? As you can imagine, a lot of you are taking advantage of this offer, so our data center could get hit hard.

The coupon code will only be valid for a short time more, so what I'd suggest is that you redeem your coupon code right away, but you can then wait a day or two if the download servers are slower than normal with all the traffic. Once you've taken advantage of the coupon code, the .iso files will be in your My.Lindows account forever, so you can download them anytime.

Thanks for understanding everyone,

Kevin Carmony
President, Lindows.com, Inc. Thu, 22 Jan 2004 17:38:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? Thanx for the fast reply - Kevin. Very nice! Thu, 22 Jan 2004 17:40:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? I agree with you on the state of applications on Linux. I think what would be cool is a site that comes up with redesigns for popular Open Source applications like The GIMP. Then those of us who know a thing or two about UI design/interaction/usability etc. can come up with proposed "revamps" to the user interfaces. Have you any ideas for a revised interface for The GIMP?

It would require some work. One idea, which could catch on is a definate seperation between the back end and front end thus enabling one to implement an interface and select the interface one wants to use at compile time. For example, I may want to choose to run GIMP but with a Photoshop like interface.

Another thing, why is there 100s of floating toolbars and menus? why not just one big bloody window, a few tool bars, a great big honky menu at the top and be done with it. 99% of applications are done this way and 99% of people are VERY happy with that design. F**cked if I know why GIMP decided to do the complete opposit and go against the grain of every good GUI design concept. Thu, 22 Jan 2004 17:54:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? Thanks for this opportunity. I tried downloading a couple of times but it always timed out around 13 megs. Maybe I will try again later this evening. Thu, 22 Jan 2004 18:05:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? It would require some work. One idea, which could catch on is a definate seperation between the back end and front end thus enabling one to implement an interface and select the interface one wants to use at compile time. For example, I may want to choose to run GIMP but with a Photoshop like interface.

This has been discussed several times, not least when there was plans for a "kimp", but the conlcusion has always been that Gimp is far too tied up with it's toolkit. The Gimp developers have stated it will remain that way.


Another thing, why is there 100s of floating toolbars and menus? why not just one big bloody window, a few tool bars, a great big honky menu at the top and be done with it. 99% of applications are done this way and 99% of people are VERY happy with that design. F**cked if I know why GIMP decided to do the complete opposit and go against the grain of every good GUI design concept.

Also this has been discussed multiple times but the conclusion has always been that most people prefer it this way.
I'm on your side on this one though.

Myself I hope krita gets a boost so I one day might be able to get rid of gtk completely.

http://koffice.org/krita/ Thu, 22 Jan 2004 18:06:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? > Since it worked for Loki a few years ago, why wouldn't it today with an even bigger market?

It obviously didn't work well since Loki is not here today.

> Again, Loki could do this and almost stay afloat a few years ago. Back then they even needed to create SDK and such in order to port the games. Today we have those technologies and a bigger market - so why should it be so impossible today?

Almost but didn't. They saw alot of money going out but not much coming in. The problem is the market. Linux users are not gamers since gamers know they can not play games. A Linux gaming company would be selling to current Linux users, or people willing to switch but games holding them back. Current users are obviously not big game players or have dedicated gaming machines. So they are not an ideal market. Finally, we are down to people who have games being the only thing holding them back from switch. Do you honetly think there are alot of these people? Windows has such a huge lead when it comes to PC gaming.

> I talk neither about OSS nor creating games. I talk about porting commercial Windows games. Since you obiously have no clue about what Loki Games did I do not understand why you're talking and opposing me.
Sometimes it's better to remain silent.

I agree my comment was sorta off topic. I took Lindows starting a gaming division as gaming development. My mistake. Point remains the same. Thu, 22 Jan 2004 18:09:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? KDE 3.2, Riser 4, kernel 2.6, new CNR, new v applications, partitoning softwre, better instal program etc. I'm sold already!

Great job Lindows! Thu, 22 Jan 2004 18:11:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? Well, the only thing that was making me not to TRY lindowsos on my wife's computer was the price. With this download, you can be sure that if I (I mean she like it, you are going to have another customer.

./MacBerry (happilly waiting till the download servers cool down a little...) Thu, 22 Jan 2004 18:15:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? Well, one Question - 4.5.189 built from 1-16-2004 is a Release
Candidate?

Here are the Release Notes quoted from lindows.com:

SO Release Notes
Date: 01.16.2004
Version: 4.5.189
Size: 545MB

Engineer's Note:

This is a 4.5 Developer Edition release candidate. This version has the features as previously noted, only with added nonroot and root user stability. For an overview of all package updates please go here. Thanks,
-LOS Eng. Team

md5sum: 553d44a718edb365506b679ee964e105

Bug Fixes (dump):

Software:

* When setting up new accounts, the mozilla preferences now get setup properly
* Mozilla won't launch more than once or twice
* Insider feedback - different themes as user and admin
* Get sound working in Mozilla
* mozilla install fails if /root/.mozilla doesn't exist
* Newly Created Profiles lose Lindows Branding
* essids and encryption keys with spaces fail
* 40 bit encryption keys fail
* long URL via GAIM doesn't copy all of the URL to the browser
* Nslauncher change to make mozilla start up quicker
* Network mapping gets mixed up after resume
* Fixed bug where user accounts set up incorrect "home" folder structure

Hardware:

* systems w/ savage graphics cards send monitor out of range when booting installer
* eth1 network interface is lost when resuming from sleep from battery pwr
* smartlink modem not accessible as non-root user
* Improved the hardware detector to include synaptic mouse pads and LCD monitors
* Direct rendering as user fails due to permissions in /dev/dri/card*
* Lindows is using the vesa driver for the IGP 340M video
* Resolution reverts back to original setting Thu, 22 Jan 2004 18:17:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? I agree my comment was sorta off topic. I took Lindows starting a gaming division as gaming development. My mistake. Point remains the same.

Ok, I can see now why confusion could be. Sorry.


As I said Loki had to put alot of work into bringing SDL and other libs to Linux in order to port the games.
Not only is SDL very mature today, Wine has come alot further as well, already running alot of Windows games.
Today the effort wouldn't be as big while the target group is certainly larger.
I don't say it would be a piece of cake, but considering how far Loki could go back then, I think it would be possible today.

Linux doesn't need to get *all* Windows games ported, it would be enough porting a few of the most popular.
MacOSX hasn't got many more titles than Linux today but it still satisfies their users. Dispise the lack of mac games apple has been able to attract alot of windows users to it's platform in recent years, due to things like a better operating system and better hardware.
We already have the hardware. While the OS (Linux) is good enough technically, the end-user experience isn't quite there yet.
Lindows.com are working on it. Thu, 22 Jan 2004 18:26:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? I cant login to lindows... is that a problem on your end? Thu, 22 Jan 2004 18:29:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? OK, here's one XP user gonna try it, but Jeeze did they make the D/L hard to obtain?! Thu, 22 Jan 2004 18:31:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? GRRRR!

I managed to navigate all the way through the various confusing click-n-options, then the "Download Wait Queue" window pops up...

...I start at 128th in line...

...it gets all the way to number FOUR in line...

...AND THEN DIES!

I have to start the process all over again... and I'm back to 120th in line again! Thu, 22 Jan 2004 18:31:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? OK excuse my ignorance, but is it really that hard to port a openGL game to linux? I understand the problem /w Directx and that it can only be used on a windows platform, but whats stopping opengl games from running in linux/mac?


BTW Anyone else eagerly anticipating Doom3? Im planning on dropping in a Radeon 9600 NP in my system. A sorely needed replacment for my crappy Radeon 7500 Thu, 22 Jan 2004 18:36:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? it's the one that worked, after waiting in line. Thu, 22 Jan 2004 18:36:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? What's going on with the download queue? I started at 237, it bounced up and down and at one point I was at 97. Then it went up to around 240, and now I'm at 163.

Do I need to download this today or tommarrow, or is just checking it out in these few days enough? Thu, 22 Jan 2004 18:37:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? > Linux doesn't need to get *all* Windows games ported, it would be enough porting a few of the most popular.

So Linux will then have a few popular games and Windows will have all games, popular and not so popular. I don't see how this will help. This will help a few, but to be profitable, a company would need much more.

Just not enough game players see Linux as a possibility, especially when Windows already has all the need. In general, the advantages of Linux does not help average game players.

> MacOSX hasn't got many more titles than Linux today but it still satisfies their users. Dispise the lack of mac games apple has been able to attract alot of windows users to it's platform in recent years, due to things like a better operating system and better hardware.

True, but apple is a different story, they are far ahead of Linux when it comes to the user experience.

> We already have the hardware.

Do you? Since we are talking about gaming and home desktop PC's, the only hardware we are talking about is x86. Windows destroys Linux when it comes to commercially available x86 hardware since the drivers come with the hardware. Same cannot be said about Linux.

> While the OS (Linux) is good enough technically, the end-user experience isn't quite there yet.
Lindows.com are working on it.

And I wish them all the best, but there are not there yet and have some major hurdles to overcome. Most of them have little to due with the OS itself. Thu, 22 Jan 2004 18:37:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? IMHO using WINE(X) is not a good idea, as it means being dependent of Windows thus being dependent of Microsoft. Native ports require more work and/or money, but they put Linux into a much better position. If you haven't done so already, you might want to check out the following site for more information on why not to use WINEX: http://timedoctor.org/boycott_winex.php
A lot of the reasons given there go for the traditional WINE (without "X") as well. Thu, 22 Jan 2004 18:45:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? Sometimes Dell seems to have some motherboard problems.
http://www.mentallyincontinent.com/modules.php?name=News&file=a...


Of course the family desktop pc, a dell, seems to work fine for me. Thu, 22 Jan 2004 18:49:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? The software you have installed isn't disabled, only the ability to install NEW apps with Cnr.
Note that even though your CnR membership is out, you can still get the apps available to you when you had CnR license.
That is really reasonable imo. Thu, 22 Jan 2004 18:54:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? If I wanted to play games I'd buy a game cube, and be done with it. Trust me there is alot less l337 speaking kidz and lamers on my couch, than there are online.

Gaming and books is one thing I could never stomach on a computer, trust me either one can be alot more enjoyable on any other place than a computer. Thu, 22 Jan 2004 18:55:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? I'm glad for the free download. Thanks you Lindows.

I was using lycoris free download for a while until I broke my ati capture card somehow, although I just used it to watch tv in linux.

I can't wait to try it. I'm hoping it be something like BeOS
or OS X. Of course I fear it will be "just another linux distro"

I really want to switch.

oops, hit enter too soon last time Thu, 22 Jan 2004 18:57:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? "From the website

"All of the software that you download is yours to enjoy for 15 days, after which it will be disabled on your computer if you cancel your membership"

So you sign up for Click and Run and download some Free software like OpenOffice. If you don't keep paying a monthly fee it DISABLES the Free software??!! What of scam is this? Does the same apply to software you paid for with click and run?"

i had the same thoughts, and i also find lindows website reg. what's included (for free) in lindows and what's not highly (and imo intentionally) confusing and misleading (is openoffice included for unlimited use in lindowsos without c&r - membership or not?). same goes for the download-process where you're supposed register with c&r in giving your billing information while you in fact can download it without registering with c&r.
i've read in an answer form the coo here that the $15 per month is some sort of deluxe-membership, and $5 would be the normal price, but i just wonder which amount lindows would charge me if i would forget to cancel membership before trial runs out per month by default - $15 or $5...?!
obviously, lindows does everything to drag users in c&r which is their true cashcow.
will try it anyways - i'm curious which hurdles are awaiting me that i need to overcome to _not_ become a (paying) member to c&r while using it! won't keep it for long anyways, i'm a happy fedora - user.

until lindows treats its customers this way, i'm certainly _not_ recommend it to friends... Thu, 22 Jan 2004 18:58:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? It's not charging you for he free software, you can still use apt and manual 'make install' to install the software, what the CnR service is is another way of packaging the free software for an easy installation, that's what you would be paying for. I personally will be using APT for the installation on the computer this OS is going on, mainly because I don't have a credit card, but I don't see how you think it's a scam or extortion when you're just paying for ease-of-installation.... Thu, 22 Jan 2004 18:58:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? "go for"="apply to"
My English grammar sucks at times...

Relating the Lindows offer, I think this was a good idea because people interested in the OS finally have the opportunity to try it for free. Thu, 22 Jan 2004 18:59:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? I hope they are supporting open source for a long time to come. Thu, 22 Jan 2004 19:02:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? "All of the software that you download is yours to enjoy for 15 days, after which it will be disabled on your computer if you cancel your membership"

I think "it" means that the click and run will be disabled.

Bad grammar ! Thu, 22 Jan 2004 19:02:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? btw, in that respect, lindows seems to follow their enemy microsoft very closely in intransparency and "shoving things down the throats of the customers"-tactics... Thu, 22 Jan 2004 19:03:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? So Linux will then have a few popular games and Windows will have all games, popular and not so popular. I don't see how this will help. This will help a few, but to be profitable, a company would need much more.

Just not enough game players see Linux as a possibility, especially when Windows already has all the need. In general, the advantages of Linux does not help average game players.

This is not about being *the* gaming platform. That just wouldn't be realistic in the short run.
It is merely about providing quality games for those Linux users who want it. If people buy Linux games more will emerge and get ported... more game houses will release linux versions etc. DOS didn't substitute commodore and amiga as the gaming platform in one move either. And neither did Windows to DOS.


True, but apple is a different story, they are far ahead of Linux when it comes to the user experience.

Exactly! And that's why a company like Lindows.com is needed.


> We already have the hardware.

Do you? Since we are talking about gaming and home desktop PC's, the only hardware we are talking about is x86. Windows destroys Linux when it comes to commercially available x86 hardware since the drivers come with the hardware. Same cannot be said about Linux.

Almost any common x86 hardware works in Linux. With a dist like Lindows even right out of the box.Same cannot be said about Windows.


> While the OS (Linux) is good enough technically, the end-user experience isn't quite there yet.
Lindows.com are working on it.

And I wish them all the best, but there are not there yet and have some major hurdles to overcome. Most of them have little to due with the OS itself.

Agreed. Let us hope 5.0 will kick but for a starter. I have high expectations already. By the time Longhorn is out LindowsOS could be on par usability-wise.
Installing the system is easier, and using it at least not harder, than Windows XP today. With a more polish interface and better applications this can be a hit. 5.0 seems to be able to deliver much in that sence. Thu, 22 Jan 2004 19:05:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? O.k...so I registered on the site, and use the coupon for the free download. I go to the Download CD part of My.Lindows and click to download the 4.5 Developer edition. I am presented with a screen that tells me I am # 129 in line. So I wait a while, and take another look at the page later only to find that my account is inactive. Does this mean that my Lindows account times out after x amount of inactivity? How am I supposed to wait in line and then be kicked out? I am now on my fourth attempt to download the software. If anyone knows what I am doing wrong or has any suggestion it woul be helpful. Thanks... Thu, 22 Jan 2004 19:09:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? >If you haven't done so already, you might want to check out the following site for more information on why not to use WINEX: http://timedoctor.org/boycott_winex.php
A lot of the reasons given there go for the traditional WINE (without "X") as well.

Which is a list that's 90% disinformation, misinformation, distortions, or just plain stupid. Thu, 22 Jan 2004 19:10:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? It's a very nace action and I like to download it!
Thanks lindows.com and Kevin Carmony!!
But what can I do if I do not have Credit Card!!??
I am just a student. How can i download it from server?
I can not choose another method(
What can I do???

Thanks,
Smok. Thu, 22 Jan 2004 19:13:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? Don't forget Lindows.com is a commercial, not an OSS.
Of course they will do whatever they can (almost) to attract customers. That's what business is about. Thu, 22 Jan 2004 19:15:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? Subject says it all. Thu, 22 Jan 2004 19:16:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? Which is a list that's 90% disinformation, misinformation, distortions, or just plain stupid.

Don't think so, but even if only 10% were true, it'd be still enough to not support WINEX. Thu, 22 Jan 2004 19:16:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? First of all - in what sence does using any flavour of wine make you dependent on Microsoft? Thu, 22 Jan 2004 19:21:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? its finally downloading. ~106.1 KB/s Thu, 22 Jan 2004 19:31:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? Is anyone else having troubles downloading the iso? When my dowload should start I get an error message or it tells me my account is inactive. I have created 3 accounts and the same thing happens Thu, 22 Jan 2004 19:33:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? Yea that happened to me too. I just kept retrying(a good 8-9 times) and then it started to d/l. Thu, 22 Jan 2004 19:35:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? > This is not about being *the* gaming platform. That just wouldn't be realistic in the short run.
It is merely about providing quality games for those Linux users who want it.

Back to my original point. There are not enough people who want it to make it worth while. If there was, Loki would still exist.

> If people buy Linux games more will emerge and get ported... more game houses will release linux versions etc. DOS didn't substitute commodore and amiga as the gaming platform in one move either. And neither did Windows to DOS.

No, DOS didnt. But when everybody was getting DOS as there home OS of choice, games had to be made for DOS. Now, Windows has most home users and already has the gaming market.

> Exactly! And that's why a company like Lindows.com is needed.

A company like Lindows needs to exist for Linux to have a chance. All I am saying is that in my opinion, there is not much of a chance, at least as the currect market exists.

> Almost any common x86 hardware works in Linux.

All common x86 hardware works with Windows since they come with Windows drivers.

> With a dist like Lindows even right out of the box.Same cannot be said about Windows.

Not out of the box, but at least you have everything you need when you buy the hardware. What happens when you have hardware that is too new for Linows, like 802.11G wireless cards.

> Agreed. Let us hope 5.0 will kick but for a starter. I have high expectations already. By the time Longhorn is out LindowsOS could be on par usability-wise.

Possibly. I am not going to hold my breath though.

> Installing the system is easier, and using it at least not harder, than Windows XP today. With a more polish interface and better applications this can be a hit. 5.0 seems to be able to deliver much in that sence.

You miss the parts that don't have to do with the OS itself. Marketing is a huge point. Everbody knows the name Windows. Few know the name Lindows or Linux. Thu, 22 Jan 2004 19:39:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? Is anyone else having troubles downloading the iso? When my dowload should start I get an error message or it tells me my account is inactive. I have created 3 accounts and the same thing happens

I think the problem is that your account-login times out before you get the chance to start the download. The same happens to me all the time (tried about six times now, but I stopped counting already).

First of all - in what sence does using any flavour of wine make you dependent on Microsoft?

Read and you shall be enlightened ;-) Seriously, what I wrote is just the way I feel about this. It's neither my intention to spread FUD nor to rant or flame. Simply spend a little time to get some information about WINEX and you'll know what I mean. But of course it's ok if you disagree with my oppinions. (I'm writing all this because some discussions change into flamewars quite easily) Thu, 22 Jan 2004 19:46:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? Like so many of the old linux hand, I felt very hostile at the launch of Lindows. (The nerve! shackling our beloved OS!) However, the last several months, they have started to redeem themselves a lot in my eyes. They started to become more visually involved in the movement (KDE support, Nvu, ...) and delivered a more and more polished product. I am a satisfied Mandrake user (5 powerpacks starting with 6.0, Club from day one...), but I'm sure to try this nice gift on one of my partitions (once the hammering quitens down that is)! If I like it, I'll probably go for the packaged product if only to show support. Thanks again to Kevin and OSNews. Thu, 22 Jan 2004 20:10:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? While Loki wasn't making money hand over fist. The _could_ have survived but oki failed due to mismanagement in the last 12 to 18 months of existance. At the time that Loki was dying (the last few months) there were LOTS of information about this on the web. Thu, 22 Jan 2004 20:17:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? I started it at #195, and went to take a shower. When I came back, it was ready. I clicked on the first link, and it said security error. . This time I started even higher, hope it works. Thu, 22 Jan 2004 20:18:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? I also got the download error. I'll try again later. I'm really looking forward to trying this out sometime.

I really like the fact that Kevin agrred to do this interview and gives us a free download. I must say that this will probably have a huge positive ripple in the OSS community for Lindows. Thu, 22 Jan 2004 21:21:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? maybe the coupon thing is over already :o/ Thu, 22 Jan 2004 21:32:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? I think we killed it... 8^/ Thu, 22 Jan 2004 21:36:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? Install was fast and very easy but IT DOES MAKE YOU ROOT BY DEFAULT!

CNR is very polished, and has alot of great software. I love the fact that after CNR installs a prog, it automatically makes an icon on the desktop(like windows).

H/W detection was decent but it never installed my Epson CX3200 MFP and im getting worst than avg perforamce out of my radeon 7500(i get about 1300 in slackware, 1500 in suse, and 1100 in lindows)

Stability/Perforamce is pretty good. Slow boot but system is still very responsive. Mozilla crashed when I went to www.google.com(not sure why)

Mulimedia is kinda hazy.Its better than fedora(lindows has good audio support) but theres no video player installed by default and when I try to use CNR, it tells me I need a subscription.

Overall its a nice OS but im sticking /w slackware for the time being. Thu, 22 Jan 2004 21:38:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? I took up the offer, ordered the shrink-wrapped software package. If it installs well on my old laptop and gives me no problems with WiFi then I will most likely get a membership for 1 year for click and run.

I believe that Linux users should support their distributions anyway they can, if it is not by donating code or packages then money is appropriate.

I have purchased and used many linux distributions

RedHat
Vecter
Peanut
Mandrake
Lindows (today)

Most of the time I actually install them first and then purchase the next version as soon as it comes out. These guys have to make money somehow.

Our home computer is a Mac running OS-X, The laptop will now be configured with Lindows. My children will grow up on Unix/Linux or whatever the current open operating system is at the time, because I want them to understand how the operating systems work.

Windows hides users from the inner workings of the OS, applications, the TCP/IP stack,etc..., and so did Mac prior to OS X. Lindows is a good idea, and it will make my family more comfortable with Linux (Weening them off of the Microsoft t!t).

I wish all the Linux distro's luck, but we all should realize the Linux community is ripe for consolidation. Sun, IBM, and other companies may be already making plans to buy their favorite flavors of Linux. Once this happens the little guys will definitely get squeezed out if they don't receive any Monitary support from their users. Thu, 22 Jan 2004 21:41:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? First, a thanks to Eugenia for this great site, and to the folks at Lindows for the coupon. I ordered the CD, and will be trying it out as soon as it arrives. I have only heard good things, so I'm looking forward to it.

Second, regarding Transgaming and WineX. Using and supporting WineX does not make you reliant on Windows. Obviously, it decreases your reliance. I consider myself a fairly hardcore PC gamer, 3 to 5 hours a day when I don't have work and class getting in the way, and often lost sleep even if I do.

There is no chance of doing that on Linux without WineX. Meaning, for gaming, I am nearly 100% reliant on Windows, unless I use WineX. Not only does it allow gaming on Linux, it shows game publishers that there is a market available in Linux gaming. The deal Transgaming made with EA for the Sims shows this. And that's just the start.

Apple gaming works largely the same way, Aspyr ports and emulates many of the most popular PC games for Macs. If you ever want major titles to be published natively on Linux you are going to support companies doing this, like id, S2Games, etc, and support companies facilitating this, like Transgaming.

Sure, it would be nice if publishers just started porting games to Linux for the heck of it, but that isn't going to happen. Show them their is a market, publishers like money, and they will come. By increasing Transgamer subscribers you are saying to publishers like EA and Vivendi, "Hey, over here! We have money and want to play games on Linux!"

-yutt
Resident Gamer & WineX Evangelist Thu, 22 Jan 2004 21:49:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? ...I could download it, but it keeps saying:

" We're sorry, but an error has occurred while processing your download. Please try your download again. If you continue to receive this message, please contact our support team. "

I wanted to download&install to test it and review it... Thu, 22 Jan 2004 22:05:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? Its a shame Lindows international shipping is so damn expensive.

Shipping to the UK is quoted from $47.76 to $164.09.

Try getting a European distribution centre with sensible shipping costs and you might generate more interest over the pond.

I'd love to try the distro for $10, but once it gets to nearly $60 including p&p, it's not such a great offer for those of us with crappy 56k connections.

Sigh.... Thu, 22 Jan 2004 22:36:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? my short lived experience..

Overall seemed very good, like the installer quick and fast did the job well. minimal questions installed in about 10 minutes not bad..

one problem is that you cant partition your drive so i ended up having to give it the whole 160 gig of the 2nd drive ( it was a new blank drive it didnt matter too much) but having the option of partitioning would have been nice.

i have an nforce2 board with an nvidia fx5700 ultra surprisingly it picked up the inbuilt network card straight off which was awesome the configuration seemed straight forward (considering the inbuilt card requires the nforce drivers, was very surprised to see it picked up)

compiling both the nforce2 audio module and the nvidia graphics driver went without a hitch perfect compilation actually very surprising..

overall it was nice..

went into console and hey even has dselect cant be all bad

the problems.. after install it wouldnt boot i had to run the diagnostic option to find out e2fsck couldnt correct probs with my /dev/hda which is ext3 and runs debian unstable.

with diagnostic option i could see everything exactly like with the debian bootup so i managed to sort it.

but because the begining boot screen covers up everything it was hard to know what was going on.. but still i guess an average user aint gonna be in same setup as me.


it was awesome to find that it had autodetected my network card by default the sound server defaults to alsa and unfortunately the flash intro was the worst sounding thing i have ever heard it just kept skipping and the person speaking sounded like a chipmunk. i installed the nvaudio module (it has a very nice option in control center to get arts to use auto / alsa / oss / no sound. changed it to oss and tried again and still same prob surprisingly mp3s played and sounded perfectly fine in both alsa and oss.. so i couldnt work out why that prob existed with the flash demo.

onto next thing.
it would be really cool, if it could detect the nvidia graphics card and install the nvidia drivers i have heard other distros now do this, sadly lindows didnt, but it compiled perfectly fine a couple of tweaks to xf86config-4 and the nvidia graphics drivers were working. thats the problem though i know what im doing a complete beginner wouldnt. although by default it starts x using the vesa driver so your always in a gui environment.

another problem was as a normal user the network neighbourhood thing kept on crashing.. i didnt get it to work just saw it constantly crash.

the final and most major gripe i had was it over wrote my masterboot record on /dev/hda with i think lilo, unfortunately this completely ballsed the debian bootup, and debian wouldnt boot, to fix it i had to stick in the debian installer cd and run rescbf24 root=/dev/hda2. then rerun lilo in debian which overwrites the lindows installer..

dont get me wrong, none of these problems did i see as a major problem. just pointing out so that maybe if the thread is still being read by kevin or any other lindows personell they can look into it.

maybe a few years ago this might have been headaches for me, but considering ive ballsed lilo up at least 10 times in the past 3 or 4 years ( kernel test compilation installations gone horibbly wrong) its no problem, and i see it as slight teething problems.

to be honest overall it was very impressive i only used it for what must have been half an hour but i was left thinking, well they have a good chance the installation is pretty much foolproof. i doubt any new linux user will already have a version of linux installed on another drive.. i was thoroughly impressed with its autodetection, it picked up everything. the display first time i saw it looked impressive and now everaldo is working for you im sure it will look amazing in the 5 release. The menu system was smart and to the point, the control center was nice, nice fix up of kcontrol. You can see how much time they have spent making it foolproof. but still being able to access the old debian methods was awesome. It definately has a lot of potential, for the complete new user to linux and to computers in general.
Also to note it auto mounts your existing drives/partitions.

would i run it quite possibly, i dont see any reason not to.. i would however wait for the 5 release.. id like to get my hands on it and thrash it see how well it can handle different situations.

i would say for any person that loves straight out gui configs no real pissing about then this is a great os, and i t could be a major competitor for windows no doubt. Thu, 22 Jan 2004 22:50:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? Bunch of B.S.,

They have distanced themselves from me. Free means it costs you nothing!

Robinson thinks I'm stupid. I know the definition of free. Thu, 22 Jan 2004 23:17:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? Well...
For those of you on 56k, if you cant download, well there is a shipping option. BUT if that is expensive, get the digital dowload anyway and find a place to download latter!!! Some friend or plase where yuo can make the download.

ALSO REMEMBER you can download it latter... and you will be ENTITLE to the new releses... LindowsOS 5 (developer, oem, live...) anyone? WOW... SO get your free copy today (just redem the key and get your LindowsAccount and download it latter, and this is not a trial version BUT a FULL version, so it is yours just dont lose your account codes.)

SO... what do you think...

By the way... am a LindowsJunior Member... I got my PC with LOS preinstall with no CDs so I had to download the CD (which was the oem one) after a long time since I had no CD burner and no dsl... So I only had the oem version, but now thanks to this Great offer I can get them all (well most) and I can download it thanks to a friend (actually I work at the place now) so am happy. THANK you KEVIN!!!

Well hope that helps some of you... Thu, 22 Jan 2004 23:28:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? I don't think there are any promises to give out LindowsOS 5.0 for free, if that's what you're trying to say. Thu, 22 Jan 2004 23:35:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? Well... HA HA HA...

For your info...

I Got The PC with v3... LOSv3...
NOW I got 4.5... before I had 4...
Check and see boy...

Now I got the Developer Version... all on my account...
I AM HAPPY... Soon I will have LOSv5... All legally...

Cool!!! Thu, 22 Jan 2004 23:41:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? Tom: No, you don't have to give out your card no. You just missed something and since it's been explained at least 3 times in this thread I'm not going to say how to do again.



Anon: I wouldn't be surprised if you actually do get 5.0 for free due to being entitled to this give out. Lindows done it before... still you'll need to pay $50/yr in order to get CnR. Or else you can still go with the ChoicePC lifetime deal that gives you lifetime access to CnR and all LindowsOS ver for $100! It's not many of those deals left now... http://choicepc.com Thu, 22 Jan 2004 23:42:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? Kevin,

I really appreciatte the free download, but in some ways it makes me mad.

The reason up until this point that I haven't purchased LindowsOS is because I am (actually was) a student and couldn't afford it. I was still eager to try it out though and was willing to make the purchase so long as there was some student discount (showing at least an effort on Lindows part to help us). I come to find out there was none. Going to school full-time makes working almost impossible. I had to live off student loans and live hand to mouth as I bettered myself, and yet Lindows wasn't there to help me, when almost all other software companies are (most computer software and hardware companies offer student discounts).

What really annoyed me about that though was that I constantly would receive Michael's Minutes newsletters talking about they were giving away this OS to these people, or if you were a reseller could pay $100 and give it to as many people as you know for free, or giving a discount there.... Yet students were being ignored.

It's also a mistake on Lindows part, because I'm the best customer you could have. I was going for Master's Degree in Computer Science, and guess who every one in the family, and all my friends go to when they have computer trouble, or want an upgrade??? Me.

I just graduated, so this is no longer an issue for me (at least not till I get a job), but I still think your company should rethink it's student discount policies. If you can give everyone that reads this article a free copy of LindowsOS, then surely you could give a discount to students. Thu, 22 Jan 2004 23:52:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? Well, this is pretty worthless. Their site is riddled with errors, and it refuses to allow you to checkout....

Maybe they should fix their site to actually allow people to use their shopping cart, before trying to offer a product. Fri, 23 Jan 2004 00:09:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? "All of the software that you download is yours to enjoy for 15 days, after which it will be disabled on your computer if you cancel your membership."

This only applies to COMMERCIAL software you install during this time (StarOffice, VirusSafe, SurfSafe, Commercial Games, etc.) We don't remove any of the open source products. I'll talk to our people to make this language more clear, it is a bit confusing.

-----------------------------------

"But what can I do if I do not have Credit Card!!??"

I'll repeat it yet again, you do NOT need a credit card to use the coupon code to get the free copy of LindowsOS.

-----------------------------------

"Is anyone else having troubles downloading the iso?"

As I posted earlier, our data center has been maxed all day long with people taking a look at LindowsOS via the Coupon. As long as you redeem your coupon now, you can try downloading later, once things settle down.

Thanks for your patience.

-----------------------------------

"Like so many of the old linux hand, I felt very hostile at the launch of Lindows. (The nerve! shackling our beloved OS!) However, the last several months, they have started to redeem themselves a lot in my eyes. They started to become more visually involved in the movement (KDE support, Nvu, ...) and delivered a more and more polished product. I am a satisfied Mandrake user (5 powerpacks starting with 6.0, Club from day one...), but I'm sure to try this nice gift on one of my partitions (once the hammering quitens down that is)! If I like it, I'll probably go for the packaged product if only to show support. Thanks again to Kevin and OSNews."

Thank you. That would be appreciated.

-----------------------------------

"maybe the coupon thing is over already"

No, it's still good...for now. My guess is we'll terminate it sometime tomorrow (Friday).

-----------------------------------

"Install was fast and very easy but IT DOES MAKE YOU ROOT BY DEFAULT!"

Only if you don't click the button to add users during the Install. (Or you can do it anytime from the Launch menu.)

-----------------------------------

"Its a shame Lindows international shipping is so damn expensive. Try getting a European distribution centre with sensible shipping costs and you might generate more interest over the pond."

We do have lots of world wide resellers and partners, but they're not giving it away of course. =)

http://www.lindows.com/lindows_feature_reseller.php

-----------------------------------

"one problem is that you cant partition your drive so i ended up having to give it the whole 160 gig of the 2nd drive ( it was a new blank drive it didnt matter too much) but having the option of partitioning would have been nice."

Using the advance install allows you to install to any partition you wish, but yes, you need to create the partition first, using Partition Magic, etc. Keep in mind our market is not people downloading .iso's, burning a CD, and installing their own OS. For everyone who tries LindowsOS that way, there are 100 who get it pre-installed on a computer, so they don't need lots of fancy install options. Our OEM's want it FAST and EASY!

-----------------------------------

"B.S. Not free, wants personal info and credit card #"

Aw, what the heck, let's make it the sixth time: You do NOT need a credit card to use the Coupon to get the free copy of LindowsOS.

-----------------------------------

"I still think your company should rethink it's student discount policies."

I hope you'll give us some credit, considering we already have the most aggressive educational licensing of any software company I know. $500 for UNLIMITED USE on EVERY computer in a school or university. http://lindows.com/education

However, we'll talk about specific discounts for individual students.

-----------------------------------

Thanks everyone for being patient with our servers as they work their little hearts out.

Kevin Carmony
President, Lindows.com, Inc. Fri, 23 Jan 2004 00:16:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? The site works perfectly for me, and I'm currently downloading. The process of getting to the free download is somewhat difficult, but there are several posts in this thread explaining how to do it. You shouldn't call them idiots just because you weren't able to figure it out immediately. Fri, 23 Jan 2004 00:17:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? When you get to that page, just look at the left part of the screen, in the side bar, there is link called MY Products, click on that link and you will be taken to the cd download page. Fri, 23 Jan 2004 00:25:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? >>> "I still think your company should rethink it's student discount policies."

>>"I hope you'll give us some credit, considering we already have the most aggressive educational licensing of any software company I know. $500 for UNLIMITED USE on EVERY computer in a school or university. http://lindows.com/education
However, we'll talk about specific discounts for individual students. "


I do give you credit. I've seen your company's generosity in many areas. I'm not a Lindows Hater. I want your company to succeed. I honestly do.

But having seen your company be so generous in a wide array of areas, and being in the situation that I was in (and even wanting to help Lindows succeed), it was something I wanted to bring up to you.

I'm sorry if it offended you. No offense intended. Fri, 23 Jan 2004 00:41:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? Thanks to Lindows for the freebie and OSNews for doing this for their readers. I have wanted to try Lindows for long time, but don't like to "Buy before you Try". I have paid for versions of RedHat and Mandrake in the past after I had downloaded them and tried them. I dont mind paying for what I get, just like to try it first. I personally think this will do lot to help get the "good" word out about Lindows. We are all not SuperGeeks. I think this is the easiest distro I have ever installed. Thanks again Kevin. Fri, 23 Jan 2004 00:58:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? Now this is the stuff I like to see!. I went ahead and ordered the retail box. $16.50 for a new commercial OS is like christmas all over. I cant wait to try it out. I really like the Click & Run Warehouse. I'll pay $5 to save my self from install/dependency hell/hunt down something etc......

until linux gets a STANDARD installer, this is the next best thing for now. Fri, 23 Jan 2004 01:48:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? All of these people that can't even figure out how to download the iso are planning on intalling it?!?

Look out!!!


Oh, and thank you very much for the free download, I am now off to subscribe to CnR. Fri, 23 Jan 2004 02:13:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? Finally got the download to start on the fourth attempt (after the note went out to support, but before I got the reply). Looking forward to giving it a spin. Fri, 23 Jan 2004 02:24:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? I just signed up for lifetime membership to Lindows, CNR etc...

If you are interested it is available here:

http://choicepc.com/choicepc-france.php

It is a little strange but you are actually sponsoring a country invovled in the "law suit".

I do not work for Lindows, but I commend them on their efforts. Fri, 23 Jan 2004 02:35:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? IMO Lindows.com simplified things a little BUT that is the way to go. Normal people don't want to look at words like kernel, distribution.
Lindows is also a huge supporter in open source, plus they really make good offers, at least compared to Windows.
Lindows ain't that bad after all Fri, 23 Jan 2004 02:41:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? Though i don't have the intention to run LindowsOS on my own computers for i've already chosen for others and have my reasons, it is interesting to get a legal, free (beer) download of a user-friendly GNU/Linux OS. Perhaps, together with this interview, it can convince me LindowsOS is one of the user-friendly desktop OSes i can recommend to "Linux newcomers with not much interest for computers". I understand the need for a different approach for some computer users however i dislike an approach where users are clumsy paying customers who pay for the "we know what's good for you". Therefore, the question is not "if", the question is "which". Don't forget -- RedHat, SuSE, Mandrake have all been under fire. That's what you get when you're in this (or "a"?) market.

@ Kevin, and others: There are other ways to highlight a word instead of CAPS. For example _this_ is one, /this/ is another, *this* be another. It reads and looks much more gentile whereas multiple capitals where normally not appropriate is regarded as YELLING. Fri, 23 Jan 2004 03:00:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? Free as in freedom, not gratis.

Or Free as in speech, not beer. Your pick.

If you want a good distro that's free both ways, you can use Mandrake, or Debian, etc. But even then, you should make a contribution (skill, money, whatever) if you use it and like it. Fri, 23 Jan 2004 03:19:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? ...the servers are taking quite a pounding. I've got my coupon but I can't get a download. I'll try again tonight or tomorrow morning. I'm planning on buying a new computer and I'm ready to give it a shot. Fri, 23 Jan 2004 03:25:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? There are other ways to highlight a word instead of CAPS. For example _this_ is one, /this/ is another, *this* be another.

I like italics tags myself - and it is the correct way to put emphasis (without YELLING, which is against netiquette). However, italics are also often used for replies, which can be confusing.

This is quite OT, so I'll just say that I'm number 3 in line for the download. Knock wood. Fri, 23 Jan 2004 03:30:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? actually, it looks like they fixed the problem on their site. Waiting inline of 193... erk! One thing I didnt know is that you cannot run both Lindows and Windows on the same harddisk/partition, as according to the lindows website... oh well. Fri, 23 Jan 2004 03:58:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? Of course I spoke too soon, since my last post, I got bumped from 192 to 219, wth? Is the site working or not? Fri, 23 Jan 2004 04:09:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? I really applaud 'Lindows', but I have been dumped from the download cue 6 times over the last 4 hours. I'll stick with Slack for my PC's for now. Fri, 23 Jan 2004 04:15:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? I've downloaded the developer CD and I couldn't find a system I wished to install it on.

For those who've downloaded the developer cd and want to use it as a live cd, select diagnostics at the first menu and type "echo startkde > /etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc" followed by "startx" at the command prompt. Now you'll have the whole desktop (without altering your partitioning).

For me though, OpenBSD is staying RIGHT where it is on my desktop! Fri, 23 Jan 2004 04:17:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? Crap, I accidentally paid full price. Time to call up Michael... Fri, 23 Jan 2004 06:55:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? If you accidentally paid full price don't worry they will credit your account back.
I have tried and purchased Lindows 3.0 & 4.0 and used them for a couple of days only to decide that it was not what I was looking for. On both occassions I requested the refund they offer and have been very impressed with their promptness. I have recevied an email within hours of the request telling me my account would be credited and it always go through within a couple of days. To me it is a relief to do business with a company that you feel you can trust, and gives you no hassle with a refund.(Read over their refund policy before purchasing seperate items though,there are some limitations)
Seeing the free download I once again installed Lindows and am impressed with 4.5, it is just what I was looking for on a laptop. This time I will keep running Lindows and am now looking forward to being a member. I am on my way to signing up to CNR. I am through reading every single distro review and wondering if that is the one for me, then downloading it, installing it, and then spending hours or days only to get aggravated with and go back to searching for another.Until another comes along with simplicity like Lindows I'm staying here, even if I do hate the name. Fri, 23 Jan 2004 11:39:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? I went to the download page yesterday and created an account because I thought you had to in order to receive the download. That's where I had to give them my cc info. Later I realized, by reading other posts, that this wasn't necessary. Anyway, I was looking at my online banking this morning and noticed that Lindows.com had charged $1.00 to my credit card. What gives with that? I never gave anyone permission to charge my cc. I even cancelled out of the original puchase to make certain nothing was charged to my account. Then I went back in and used my IReadOSNews coupon to download the software. This is a bunch of crap. It's not the dollar...it's the principle. I wonder how money this will make them if they scam a dollar from everyone who creates an account. I will be emailing them today for a credit to my account!!! Fri, 23 Jan 2004 13:23:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? You did not need to put your Credit Card details in the first place!
But this part appears to mislead most punters!

Lindows mistake or ploy, who knows?
Still, it doesn't shine well either way.

At least the OS is out on the world now, nice way to do it. Fri, 23 Jan 2004 14:39:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? I WAS YELLING ON PURPOSE! Fri, 23 Jan 2004 15:14:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? anyone had any sucess getting the sarge gnome 2.4 up and running yet? (gonna attempt tonight) Fri, 23 Jan 2004 15:15:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? Nice little deal...I probably wouldn't have read the article were it not for seeing the "get Lindows free" part, to be honest. But I'm glad I did...I don't dislike Lindows (the company) like I did before (based on other people's misinformation).

Downloaded and checked out the OS, but it didn't last long due to not being able to get online. I'm 80% sure it's a general Linux problem with my modem and not a LindowsOS problem. But from what I've seen so far, I'm considering writing a review, and putting in some constructive criticism on some improvements. I've noticed a few things from my brief 10 minutes that might be nice to work on.

I probably won't end up using LindowsOS in the long run, but your free offer here at least got me to look at LindowsOS, if only briefly. MAYBE if 5.0 is signifigantly better than 4.5, I'll look again too. But first things first...I need to see if I have the parts to throw together a review machine with a different modem. Fri, 23 Jan 2004 16:10:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? I suppose you have a "winmodem"?

http://linmodems.org/ Fri, 23 Jan 2004 16:18:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? I am, for what it is. I think that this is not only a good OS for people switching off Windoze, but I would actually recommend this over M$ operating systems for most non-tech people. Why?
It installed quickly and everything worked, including 3D acceleration for my Nvidia card. That's already far ahead of Windows, isn't it? I did a CNR for Quake II and it worked straight away (although the download was quite slow). With Lindows, many of my friends would quit calling me for free tech support because their M$ machine puked. Oh, wait a minute! I usually get free dinners when I make house calls for my friend's PCs. This Lindows could be very bad for me... Fri, 23 Jan 2004 17:53:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? Thanks for the great response to this interview. I have read each and every comment, and we've already made some changes based on your good suggestions.

Thanks also for your patience with any download problems you may have encountered. Our data center has been pegged non-stop since this story broke, even through the night hours, and it remains maxed out (and we have a robust data center with a good amount of capacity). So, we thank all of you who have taken us up on our offer to take a look at LindowsOS.

I hope this Interview and looking at the software helps you all know a bit more about us.

The coupon will expire today, Friday, January 23rd, at 2:00 PM Pacific Time, so you still have a few more hours to get this free copy.

Thanks all,

Kevin Carmony
President, Lindows.com, Inc. Fri, 23 Jan 2004 18:10:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? Initially, I was pleased with the offer. However for the last ~24 hours I have been blown out of the download process without an opportunity to actually perform a download (about 20+ times). Only once did I get offered FTP or HTTP. I selected FTP & received notice that your servers had reached max connections.
A friend whom I informed of the offer had it bomb at ~95% of download in the wee hours of the morning.
Now you post that it will be withdrawn at 2:00 Pacific time!?!? If indeed this occurs, I look forward to your efforts to damage control this.
Are you going to allow those who registered within the timeframe of the offer to continue download attempts until successful? If your OS is worthy of the attention, I hope so. Otherwise, a "so sorry" type of response will negate any positive traction you got. Fri, 23 Jan 2004 18:28:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? as said meny times already in this thread - once you're registred you can download this software any time you want - as many times you want. Fri, 23 Jan 2004 19:04:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? Thank god, I've been trying to download it forever without any luck yet but I have had an account since yesterday. I really want to try Lindows out, and if I like it I'll pay for it. Fri, 23 Jan 2004 20:00:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? After emailing them this morning and requesting a refund this was there reply:

"Gary,

The $1 is an authorization check, and is not an actual charge. It will dissapear in a few days.

Thank you."


Great service with fast response and now we know why the dollar was there. So the free product is really free. My apologies for ever doubting otherwise. Fri, 23 Jan 2004 21:27:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? It's nice to hear that I can keep whacking at it until I finally complete a download.
And... I appreciate that Lindows.com got "slash-dot'ed".
But, as my post alluded to - the FTP foulup...the 200+ position in the download queue only to have the queue bomb & you have to start over. Repeatedly.
I am happy for the opportunity for the product, but I would submit to Kevin that their servers aren't quite as robust as he believes.
Currently I am 33 in line, and that is after over 2 1/2 hours & starting at somewhere around 275. We will see which comes first: My ISO or My disgust. Fri, 23 Jan 2004 21:47:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? But, as my post alluded to - the FTP foulup...the 200+ position in the download queue only to have the queue bomb & you have to start over.

Well.. when I got the message about the FTP being full, I just clicked on that link saying "click here if your download doesn't start automatically".

Sorry you seem to be having such a hard time getting it downloaded. Maybe just wait for a few days so you don't develop an ulcer? Fri, 23 Jan 2004 22:12:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? As promised, the coupon code has now expired. Those of you who used the coupon code to get a free copy can download it anytime, now that it's in your My.Lindows.com account. Our servers are still running at full guns.

Thanks all,

Kevin Carmony
President, Lindows.com, Inc. Fri, 23 Jan 2004 22:33:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? Missed getting the free copy by just a couple of hours. That sucks. I've always wanted to check out lindows but not bad enough to buy it.

Oh well I'll just keep pushing SuSE to my customers.

Robert Sat, 24 Jan 2004 01:50:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? Robert, you can still get a great deal on Lindows here: http://choicepc.com Sat, 24 Jan 2004 02:01:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? I really don't like looking a gift-horse in the mouth, but the timing of the coupon expiry was pretty darn tight.

The coupon was good for only one day - so much for "a day or two." There was hardly any opportunity to get the benefit of this offer. This does not do anything positive for Lindows in my book. Thank you for nothing. Sat, 24 Jan 2004 04:11:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? I kind of thought of Lindows as a bit of a joke in the linux world for a while. For example, I could probably have taken a measly $2,000 consulting fee, and told them flat out that it was a better idea to pour their remaining $498,000 into developing native Linux solutions. I wondered if they realized the technical complexities of emulating Windows were only part of the problem, and that running a Windows app on top of Linux, which CrossOverOffice (the result of their investment) does VERY WELL I might add, is still not all that we would have hoped for. What we need is for OpenOffice to be more compatible with Word than the various MS Word versions are with each other. This is a modest goal, since Word 97, 2000 and XP have all had backwards compatibility problems.

But, Lindows OS has evolved, and their management seems very clued in. If you're going to buy a Linux distribution from someone that doesn't (normally) offer their OS for free download, you want a slick out of box experience. For doing as well as they have in that space, they deserve kudos. As do the fine folks at Xandros and RedHat, who have also done well in this department. (I haven't tried Lycoris, so I don't know what to say about them.)

Anyways, as a hard-core Debian junky, I am only sad that I missed out by 9 hours the opportunity to download their ISO image for free. Oh well. Better luck to me next time!

Warren Postma
Toronto Sat, 24 Jan 2004 04:42:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? Ok, not quite but the usability of the LindowsOS website is very poor indeed.

When I signed up, the place to enter a coupon code wasn't at all obvious (and when I did find it, it's not immediately obvious how it works).

Meanwhile, I'm being led into creating an account, entering all my personal details (before learning if the discount applies).

But the real sin is the credit card details page. The title of this page is 'Add new payment method'. THIS IS MISLEADING. The page does more than that: when you click 'Add new payment method', it doesn't just save your details (presumably not to be used if you don't have a coupon), IT TRIES TO CHARGE YOUR CARD!

How do I know this? Well, I didn't want to put my card details in, but it immediately told me to go away with 1234123412341234 as the card number. So I did the natural developer thing to do, and used a dummy credit card number that gets through basic validation.

Guess what? Lindows accepted the dummy number and presented it to Visa who, of course, declined it. That just makes me so glad I didn't use my own card!

Lindows: Sort it out! Do NOT mess with people's credit cards without making it damn clear what you're doing.

Oh, and improve the usability of your website before crowing about the usability of LindowsOS. Sat, 24 Jan 2004 09:19:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? Hold on. Because you can't figure out how to use a website you have to bleat about it being a scam? Grow up please. Sat, 24 Jan 2004 13:00:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? I don't understand ppl sometimes. . . .*sigh* Sat, 24 Jan 2004 15:42:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? I have been looking at Linux for a few years now, and tried many of the major and minor distros. I've never tried to push any distro to my friends or colleagues because they all had too many rough edges - although my boss did know of my interest and started to research Linux for himself, with the idea of introducing it into the company.

I had heard other Linux users deriding Lindows, and I didn't take much interest in it myself (having decided that vanilla Debian was fine for my needs). But I did recommend Lindows to a programmer who was hitherto totally committed to Windows but who wanted to get some acquaintance with Linux; she tried it, liked it, and even signed up as a distributor.

As she was so enthusiastic and I had a copy of the LiveCD, I booted up my laptop with it, and thought it was pretty impressive also. Everything just worked. I would not recommend any other version of Linux to someone who was not technical. I went over to their forums and dug around - some mighty helpful and polite people.

Even though I don't have a need to use Lindows myself right now, I decided I was going to subscribe to the choicepc site just a few days before the interview here with Kevin appeared.

He has done a great job of representing what Lindows is trying to achieve. Seeing him offer this free download to us all, I finally went over and subscribed to http://www.choicepc.com because I want to give them my support. (For what it's worth, the French choicepc subscription is nearing capacity, so get on over and get one while you can. Support wider distribution of Linux, and get LindowsOS downloads + CNR for free, for life... )

Sorry to anyone who put their credit card details into the site thinking it was required to make use of the OSNews coupon. I thought that too at first, but after a few seconds of thinking 'there must be some mistake' I just tried clicking on 'my products'.

That aside, I think Lindows have done a great PR job in this appearance at OSNews.com (as evidenced in so many of the responses), and I am sure there will be quite a few new evangalists coming from this forum. Sat, 24 Jan 2004 20:41:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? First off, thanks to Kevin and Michael for the chance to preview LindowsOS. I've always wanted to give it a spin around the block and kick the tires, but never seemed to get around past the "buy to try" deal. I always went for the *try before you buy* options.

Well, I got the coupon and installed in on a second partition on my Dell 2300 with XP. It does what they say. It installed in 10-15 min (I was making coffee while it installed so it may have been 10 min!) and booted up with the option of selecting LindowsOS or XP - choosing LindowsOS, it worked flawlessly!

It found my network and configured for it, it config'd my sound card, my flat panel screen - just about everything!!!
In a half hour (after getting my coffee and bagel!) I was surfing, checking email, listening to internet radio and IM'ing my Dad in Florida!!

I'm sold - The product is great and I'm moving to LindowsOS and the CnR ..... you guys keep up the good work!!
Our home will never be the same now - Out goes MS - in comes LindowsOS for our family!!! Sat, 24 Jan 2004 23:39:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? First off a couple of things. Performing a $1 charge and then crediting it back is quite common to verify that the account is valid.

You found this out by entering an *invalid* card number. Don't tell me that companies should make sure that users (a) don't make a typing error, or (b) try to SCAM them by putting in fake numbers?

The system did what it was supposed to do: filter out bogus accounts.

If you read the article or the other posts, you will see that it was written a minumum of SIX TIMES that you do *not* have to enter a card number, and a step-by-step procedure for doing it without the card number. Sun, 25 Jan 2004 07:49:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? 1. Only using the coupon code to create your free account is what has expired. If you used the coupon code before it expired, then you have unlimited access to download the .iso files ANYTIME.

2. Again, we apologize for any problems with downloading. Our servers have been running full steam since we announced the coupon. We have a lot of capacity, but we had thousands of people take advantage of this offer.

3. This will not give you access to 5.0 later this year. Only CNR Members get free updates to subsequent versions. However, ALL users get any security updates.

Thanks everyone! I appreciated all your feedback.

Kevin Carmony
President, Lindows.com, Inc. Sun, 25 Jan 2004 09:00:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? Being "quite common" excuses nothing, and anyhow I've dealt with loads of e-commerce sites - usually in the USA - and none have ever done anything to my card without my say-so. Paypal are a good example.

As for using a dummy card number, I make no apologies. I wanted a risk-free way to get through a website that I felt was confusing. If it said it was going to try and charge the card, I would still not give it my real card number, and nor would I bother with a dummy card number. If I had no dummy number, I would not try at all.

And if you think it necessary to read approximately 180 comments before hitting the site, that kind of validates my usability concerns. :-)

(Note about usability: nobody - not even Very Clever People - reads absolutely everything on screen - that's why there are whole sites devoted to the subject, and why there's about a 99% chance you're reading this with a GUI browser). Wed, 28 Jan 2004 22:17:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments