Our friends over at PCLinuxOnline are hosting an interview with the Lindows CEO, Michael Robertson. Nothing really new is revealed by Robertson, but an interesting read nonetheless.
PCLinuxOnline Interviews Lindows CEO Michael Robertson
About The Author
Eugenia Loli
Ex-programmer, ex-editor in chief at OSNews.com, now a visual artist/filmmaker.
Follow me on Twitter @EugeniaLoli
The webmaster or marketing dpt at Lindows are probably brain dead. Or, they are both run completely under the Robertson OS.
The other day, I was trying to find a high resolution image of the Lindows logo in order to create the above icon, and each company always have a press material zip file, or web page where you can download that stuff.
On Lindows.com, I could only find this:
http://www.lindows.com/lindows_news_gallery.php
So, does that mean that all their marketing/PR stuff is all about Robertson? When you buy Lindows do you buy a piece of him? Is the logo of the company his face?
My God! (no, I am not reffering to Mr. Robertson – despite looking cute in the pic)
since the day it was anounced….it just seemed pointless and impossable given the state of wine.
OTOH the best way to really give WINE a boost is to set some high goals. Before vendors started selling WINE-based products, it was really stagnant. But as soon as a company committed to it, things started to happen.
Make no mistake, I think that Lindows is a joke. But WINE is pretty cool.
>>Make no mistake, I think that Lindows is a joke.<<
What?!? A Linux Distribution is a joke to you? Not enough cryptic command line options for you to set your ip address or turn up the volume on your sound card? Is it too user friendly for you?
… you should make that picture of Michael Robertson your logo for Lindows. It would be funnier and more appropriate considering how pretentious he comes off. The current logo you are using looks like a tetris game gone wrong.
Michael Robertson is the joke, if anything. Go look at his last venture (www.mp3.com) and see how he shit on his past customer base. What started out as a “haven” for independent musicians is now a record label shithole that pushes the same crap they play on the radio.
Michael Robertson is just trying to milk open source development and anti-Microsoft sentiment to make a buck. Like mp3.com, the people who actually made it possible probably won’t get a thing in return.
“… you should make that picture of Michael Robertson your logo for Lindows. It would be funnier and more appropriate considering how pretentious he comes off. The current logo you are using looks like a tetris game gone wrong.”
Hehe, yeah … that would kick ass
Lindows is setting themselves up as the sole supplier of software for the LindowsOS. When click’n’run first appeared on their website it was stated it would be FREE. Theye even had the cheek to show images of KOffice and state that it cost USD $500 for Windows ( Which is the Microsoft office 2000 price, BTW ) but would be FREE for Lindows.
Now its USD $99 a year.
I bet Lindows ships without RPM, GCC or the Debian package manager.. and that the Click’n’Run package format won’t be released under the GPL. I seriously doubt Lindows commitment to the notion of Free software except in as much as it lets them sell something they never paid for…
Seedy wrote:
I seriously doubt Lindows commitment to the notion of Free software except in as much as it lets them sell something they never paid for…
You did read the interview? You did not overlook this line?
We’re a sponsor at the highest level of KDE and we’re sponsoring the Debian user conference.
If you say Lindows were exploiting free software then you would have to accusse Red Hat, Mandrake et al. They’re all selling software they mostly did not develop themseleves.
i know that wine tries to allow windows programs to run under linux(withOUT emulation), but is there a porject to make linux apps run under windows in the same way(except reversed?)? it seems relatively easy since linux is open source and the big hurdle for wine is the UNdocumented parts of the win32 api. just a thought. thanks!
Lindows is setting themselves up as the sole supplier of software for the LindowsOS. When click’n’run first appeared on their website it was stated it would be FREE. Theye even had the cheek to show images of KOffice and state that it cost USD $500 for Windows ( Which is the Microsoft office 2000 price, BTW ) but would be FREE for Lindows.
Hmmm, the last I check, KOffice is not even available for Windows…. Maybe the $500 is for VMware?
You did read the interview? You did not overlook this line?
We’re a sponsor at the highest level of KDE and we’re sponsoring the Debian user conference.
If you say Lindows were exploiting free software then you would have to accusse Red Hat, Mandrake et al. They’re all selling software they mostly did not develop themseleves.
I really have to check this out; they are one of the sponsors of the Debian user conference; but they aren’t the highest supporter of KDE. They are just one of the ten members of KDE League, and they are the only member that never contributed any software or code for the use of KDE (except for KDE.com, which is a site anyway that host many KDE related apps). Also, unlike Red Hat and Mandrake, Lindows.com charges $99 for a year of beta releases, and gives no source require of them under the GPL.
i know that wine tries to allow windows programs to run under linux(withOUT emulation), but is there a porject to make linux apps run under windows in the same way(except reversed?)? it seems relatively easy since linux is open source and the big hurdle for wine is the UNdocumented parts of the win32 api. just a thought. thanks!
I don’t know… Wine was there to use Windows apps on Linux because Linux lacks quality apps. I really doubt Windows users would want Linux apps… except maybe for server usage; which anyway, the most prominent Linux server software (Apache, MySQL, PHP etc.) are available for Windows NT. So, if you ask me, it sounds stupid. Not only stupid, but how much of Linux should we implement? Is it just the core? Does it include X? Does it include all the toolkits that rely on X?
(Besides, Wine still haven’t fully implemented the documented parts of the API….. mainly patent problems)
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If you ask me, I would bet Lindows would fail…. email me if you want to know why 🙂 (well, I don’t fell my bashing too many companies in one day…)
I think using Robertson as the logo sounds like a great idea… I never like the “L” logo… never thought it look like an L…
LindowsOS is a briliant idea of implementing Linux. Even, if they do not fully succeed to run all Windows software, LindowsOS is doing a great job. What this means is, well, it is Linux alright but, an automated Linux, meaning, all the stuff is done for you in a briliant easy to use way. Just like in Windows. The main thing is, it installs software for you automatically.
Yeah, but with a couple of possible exceptions, who would want to? Also, most command line apps will run under Windows w/ cygwin, or technically they will compile under windows if they are POSIX compliant (don’t try this at home, kids)
why they didn’t use peace( like wine for the effects but ompletely different for the concept and the licenze now) on a *BSD?
I think the interview seemed staged. It didn’t seem like the questions that should have been asked were. Although the questions that were asked weren’t the top questions I would ask. He also seemed to “beat around the bush” on the transgamining/Wine issue!”
Actually, I think Lindows is a pretty good idea. Anybody who can make Linux easier and more straightforward to use deserves some kudos, even for just trying. And if Click n Run is actually easier and faster than download & tar, pkg get, or rpm, then it’s almost worth the $99, especially if they include any commercial software, and not just GPL stuff.
BUT, there are way too many questions unanswered, ambiguities and such that will probably only be answered by somebody getting and trying Lindows out. That makes me nervous. If I’m gonna pay money for an OS, I want to be sure of what I’m getting, instead of finding out after the fact.
So like I said, it’s a nice idea, but…
Yes – I know theres no KOffice for Windows – what I’m saying is theyn are claiming its equivalent to MS office.. which it isnt..
As others said – Lindows doesnt contribute code back.. and the reason Windows compatability is dumped is that Codeweavers refused to co-operate with them when they announced that their extensions to Wine would not be released under the Wine or the GPL licenses.
So I think my comments about GPL commitment are justified…
I think that ebuilds and sorcerer scrolls are great, lately I saw some good GUI for the portage2 the only thing that maybe discourage the novice user is the xfree first configuration
There actually is a LINE at line.sf.net and while the author has not had time to continue development (although he told me that he would like to), the User Mode Linux project has integrated his work http://toad.net/~chandan/umlwin32/
Some people think that this sort of project is pointless, but I can see its utility. Think of it as the ultimate invasion of MS’s market space. Linux on MS Windows also makes it easy for newbies to try out a distribution safely with no partitioning and no dual booting. I think it would be great if Linux was ported to other OSes as well. You could even make an IE plugin.
This isn’t even a new idea. Bell Lab’s Inferno operating system can run on native hardware, on Linux, on MS Windows, and as an IE plugin. See http://www.vitanuova.com/inferno/hosted.html for details.
Actually, I think Lindows is a pretty good idea. Anybody who can make Linux easier and more straightforward to use deserves some kudos, even for just trying. And if Click n Run is actually easier and faster than download & tar, pkg get, or rpm, then it’s almost worth the $99, especially if they include any commercial software, and not just GPL stuff.
I see no technical nor user interface ablities than Click Run has and Ximian Red Carpet doesn’t. It is the same idea. As for the UI, the entire UI, except for the logos, is exactly the same as Xandros Linux; which is essentially KDE 2/3 with some parts (like file hiearchy) similar to Windows.
Yes – I know theres no KOffice for Windows – what I’m saying is theyn are claiming its equivalent to MS office.. which it isnt..
(NOTE: I’m not laughing at you, but at Lindows). KOffice as good as MS Office? Mwuahahahahahaheheheehehuhuhuhuhuhu.. I can’t stop laughing.. hehehehehehuhuhuhu (and BTW, I use KOffice whenever possible).
As others said – Lindows doesnt contribute code back.. and the reason Windows compatability is dumped is that Codeweavers refused to co-operate with them when they announced that their extensions to Wine would not be released under the Wine or the GPL licenses.
So I think my comments about GPL commitment are justified…
I think it is justified. If they want to make some software out of GPL code; they should follow that license. If they don’t… isn’t there BSD? Isn’t there CDE which they can license? And stuff like that. Really, for $99, it is a legal right for the consumers of the beta software to optain the source code.
but is there a porject to make linux apps run under windows in the same way(except reversed?)?
Yes, and it’s called LINE (not surprisingly, “LINE Is Not an Emulator”). See http://line.sourceforge.net/. The LINE core is a lot simpler than WINE because it just passes the Linux system calls on to the Cygwin DLL.