“A lot has been said about the upcoming Lindows OS. Most of it has been either overblown hype (it will let you run ALL Windows programs! Yee-ha!) or anti-hype (it’s not a real Linux distro, it’s for Windows losers!). Lindows has polarized opinion in the Linux community while simultaneously setting up huge expectations for non-techy Windows users desperate to free themselves from Microsoft’s iron grip. “ Jim Lynch’s Lindows editorial for ExtremeTech.
Why Lindows Ultimately Won’t Matter
About The Author
Eugenia Loli
Ex-programmer, ex-editor in chief at OSNews.com, now a visual artist/filmmaker.
Follow me on Twitter @EugeniaLoli
I would tend to disagree with the quoted text. I would say that the types of reactions he gives are atypical.
The only group that ever said Lindows would run Windows software well was Lindows itself. I think most people recognized immediately that this was just a bunch of smoke being puffed by Michael Robertson in an attempt to jump onto that Linux bandwagon.
As for the negative statements: I think that most people that are knowledgeable about computing have judged Lindows fairly. Most, I think, recognize that for Linux to reach mass adoption, there will need to be a Windows-like distro. However, I think this will most likely be filled by Lycoris or maybe Xandros. Especially since Lindows has such a draconian subscription policy that would make even Microsoft shudder. Aren’t people switching to Linux to avoid such things?
It is amazing to see how the Linux community itself is turning against itself. Talking about destroying Windows? LOL, what a joke, you will first destroy yourself.
As soon as one of the Linux distros seems to be a success, you start flaming it. Take, Lycoris for instance, Lindows, Xandros. They are finally doing something right and making a REAL progress. What’s bothering you? Because it’s not you and it is someone else that did it? Or is it because it’s not free? Your negative comments will only help them stay down.
This is sort of a strange editorial. I think the conclusion is probably right, that Lindows may be doomed, but the places he goes within the article are somewhat odd.
I guess the stranges part is that he keeps getting Joe User and people like us – who run SuSE, Mandrake and Red Hat, grouped together. He asks why pay $99 in you can download for free. Well, Joe User doesn’t know about the various ways Linux packages are delivered and installed. We know that stuff, Joe User has no idea. Joe User doesn’t know there are such things as KDE and Gnome to begin with, much less RPM amd APT. The Joe User distros are trying to unburden people from having to know.
The strangest part is when he goes off and talks about buying VMW for hundreds of dollars in order to run Windows programs! Joe User is going to buy Linux, then pay $299 and install VMW so he can run Windows programs instead of just buying a Dell or GateWay and run Windows XP?? ROFL!!
It is true that Robetson shot his mouth off about running Windows apps, but the reviewer doesn’t seem to be aware that he’s backed off of that almost completely.
So, it may well be true that Lindows is doomed, but the gentleman is very fuzzy about what he’s talking about. He mentioned nothing about the fact that Joe User can get Lindows pre-installed through Walmart. I realize that I don’t have to experience swallowing cyinide to know it will kill me. But, in this case, I think the writer really should at least have experienced using Lindows…or seeing what it would be like to perhaps get Walmart to let him use a pre-installed Lindows box. There is a huge difference in buying a computer from Dell with XP installed and installing XP on your own, with no experience in doing stuff like that. So, there is even a greater difference between getting a Lindows/Microtel computer through Walmart and installing and running SuSE 8 on your own.
The author doesn’t get Joe User at all…or the reality of Joe User that Lindows, Lycoris, Xandros and ELX are trying to address in their own different ways. My Joe User friends and neighbors call me up frantic because they think their computers have totally died – and it turns out the power plug has come a little loose over time. That’s Joe User.
Companies like Lycoris and Xandros will give back their changes they did to the GPL programs they modified.
I don’t mind them being a success. But let’s go down the list.
Lycoris
– If Mac OS X was the market leader, and Lycoris copies their icons the same way as they do now for Windows XP icons, they would be bankrupted because of legal fees.
– Just a change of icons, and a much more better colour scheme, I would support this distro.
Lindows.com
It said it would bring Windows apps to Linux. It couldn’t. Then it introduces Click N Run. They claim KOffice is equilevent to MS Office on Windows. They charge $99 for otherwise free apps. Sure, it is their bandwidth, but how does Lycoris and Xandros make money then? (Read the below too, it has the same problems)
Xandros
Nice distro. However, just when Microsoft is trying to hide the old DOS file hiearchy, Xandros implements it over Linux. Clever no? That’s not all. For example, C: is suppose to show the first hard drive partition, but instead it shows /home/user which is suppose to be My Documents on Windows. New users would be confuse. They would be confused why UserA and UserB have different C; on Linux, but on Windows, they have the same.
That’s about it 🙂
Lindows bundles with full Star Office, not KOffice, IIRC….
Lindows bundles with full Star Office, not KOffice, IIRC….
The CLick N Run thingy uses KOffice, IIRC.
But even if it is a full version of Star Office, wouldn’t that be what cost $75 dolars on Windows, and not $400, cause Star office is available on Windows?
A lot of these distros want to make linux easy to use. The problem is that there’s a limit to how much the distro can help. One group works on the kernel, another on the file system, another on X Window, another on KDE, etc. And then there are all the apps. The distro company can’t say “stop this themes nonsense -it’s too inconsistent and just bloats up the GUI!” It can’t establish consistent UI guidelines for apps. So while these distros may make linux easier, it certainly won’t be as easy as Windows or Mac (not that these two OS’s don’t have scores of their own problems!)
because noone wants it..
> Companies like Lycoris and Xandros will give back their
> changes they did to the GPL programs they modified.
>
> I don’t mind them being a success. But let’s go down
> the list.
>
> Lycoris
> – If Mac OS X was the market leader, and Lycoris copies
> their icons the same way as they do now for Windows XP
> icons, they would be bankrupted because of legal fees.
>
> – Just a change of icons, and a much more better colour
> scheme, I would support this distro.
Well, it is Linux. You can change it. I’ve installed Lycoris
on several machines. For me, the look isn’t so important
as the function. I like the way it detects the hardware and
configures it for you. If it can do that, and look reasonably well too, so much the better. But, if you don’t
like the look of Lycoris (or any other distro), make it to
your liking. As long as the machine WORKS, that’s what
matters (to me at least).
>-The author doesn’t get Joe User at all
Amen
How in the world can one presume to write an article about Lindows without even trying it out. And with a total lack of understanding for the very market it is aimed at.
Lindows.com offers KOffice.. free software.. quoting a Windows price of $400 as that is the price of Microsoft office
Hardly an equivalent, I feel.
the comments that Jay made about Joe user I fell are totally correct most of the common users expect to buy a computer and it is up and running and working fine,They don’t have the patients to work with somthing new they just want it to work,I work for an Oem company and deal with theese issues everyday if we Ever want linux to be the perfered OS over microsoft then we will need pioneers like lindows (although from what i have heard the product is almost as inferior as microsoft) But lindows is a step in the direction towards the acceptance of linux in the mainstream.Although that might destroy the whole open source free os concept,But other people deserve to have a linux experiance instead of Micro$oft
The funny thing about those Icons on Lycoris is that they were made from scratch and they used the MS website instructions on how to make icons. That is the rumor at least. Ironic?
The distro company can’t say “stop this themes nonsense -it’s too inconsistent and just bloats up the GUI!”
No, they can’t stop the developers, but they can be very choosy in selecting which programs go into their distro. Most people only need a handful of apps for their basic computing. You don’t need 5 file managers and 6 text editors. And within the limits of what is available, the distro can offer some degree of consistency. Of course, isn’t that one of the main goals of KDE and Gnome? To offer a consistent UI?
And experienced Linux users can always download whatever additional software they want, if they want more.
>Of course, isn’t that one of the main goals of KDE and
>Gnome? To offer a consistent UI?
Well, I find it pretty ironic that people tried to solve a problem by making it worse.
Problem: there are too many toolkits out there
Solution: let’s create one more toolkit.
JBQ
Sarcasm? Oh yeah, I’ve heard that word somewhere, once.
Linux advocates eating their own young! If your OS was even remotely ready for mainstream use, we wouldn’t have so many toy OS’s being released this year. No wonder your mascott is a flightless bird. You all knew this Sh*t wouldn’t fly!
Silly Penguins, ‘NIX is for kids!
he if linux is a toy what does than make micorosoft? a pile of dung?
for god sakes it took 20 years just to make an OS that can run a word processing program stable let a lone some real heavy duty computing.
“for god sakes it took 20 years just to make an OS that can run a word processing program stable.”
And it has taken this long for the OSS community to produce about a half dozen cheap knockoffs of said word processor, each with about half the functionality.
Immination is the greatest form of flattery.
trix rabbit, if you are so sure of your views and your pointless whinging about an OS that it is clear you have not had any experience with, either install it and spend some time with the system, or shut up about the whole thing.
BTW, why do you keep your email address hidden ? scared of getting flamed over your views ?
The mods of this forum should make it a requirement that posters show their email addresses, this would cut down on the amount of trolling that goes on here.
Darius. I have read a lot of your posts, and you do provide valid arguments in all your posts, I do not agree with them all, but nice one anyway for not hiding behind an anonymous username.
Trix, have a look at the posts Darius has made, then have another look at the non-constructive drivel you have posted and tell me who people would pay most attention to.
BTW Trix, when you are not on your PC, are you the sort of person who sings loudly in the bath coz you like the sound of your own voice ? I think so
>> The mods of this forum should make it a requirement that posters show their email addresses, this would cut down on the amount of trolling that goes on here.
not to protect the trolls…but the email address requirement wouldn’t solve a damn thing…where there are forums there are trolls…you just gotta live with it…what’s to stop you from putting up a fake email address, or someone else’s email address, or setting up a yahoo or hotmail account that you could use for this forum…
i hate trolls too, but ya gotta live with ’em
-bytes256
if the mods implimented a verification system, whereby a post gets accepted by the system, but does not get posted until the user recieves a verification email to the address he put in the email address box… less troll posts.
I agree it would not get rid of them all, but it would be a vast reduction on what we would have to read at the moment