The Inquirer reviews LindowsOS 4.0 with its usual humor and sarcastic twist.
LindowsOS 4.0 Reviewed at The Inquirer
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 love the way this site offers informative, albeit very sarcastic, news articles. It’s very fun to read.
– J
Finally, someone looks at Lindows the way its supposed to be looked at, This is not red hat, This is Linux for the masses!!!
-Posted from a PC running Lindows OS 4
Lindows has said that SCO won’t sue you for using for using Lindows. Lindows has some speciall deal with SCO. I believe Lindows was derived from SCO-Caldera Linux.
Of course, we all know that SCO, and only SCO, can decide what you can and can not legally use. Forget the GPL. It is meaningless. Only SCO will decide what you can use.
Hey… forget about SCO.
If Lindows is Caldera based, they are right to make a deal with SCO just to prevent future problems.
I really don´t think that SCO will win anything.
What that guys are doing is what the Japanese guys does:
Why you must to create if you can see/take/use and make it better?
They toke Linux and putted the ideas from Windows, Mac and other user-friendly stuffs…
Sorry for the geeks but that is the way to seduce the commom users.
The other distributions that makes a desktop Linux (RedHat, Mandrake, etc..) must to see what is good in Lindows and forget the hacker/geek/commandline/***UNIX*** ideas…
That´s the deal: Linux for the masses!!
Wonderfull review, and not only because it gives LindowsOS 4.0 the credits it deserves (I used it for a couple of days, but I did miss the C Compiler), but also because of the humor!
Nice guy by the way (“Fernando Cassia”), saw he had Alanis Morissette videos on his computer
Lindows is Debian Based. It even includes APT.
I still think that KDE loots too complicated and messy for the regular user. A nice GNOME install would look much more clean and professional to a new user.
I agree with contrasutra, Lindows is definetly Debian based. I rememeber reading about Lindows 1.0 and how you could access APT servers to bypass having to pay for CnR.
– j
“The other distributions that makes a desktop Linux (RedHat, Mandrake, etc..) must to see what is good in Lindows and forget the hacker/geek/commandline/***UNIX*** ideas… ”
Not a good idea if they’re tarketing hacker/geek/commandline/***UNIX*** people as one of their user bases.
with the best will in the world, I can’t say that this review is sarcastic at all. Funny in places, yes, but not sarcastic.
Sarcasm – difficult to find anyway in the written word – would be if he really overstated his love of Lindows when he really didn’t.
Sorry for the pedantry. Does make lindows worth a look though , this, doesn’t it?
Sorry about the title, I’m just being sarcastic. Lindows may be for the masses that want to switch, but I guarantee that those who have curiousity but no technical knowledge will go nutz when they can’t play their online Shockwave games. When little jimmy wants to install his new Tony Hawk Pro Skater he better own a Playstation or XBox cause it ain’t happening.
Lindows may make huge strides towards being user friendly and appealing to the eye you still have to live with the fact that the consumer market is Microsoft dominated. I don’t know how I’d convince my parents that if they switch and wait a few years things will eventually fall in place. I mean I wouldn’t want to hear that either, I mean how can you advertise that? “Buy Lindows now! Linux may not have the major consumer merchandise and software behind it’s back. But if you buy now you’ll help support an industry that might be there in a few years!”
Have we learned nothing? Even with millions using Linux hardware and software companies still won’t back it in the consumer field. IBM may invest heavily in hardware and software developments in the server field, but I have yet to see a major company offer linux hardware and support for curious consumers. These Linux boxes at Wal-Mart don’t come with really any helpful tech support, and you might as well wipe them out and install Windows.
All the best to Lindows, but maybe they could spend some money hiring people to port common applications to Linux rather than making linux look and feel “pretty”, what ever happened to making things work and then working on the look? It’s the best approach.
All the best to Lindows, but maybe they could spend some money hiring people to port common applications to Linux rather than making linux look and feel “pretty”, what ever happened to making things work and then working on the look? It’s the best approach.
Yeah, the point of the review is that they have made Linux work. That they’ve made it “pretty” in the process is iceing on the cake.
hardware is a BIG bone of contention with linux. until hardware companies become more linux friendly, i’m afraid linux will remain a minority OS.
Lindows is based on the Debian based “Xandros Linux” which was formerly known as “Corel Linux” purchased from Corel after their cash grab from Microsoft.
I use the Gentoo Linux distribution. I am exceedingly impressed with Lindows. Now there is a Linux distribution I can recommend to new linux migrants. Kudos to Lindows and their developers.
Regards,
Mystilleef
Below is a copy of an email I sent to the author of this review…
Fernando,
Thanks for the fair, and more importantly thorough review you did on LindowsOS 4.0. We really appreciate it when a write takes the time to really put the product through the paces and not just do a quick one-line review. Thanks.
A few items that I’d point out, based on your comments…
Our Internet Suite is based on the stable Mozilla 1.3, not a pre-release of 1.4. You have to realize that we go into development months before a product is released and then beta testing several weeks before. It’s difficult to pop in a new product (i.e. Mozilla 1.4) at the last minute without the potential for introducing new bugs and resetting your beta cycle and always pushing out the release date further and further. This is a problem faced by all operating systems…HOWEVER…the nice thing about LindowsOS (if you can stand to hear about it just one more time 😉 is that with Click-N-Run, you can update to Mozilla 1.4 with just one click of your mouse. We’re the one OS that has solved this problem which has annoyed you for so long. =)
Later this week, we’ll be turning on the update node feature, which allows you to, with one mouse click, update any and all components on your system. Not just the OS, but any programs you have installed as well. Of course, the user has total control over which parts they choose to update if they wish. Look for Mozilla 1.4 to be available for one-click update in a week or so.
As for no compilers being included, we do offer users a digital .iso for LindowsOS Developers Edition which includes a bunch of developer tools, compilers, etc. You can also update a regular system to the Developers Edition with one click (oops, I guess you had to hear about CNR again ;-), by using this aisle: http://www.lindows.com/aisles/LindowsDeveloper
As for the pricing of CNR, it’s only $4.95 a month or $49.95 a year. That will give you CNR for all the open source products, over 1,800 in our Warehouse, including OpenOffice. What you get for $14.95 a month is more than just CNR. You also get Lindows Office (so you can just use Click-N-Run to get StarOffice for example), VirusSafe, SurfSafe, and misc. other commercial programs.
Also, for $89.95, someone can buy LindowsOS and it comes with one year of CNR. http://www.lindows.com/lindows_storefront.php?own=no
Yes, it’s very easy to turn off the auto spell checking. From within the email client, Edit > Preferences > Mail & Newsgroups > Composition > Check spelling before sending
Ksnapshot can be installed with Click-N-Run. If you do a search for “ksnapshot” in CNR, you get this screen: http://www.lindows.com/lindows_products_search.php?q=ksnapshot (We renamed ksnapshot to something your aunt would understand, Screen Capture.)
Here’s a program I think you’d enjoy, that also can be installed with one click: http://www.lindows.com/realrekord We pre-configure it with lots of radio stations.
wget can be CNR as well. Just type wget in the search and you get: http://www.lindows.com/lindows_products_search.php?q=wget
Thanks again for taking a thorough look at LindowsOS 4.0.
Kevin Carmony
President, Lindows.com
Thanks for the additional information Kevin.
I wonder if you would comment on a few points that would cause me (others too perhaps) to be interested in Lindows.
1) Can I assume that there is not a limitation to using APT to install application from sources not in or other than CnR?
2) Does Ximian Evolution work?
3) Do Corel WordPerfect Suite and Corel Draw for Linux work?
4) Do Crossover Office and Crossover plugins work?
5) Does VMware work?
6) How about Win4Lin?
7) Volume licensing (100 seats)?
8) Does VNC work?
9) I am guessing that no IPX/SPX connectivity is available.
10) Dosemu?
11) Any way to connect to a W2K terminal services “server”.
When will we see Lindows for Xbox?