“On April 9, Michael Robertson announced the release of LindowsOS sneak preview 2. “Lindows.com is not about selling an operating system,” the Lindows CEO says in the press release. “It’s not too different from needing a car. Nobody says, ‘I need an engine,’ they say, ‘I need a car,’ and most times, what they really mean is that they need transportation. It’s the same with a computer.” I think I know what he’s getting at.” Read the rest of the mini-review at NewsForge.
LindowsOS Sneak Preview 2: Some Good stuff, but I’m Still Root
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Eugenia Loli
Ex-programmer, ex-editor in chief at OSNews.com, now a visual artist/filmmaker.
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I think Lindows is one of the better ideas to come out in awhile. I think they have great potentail, IF they can get the OS to work with Windows software, whether it be office, or popular third party software. If people find Lindows is flaky with a percentage of Windows software, they’ll be apt to give up on it fast.
I really hope Lindows works out. Given that many hardware companies aren’t too fond of dealing with Micorsoft, maybe they’ll start putting Lindows on their hardware. Time will tell.
“I think Lindows is one of the better ideas to come out in awhile. I think they have great potentail, IF they can get the OS to work with Windows software, whether it be office, or popular third party software.”
I don’t see a huge future here. Especially for the price they want for it. If I wanted an operating system that looked like Windows and ran Windows apps, I’ll just use Windows. And I think that it is going to be a long time before Lindows will run Windows software as stably as Windows XP will. After all, look at Wine? It’s still buggy, unstable, and can’t run most of the software out there.
I think the other problem with this is that it discourages vendors from creating native ports of software. So I’m not real fond of the windows emulator ideas for Linux anyway. I’d much rather have vendors create native versions.
Looking at the new Warehouse page on lindows.com, it seems that most of the apps running on Lindows will be Linux apps recoded to look and work more like windows software, for instance they are offering renamed and modified versions f KOffice and an opensource AIM client already.
I doubt the Windows compatibility layer will ever work, I note that Codeweavers has abandoned its links with Lindows, so they’ll probably be left with just whatever improvements they can make to WINE
However, I think, if it works as well as they claim, Lindows Click’N’Run technology will prove an improved rival for RPM ( I presume, Linodws being Debian, Click’n’Run is based on Apt-get? ) ( I also hope it’s an Opensource technology so other distributions can get it , I remember gritting my teeth over RPM compatibility with Mandrake 8.0 when it was very new indeed )
even if Lindows does fail, the GNU licence should mean that the rest of the community gets something out of it.
Well- lindows already had lindows trrademarked- so would not be a need for the trial:
LindowsOS is a trademark of Lindows.com, Inc. Linux® is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds. Microsoft® Windows® operating system is a registered trademark or service mark of the Microsoft Corporation.
I agree, getting it to run Windows programs is the issue.
However, if they can, and they keep the price down, it could be offered on hardware as a lower cost Windows computer – with the ability to run a whole other OS.
The Macintosh has a good Windows emulator> I always thought a company should come out with its own version of “Windows”. You have all this software, but only one OS to choose to run it – sounds like a monopoly to me.
“The Macintosh has a good Windows emulator> I always thought a company should come out with its own version of “Windows”. You have all this software, but only one OS to choose to run it – sounds like a monopoly to me.”
This would probably be difficult to do without getting sued. For example, to get an OS that could truely run Windows software natively would probably require copying the Windows API, which would likely get you sued. I could be wrong, but I think this is why OS/2 never supported Windows 95 applications, even though it could run Windows 3.1 applications beautifully. IBM had rights to the Windows 3.1 APIs because they had been working jointly on OS/2 with Microsoft (before MS bailed). However, those rights did not extend to Windows 95, and OS/2 never supported it.
I think Lindows was a bad idea from the start. They CEO started it by trying to emulate Windows to the point or running all the important windows software. That might work for a while, but if he succeds, MS will try to get rid of him, like they did with OS/2. He’s also charging for it, and trying to keep as much stuff closed as he can(I got that impression, that I could be really wrong about though). If I’m right about that, then he won’t have the OSS geeks support, which leaves him with only the people that don’t want windows, but want something easy to run on x86 and they don’t care about cost. The problem there is that(AFAIK) it will cost $100. At that price it might as well be windows. It would have to work _EXTREMELY_ well to be able to support such a market.
He seems to be in the business of making money, which only works if many people are tied to your product. Other distributions are in the linux/software/support/consulting business. And most other distros are friendly to OSS by making all their enhancements open(like installer, control tools etc.)
If Lindows succeeds, good for them, I may even buy their software, but not unless its much better for the desktop than Mandrake, SUSe, ELX or Lycoris.
…the promise of running Windows applications on Linux was the mantra IIRC…
..’nuff said..
Funny, I first thought that SP2 meant “Service Pack 2” when
it really meant “Sneak Preview 2”. See they are emulating
Windows already…
Dano.
We read at the past January Lindows sneak preview that “LindowsOS is licensing an early pre-release version of Xandros,..the LindowsOS boot screen says, “powered by Xandros”.
As I am expecting the Xandros release, I’m asking myself here exactly what’s the Lindows deal. As far as I know, all Lindows efforts have gone into making Wine usable for various MS-Windows apps, they broke up with CodeWeavers last week. So even if I wish them best luck what’s really left at Lindows besides all the great Xandros stuff?
If you ask me, what they are trying to do with Lindows is comparable to trying to get truck to act more like a car. Linux being the more robust one, and Windows being the (not necessarily fast) car. Does anyone remember the automotrucks of the 80s? (I think the proper name was something like El Camino) God awful vehicules, i still shudder every time i see one.
I’ve never liked the idea behind Lindows, i think it discourages software development for linux. Why would a company bother making their software run natively on linux if a distro can emulate it for windows fine? I’d much rather see a newbie linux user running Mandrake than Lindows caues i would hate for that person to cling onto windows like that.
…El Cees rock yo…
heeheeheeheeheehee
Why not MS release OfficeLin, Works for Lindows. Wonder why- nms did not trademark works? No- then MS Eula’S wqpould ha ve to be chasnged.
Halfway house for people migrating to Linux
Some things a Linux box will never do –
MSN Chatrooms for instance, and those it won’t do well..
MSN Messenger ( Yes I’ve used Everybuddy and gabber, I still prefer the real thing )
Photoshop – cos GIMP doesnt have colour management of a similar quality.
its a comforting thought that you’re not tied to one platform.. I’ve often wished I could try out GnuMeric or Galeon without interrupting the download I’m doing with Morpheus on Windows ( yes I know about Gnutella )..
I have doubts over the viability of a Lindows built without Codeweavers input, but hope they make it anyway… can always install CrossOver Office as well..