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You are correct, Olds sounds nothing like Ford. However, Microsoft sounds nothing like Lindows.com (that's their official company name). So we are comparing Microsoft Windows to Lindows.com LindowsOS. If you get confused by that, you better go back to kindergarten.

Microsoft today pushed congress to ban the l key from being sold on PC keyboards. A spokesperson said "You don't need to type that key to visit good and whoesome websites. On the other hand, that key is essentia to terrorists trying to visit communist and subversive sites. True patriots wi have nothing at a to worry about."

If you havent already, I suggest you download and install linux immediately. By doing so you are reducing the impact of winworms, and your letting SCO know that you dont care about them!

So install linux today!

Alright, let's stop letting microsoft do all our visual design. Evidenced here. That looks remarkably like WinXP's Control Panel. I'm sorry, but the general trend in desktop distros, especially ones with KDE, is to make things look like windows. Can we please try to innovate a little more on the user interface? I use Enlightenment, I think it does a fairly good job of this. I mean, some of the top downloads for themes are based on Mac's OS X. We need a defined Linux-look and feel that's not based on something developed by someone else. The Linux desktop should not try to be a clone of the Windows. see here.

We use flash presentations these days,

With distro's like Xandros getting rave reviews and Lindows pushing further integration and Suse getting EAL3 certified things are now starting to get interesting.

I am a huge Mandrake fan, but they seem to be falling behind in total integration and after using them since 7.2 for the first time I've been considering making a switch.

Their basic distro has not been really evolving and although it started out more evolved then its counterparts, this is starting to change. Most of the updates since 7.2 have been general software updates and a few esthetic changes. Here's hoping being in the black helps boost R&D back to what made them an early leader in usability. Philosophically they are still at the top of my (commercial) list, but I am pragmatic.

Alot depends on how secure m$ "secure computing" model is. If they do what theyre bragging about and allow pages of memory to go unchecked even by the OS itself i think u have the beginnings of the recipe for a super virus.

The next version of windows and how they move to get it mainstream (new standards, no forward compatibility for older windows, whatever) will be a big factor in how the desktop 'game' plays out...

Linux is developing for desktop with Lindows OS , its M$ turn, we need to wait for their move.

Get lindows dvd player It comes with a fully authorized dvd player

Now you have no excuse, put your money where your mouth is!

*laughs*

Well, considering the amount of ridiculous trademark infringement cases we have seen in the news recently, I am suprised that the Go Fish Card Game People have not sued the GloFish people for infringement. Hey, if people can confuse Lindows with Windows, then why not?

I, for one, welcome our new GloFish Overlords...

..Their OSes are relatively simple to use and cheap...

Cheap compared to what? OS/2 was expensive? You need to consider the price of every new version, and the 3rd party software needed to keep it working properly (firewall, antivirus, etc.). If you add it all, only very successful bussiness can afford it (hence piracy in a lot of small bussiness, at least here in the 4rd world).

Microsoft's 'monopoly' isn't about using it's power to force little guys out of the market

What about stuff like this?

To some people Open Office has a great performance/cost ratio that overrides some features in MS Office

That's right; the only real showstopper here is in the performance department. It's a pity Linux can run smoothly on a p-166, but when you need an easy-to-use desktop, {kde,gnome}+OOo, raise the bar usually up to 1GHz and up (same for ram).

In the site's frontpage they quoted a guy from Microsoft:

"But Microsoft's Drake said Lindows.com's online process makes it too easy to make a claim".

But they omitted the rest of his comment (also here): "[comma] making it more likely that people without legitimate claims will file.".

Heh, that reminds me of some movie ads, where they show quotes from magazines like "Brilliant!", but they omit the rest that goes "It was brilliant the way the director blew it with this piece of crap. Just brilliant!".

So are they doomed yet?

"We supported ReiserFS at MP3.com..." -Michael Robertson

Are there other familiar places that use(d) ReiserFS?

By the way, great tag at the bottom of the article:

"Copyright (C) 2004 Lindows.com, Inc. All rights reserved.

Lindows.com is not endorsed by or affiliated with Microsoft Corporation in any way - in fact, we don't even really like them because they are suing us.

"...it definately raises my impression of them..."

How low can these prices go!?
Don't compile that Linux TAR, now you're a Lindows star!

Details here.

I question the validity of this. I am not familiar with WalMart.com's sales but I bet they are dwarfed by Amazon's sales. (WalMart, in general, however I am sure dwarfs that.)

While cheap, it will take more than a few cents savings to convince people to use Walmart's service as opposed to using itunes. Hey, better yet, why not download for free? Seriously though, unlike their globally dominating bricks and mortar brand, I don't see this taking off as well. But maybe I'm wrong; perhaps WalMart's music service will take off. Hey while we are at it, maybe while people are at the site they will buy a bunch of Lindows PCs too. :)

Plus with the selection available at WalMart (or lack therof) I hazard a guess that WalMart will not be the most prevelant music download service...

Sorry, but it's not made up:

"It is undisputed that several other companies had developed interfaces with an overlapping windows feature prior to the release of Windows 1.0 in 1985."

and

"The USPTO's February 17, 1993 Final Action stated that 'the term Windows is widely used, both by the public, consumers, and the relevant industry, to name a class of goods or a type of software, that is, a genus of goods, referred to as windows programs, or windowing software."

Those are taken from a Judge's order, BTW.

read more here:

Yeah, I know, ideally they should be independent links, but at least you know it's not just my opinion.

Besides, what's the likelihood that MS actually came up with something new on their own? (Even if it's just a name!) :P

The real issue that issuing that trademark was a mistake in the first place -- too bad that MS didn't come up with something original and probably wasted money advertising and building a brand name they don't have strong claims to (or really, probably *any*).

It's still to be decided in the US, but it's certainly not just my opinion and not that impossible that MS loses the term "windows".

Yeah! For real! I can't believe anyone would infringe on Microsoft's infringement

What rolling green grassy hill wallpaper? It doesn't look much like XP to me.

What rolling green grassy hill wallpaper? It doesn't look much like XP to me.

I don't care... I won't use Lindows, nor will I recommend that anyone else use Lindows. Lindows is in bed with SCO, so therefore they can rot in hell for all I care.

I still want to know how the word "Windows" can be trademarked. Especially when Microsoft's own CEO refers to windowing systems in a very generic way.

Comments from Deposition of William H. Gates...
"Virtually every application has the ability to put multiple things on the screen that you'd call windowing. ...that goes back even before the '60s."
"The idea of splitting a screen up so you have one thing in one place and something in another place I think has been referred to windowing, certainly in the '60s that was called windowing."

Well, some of us ARE working on that very thing. (In all honesty, there's another distribution that I know of that we're working with, but since it's not public knowlege, I can't point people that way- YET.)

Shortly, with the efforts of companies like ourselves, SCI and hopefully others, that is going to change.

(Oh, and on a different note, HOW did you get the ability to have links without the [foo.com] after them? :-)

Obviously it is. I announce a Linux distro that's Windows compatible, but then I decide that, well, no, it's not, that's kinda a setback for the whole "this isn't a pointless waste of time" idea, no? Eerily similar, in fact, to announcing a GPS system that can't be jammed, and later deciding that, wait, no, we were actually, how you say, "making shit up" when we said that.

And now, let me, here, use a few more, additional, useless, commas, and clauses, that will fuck, up, you know, the flow of the sentance, yeah.

The phrase "windows," whether you choose to accept it or not, activates a subliminal correspondence to Microsoft's Windows operating system suit.

It's unfortunate this word in the context of computing or GUIs doesn't also trigger the memory of a trademark dispute between Microsoft and Lindows. In this case, Microsoft lost and subsequently urged anyone referring to any version of their proprietary operating system (or the MS-DOS application) to call it by a more descriptive non-generic name. It's interesting to note Judge Coughenour's logic in denying Microsoft a preliminary injunction in this case:

"Although Lindows.com certainly made a conscious decision to play with fire by choosing a product and company name that differs by only one letter from the world's leading computer software program, one could just as easily conclude that in 1983 Microsoft made an equally risky decision to name its product after a term commonly used in the trade to indicate the windowing capability of a graphical user interface."

But this story mainly serves to reinforce the value of repetition--in the aforementioned lawsuit, and as a professor who probably gives lectures, you probably already understand the value of repeating something you want to stick in people's minds. The reason people don't recall the trademark dispute is because few people heard of it. If we are to get people to use the word "windows" to mean something else (perhaps a general term that immediately makes them question the ambiguity) we must persist in repeating explanations and recent history. Widespread repetition is one way people learn new meanings (just as they learned "windows" in the computer sense as a colloquial synonym for "Microsoft Windows" and for the visual object one can drag around in a GUI).

the Lindows Mobile PC they announced earlier:

Lindows Mobile PC

LinuxJournal just did a review of the machine itself in their latest issue and gave it pretty good marks.

They also have an entry on their website about uninstalling all the Lindows branded stuff and upgrading to Debian:

LinuxJournal: Customizing a Lindows MobilePC

> so the name "Lindows" is a trademark infringement, but
> the name "Red Hat Windows" would not be?

AKAIK, no court of law has yet declared "Lindows" to be infringing. If they had, Lindows.com wouldn't work right now.

Technically, neither of your examples are infringing. That doesn't stop Microsoft from trying to claim they infringe.

Robertson's response can be found here.

Microsoft has filed legal papers on the matter, which can be found here.

Robertson's response can be found here.

Microsoft has filed legal papers on the matter, which can be found here.

Robertson's response can be found here.

Microsoft has filed legal papers on the matter, which can be found here.

Linux on the desktop will never be truly successful until it atleast has a file system that makes sense as well as a simple and reliable method for software installation. And of course the former greatly helps the later. Naturally, there are the other points such as game and application support, but these will come when the basics become standard and Linux becomes more accepted. Personally, I believe everything Linux, as a whole, needs to succede already exists but is not yet embodied in a single distro. I find it ironic that no one's fully taken advantage of the freedom of information that open source entails and encorporated the best ideas into a "super-distro".

There is lots of competition on the desktop right now, with:

Mandrake
Lindows
Xandros
Lycoris
Gentoo Games
Debian

And of course Slackware and Suse

Maybe they decided the market was already full. Turning it over the the community makes pretty good sense. Enterprise has always been their primary market.

Or other great user oriented distros out there.

To an Operating System that dosen't have virus problems.

You might want to check out... http://lindows.com/opensource

We have 60 employees. More than half are engineers, but we DO have business, marketing, sales, accounting, HR, etc. people working here as well...all dedicated to one thing...Bringing Desktop Linux to the masses. These non-technical employees enjoy using Linux on their computers, but they too would like to be able to create web pages WITHOUT having to become a full-time programmer. Our intentions with Nvu are very simple: - Create a very easy-to-use web authoring SYSTEM (not just an "HTML editor" but a SYSTEM for managing the site easily as well) for NON-technical people. For Linux to thrive on the desktop, it needs solid, easy-to-use products for USERS not just Engineers (web browsers, email clients, office suites, and yes...web authoring systems). - Keep the product 100% open source. We used the MPL because we're based on Mozilla code. We are HAPPY to see anyone use the Nvu code in ANY way they like. There are absolutely no strings attached to our contribution to Nvu. We just want to see this "hole" in desktop Linux filled. - We're thrilled to be paying Daniel Glazman (lead contributor for Composer) so that he can focus full energy on Nvu. Composer was in real danger of being orphaned and left behind with the current breaking up of the Mozilla suite, and all the main focus going to the web browser and email client. We didn't want that to happen! - We are contributing SERIOUS money, servers, bandwidth, engineering resources, code, marketing, and so on to see this project through to not only the end, but on an on-going basis. Where would Mozilla be without AOL's past sponsorship (via both Netscape code and $$$)? Where would OpenOffice be without Sun's funds and sponsorship? Open source is great, but it's even better when it can be fueled with funds with no strings attached. Nvu is just one of MANY open source projects we here at Lindows.com fund and support: http://lindows.com/opensource We want to see DESKTOP Linux thrive. That's our soul goal. Thanks, Kevin Carmony President, Lindows.com

And this dialog has the Netscape logo.

Lindows will be releasing it under the Mozilla license. And, they've contracted a ex-Netscape employee (Daniel Glazman) to be the lead developer.

Read here for more and past information:
Lindows.com Announces Mozilla-Based Nvu...
Lindows.com Contracts Daniel Glazman to Develop...
Daniel Glazman Starting Company to Develop Composer

MozillaZine has an article about Nvu with some tasty details.

Michael Robertson, CEO of Lindows.com, has announced that his company is starting a project to build an easy-to-use Web publishing product for Linux. The new application, called Nvu (pronounced 'N-view'), will be based on Mozilla Composer and released under the Mozilla Public License. Lindows.com has contracted Daniel Glazman of Disruptive Innovations to be the lead developer, though the company hopes to attract other contributors. Version 1.0 of Nvu is expected in the first quarter of 2004. See the Nvu FAQ for more information.

So, it's based on Mozilla Composer, the lead of developer of Composer will be on board and it's going to be released until the Mozilla Public License. Could it get any better?

MozillaZine has an article about Nvu with some tasty details.

Michael Robertson, CEO of Lindows.com, has announced that his company is starting a project to build an easy-to-use Web publishing product for Linux. The new application, called Nvu (pronounced 'N-view'), will be based on Mozilla Composer and released under the Mozilla Public License. Lindows.com has contracted Daniel Glazman of Disruptive Innovations to be the lead developer, though the company hopes to attract other contributors. Version 1.0 of Nvu is expected in the first quarter of 2004. See the Nvu FAQ for more information.

So, it's based on Mozilla Composer, the lead of developer of Composer will be on board and it's going to be released until the Mozilla Public License. Could it get any better?

Indeed the "Publish Settings" dialog shown in this image sitemanager.jpg still has the Mozilla icon on it.

Michael Robertson, is that you?

Now all we need is "William Shatner Sings The Lindows Rock", and I think we have ourselves a tune the whole family can enjoy^H^H^H^H^Hflee from in terror.

Who can miss the sing-along version?

Dear gawd! Free speech be damned, there should be laws preventing this!

Hmm! Maybe they should click here to see how cool LindowsOS is!

I'm seriously, guys. Click the link. It doesn't just go to the Lindows site. It goes to a part of the site that will make you wonder exactly what the Lindows folks are smoking.

Michael Robinson will probably let this one go to court. He has been quite outspoken in the past about MS and im sure a Cease and Desist order isn't going to scare him off especially with his past victories.
Mr. Robinson seems to like picking fights with the bullies and I think he went into this knowing full well MS would bring their legal machine into it.

Michael Robinson will probably let this one go to court. He has been quite outspoken in the past about MS and im sure a Cease and Desist order isn't going to scare him off especially with his past victories.
Mr. Robinson seems to like picking fights with the bullies and I think he went into this knowing full well MS would bring their legal machine into it.

>> It is still illegal to play a (store-bought, DVD-encrypted... which means 99% of mainstream movies) DVD under Linux, as there is no licensed CSS decryptor for desktop Linux systems.

Not true, believe it or not. Lindows apparently licensed the technology. You can purchase a license from them ($40 if you don't have a click'n'run account, $5 if you do). Check it out here. According to the sales rep I talked to, the license is good for both mplayer and xine.

Still, you're right that our fair use rights have gone to hell. Lots of people care, but the forces we're up against are too powerful and they have too much at stake (i.e. their continued dominance of the distribution chain). Hopefully as linux and OSS get more popular/entrenched things will improve. For the time being, this workaround is better than nothing.

On this one -

Computer manufacturers will save millions by purchasing Seagate[...]

But Mike seems to think it will be a bit more -

Computer manufacturers will save billions by purchasing Seagate[...]

On this one -

Computer manufacturers will save millions by purchasing Seagate[...]

But Mike seems to think it will be a bit more -

Computer manufacturers will save billions by purchasing Seagate[...]

Lindows is great but what I'd really like to see is a choice: Knoppix, Dyne:bolic or Biatchux. These are all GNU/Linux live bootable CD-ROM based operating systems with automatic hard ware detection, which makes them particularly well suited for such a purpose. Knoppix is a general-purpose system, Dyne:bolic is for multimedia production and broadcasting and Biatchux is a data recov./forensics anal. and incident response tool, which is great if one buys a new hard drive because one's old one contains important data but the system/security failure has made it inoperative. I do really hope more hard ware vendors will employ my idea, which I have been promoting for quite some time now as someone who is sort of into operating systems in my institute. Lindows should prepare the new ground for professional operating systems. This is great news indeed. All we have to worry about is making sure there will be no hard drives with Microsoft operating systems preinstalled, but Microsoft is a convicted illegal monopolist, so they wouldn't be able to do it anyway, thanks to DoJ verdict. Great news and a very interesting article.