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Interesting. You're right, there it is. AOL client 7.0 sneak preview.

So my next question is how do they do this? Is the client fully native? Compiled with winelib? Just run through wine? Will this work on my debian setup?

Still, thank you for pointing this out. This is great news, especially if it can run in Mandrake and the like. Hopefully we'll know more soon.

You have to pay Lindows for a license before you get the source code. Doesn't this violate the GPL?

They charge for access to their suppository. $99, actually.

Sounds like a good reason not to use them.

I looked all over their website. The fact that this is true is only mentioned IN PASSING in a section NOT related to their suppository (which they call Click-N-Run). Its also mentioned here.
Also, from what I've read, their support sucks, and they don't have any available downloads. They have an explaination here.
While legal (I think?), these seem like dirty tricks; they're more expensive than any other distribution with these additions. Its like they're trying to become the next Microsoft, but with the upgrade system that Microsoft wish it used.

I was hoping to switch recommended brands, but I guess I'll keep telling all the newbies to start with Mandrake until they could be weaned to more solid food.

They charge for access to their suppository. $99, actually.

Sounds like a good reason not to use them.

I looked all over their website. The fact that this is true is only mentioned IN PASSING in a section NOT related to their suppository (which they call Click-N-Run). Its also mentioned here.
Also, from what I've read, their support sucks, and they don't have any available downloads. They have an explaination here.
While legal (I think?), these seem like dirty tricks; they're more expensive than any other distribution with these additions. Its like they're trying to become the next Microsoft, but with the upgrade system that Microsoft wish it used.

I was hoping to switch recommended brands, but I guess I'll keep telling all the newbies to start with Mandrake until they could be weaned to more solid food.

They charge for access to their suppository. $99, actually.

Sounds like a good reason not to use them.

I looked all over their website. The fact that this is true is only mentioned IN PASSING in a section NOT related to their suppository (which they call Click-N-Run). Its also mentioned here.
Also, from what I've read, their support sucks, and they don't have any available downloads. They have an explaination here.
While legal (I think?), these seem like dirty tricks; they're more expensive than any other distribution with these additions. Its like they're trying to become the next Microsoft, but with the upgrade system that Microsoft wish it used.

I was hoping to switch recommended brands, but I guess I'll keep telling all the newbies to start with Mandrake until they could be weaned to more solid food.

Has anyone read the eula? Since when did CPU stand for "Computer Processing Unit"?

Lindows EULA(Section 1.1.b regarding per seat licencing)

You'd think people trying to make Linux more mainstream would know what a damn CPU is!

-snevine

Yes sir! I agree I will install this software to my CPU and only to my CPU!

I checked out the click-n-run offerings

not to impressive

On the IDE page

Click-N-Run Warehouse > Software Development > Development Environments

4 out of seven was IDLE (for different py versions), that is the python IDE that is included in tkinter, witch is normaly installed if you select python on any desktop distro anyhow, so it should already be on your system if you have python

There are a few quite good IDEs for python out there for instance WingIDE.
Why not try to license one of them (there are even a few free ones),
if they wanted to offer some kind of value-added service for py devel.

When it comes to C++ they only have Anjuta, even KDevelop is missing, but for some reason they offer "Gideon - data" and "Gideon -doc" - why not offer all of KDevelop?

why mix parts of KDevelop and Anjuta?

I'm assuming when you say you are a Microsoft user you mean that you have only ever used Microsoft products. At this stage, any Unix-based operating system, be it a Linux distribution, Lindows (I do not personally count Lindows as a true Linux distribution), FreeBSD, or whatever, will be like jumping into a cold swimming pool. That is to say, it will be a shock at first, but if you are reasonably intelligent and you have picked a newbie distribution (Mandrake, Lycoris, Lindows, ELX), you should be able to adjust.

Some things to keep in mind:

1. You will not have perfect compatibility with Windows apps like MSOffice. You can use OpenOffice and most of your docs will look fine, but some will have visible display glitches (although I have never seen one that was unreadable). You can also download browser plugins for Mozilla (the best Linux web browser) which give it virtually all the worthwhile functionality of IE. Ximian Evolution is an excellent replacement for Outlook. OpenOffice, Mozilla, and Evolution all come with most new Linux distributions today. Another solution is Codeweavers Crossover Office and Crossover Plugin, which let you use Windows office apps and browser plugins. However, this option requires a subscription fee.

2. Many/most Windows games will not work at all, or without a good deal of tinkering. If you are a hardcore gamer, check out Transgaming WineX which can let you play some of the most popular Windows games with a minimum of glitches. This option also requires a subscription fee.

3. A Linux installation needs either its own hard drive, a free partition of space on a Windows drive (at least a few gigabytes) or its own machine. If you have only one machine with one partition on one hard drive, and that is for Windows, then you *might* damage your Windows installation installing Linux. Your best bet if you don't know what I am talking about is to ask a friend who knows more for some help in the installation.

4. While most hardware I have ever purchased is supported, some things just don't have support yet. One example is the "winmodem". Most modems sold today are sneakily designed to work only with Microsoft Windows. Yes, this is a conspiracy between Microsoft and the manufacturers of those modems. If your modem doesnt work, you will probably have to buy a new modem which specifically says it is a "hardware modem". As someone in [your local computer/electronics store] for help.

**Aside from all that, a tonne of things are different in the actual underlying operating system, but if you aren't a developer, you proably won't be intersted in those details. (Feel free to continue this thread if you are, I will be happy to answer more questions.)

With all this, I was trying to provide full disclosure of pitfalls to migrating, not to discourage you. I definately think the switch to Linux is worthwhile in the long term.

If as you implied you have only ever used Microsoft products, the best path you could take is to switch to OpenOffice and Mozilla running on Windows, then if you are comfortable with them, try to dual-boot with a newbie distribution like the ones mentioned above.

So when does LindowsOS actually become "release" version software? Currently the only way to get it is to become a LindowsOS "insider" with a $99 membership. See here. Is this just crafty marketing?

Tuesday
Dec 31, 2002
12:00 PM
LindowsOS General Release - Expected Before the End of the Year (or sooner)! LindowsOS is expected out before the end of the year.

Actually, they changed directions a little while ago. Their website now says almost nothing about running standard Windows applications. They changed their tune to now simply give easy access to the many native linux applications that are available.

They call it the Click-N-Run Warehouse. It allows a user to just select an application from their warehouse and it will automatically be downloaded and installed. I think they realized that they were going to run into the problems you describe and decided they were biting off more than they could chew.

If you want a free version, you'll need to wait for the LindowsOS General Release later this year.

FAQ's may be found at: http://help.lindows.com/cgi-bin/visitors.cfg/php/e nduser/std_alp.php

Don't forget Lindows, which is a fork from an earlier version of Xandros (IMO much better in its current 1.3 version that most linux distros, as far as ease of use goes).

http://www.lindows.com/

Don't forget about Lindows's "Clicky Award..." Think what you will of Lindows, or LindowsOS, or the name "Clicky," but 50 grand donaed to Open Source software projects is 50 grand. Yeah, $50000US. Go forth and nominate!

Oh, and where it says "we will add you to our mailing database," you can immediately unsubscribe from the Lindows web page.

It seems that Lindows has changed the "trial membership". Now if you are a trial member you get access to all applicaions found on the Trial Applications Page. Perhaps it's a step in the right direction...? We'll have to see what they post up there.

Under their licensing information they claim that they have made the source code that they are required to available. So, how is it that they are redistributing Glibc, Qt and a large portition of KDE and still manage to get the source code down to 31MB? They also claim the several GPL'd applications from Click-N-Run Warehouse are now under the more restrictive "Family Licensing."

Under their licensing information they claim that they have made the source code that they are required to available. So, how is it that they are redistributing Glibc, Qt and a large portition of KDE and still manage to get the source code down to 31MB? They also claim the several GPL'd applications from Click-N-Run Warehouse are now under the more restrictive "Family Licensing."

My spidey sense says Michael Robertson.

I can't find source code, but I found this in their faq:

Question: Can I allow my friends to have a copy of any software I obtain?

Answer: The Lindows.com Insider program is designed to be exclusive to the individual that signs up. As an Insider member, we ask that you not distribute copies of the LindowsOS to other individuals and that you abide by the end user license agreement that comes with our software.

I wonder exactly what that end-user license agreement says... doesn't sound very GPL-ish to me.

According to an artcle on NewsForge AOL runs on Wine 2.0.

Here is a screen shot with an AOL icon

Running AOL wins most of the user acceptance battle.

Even more games here on the lindows site. All free to click-n-run warehouse members, whatever that means.

Lindows also has offered financial assistance to open source developers, in addition to contributing code back to Wine and the other open source programs those scumbags you're talking about are using.

Link.

jrbd

Apparently Lindows is based on BSD Linux. Major misprint or what people have been asking for for a while (BSD/Linux would be BSD userland + Linux kernel, as opposed to GNU/Linux which is GNU OS + Linux kernel)?

It does answer the licencing questions - I recall Apple saying that the reason why BASH wasn't shipped as the Mac OS X shell was because it would then become a major component of the operating system and arguably the GPL licence would then apply to the entire distribution.

OTOH, it could be a typo.

If you know enough to run this, don't you also know enough not to use AOL (icon at top of screen)

You mean like running IE or Office or something?

http://www.lindows.com/lindows_products_screenshot s.php

I don't even know where to begin. Should I begin by saying that calling people "morons" because these people don't immediately reformat their computer and install Linux is a bit of a stretch? Or should I point out that Lindows automatically logs users in as root on their Linux boxen? Or should I wonder aloud how Roblimo would like programmers to make money if not by making useful utilities like virus scanners?

This whole article takes the disgusting tone of insulting people who obviously aren't as "smart" as the article's author. I find this elitism disgusting, and frankly, embarrassing to the greater geek community.

How many of us are quick to insult people who don't know the difference between root and another user? How many of us call the repair guy because we don't know how to repair the air conditioner, refrigerator, or our car? Would you like it if your mechanic said, "I can't believe you don't know the difference between 10W30 and 10W40. You're obviously a moron."?

Face it, folks, not everyone wants to be a computer expert. Not everyone wants to get involved in flamewars like vi vs. emacs or Linux vs. Windows. They just want to turn on their computer and have it work. And with any operating system, those same people will have to learn how to maintain it by applying patches (just like you have to maintain your car by taking it in for maintenance every so often.)

The fact that this article is categorized as "humor" doesn't make the elitism any less inherent. We should be educating people about the importance of software maintenance, not bashing them for being "morons" because they don't want to know the technical stuff. To most people, computers are a tool to get a job done, not a religion. Windows makes it easy to do most jobs. Therefore, most people are pretty happy with Windows.

Mod me down if you wish. I have 50 karma and I don't care much about karma ratings anyway. But I think this is important for a lot of geeks to understand -- just becuase we may have more technical knowledge does not give us the right to call people with less technical knowledge "morons" -- humor category or not.

Has anyone considered merging the Linux and Wine codebases to create a Windows clone?

Yeah, it is called Lindows.

for some sort of name infringment. Hehehe. Go Michael Robertson. Lindows.com

Have you heard of Click-N-Run? It's full of -- guess what -- Linux apps, with the exception of AOL. They're adding a publisher interface soon so that all of us developers out there can start putting our own open or closed source software on their site, in a user-friendly, one-click-install database of applications.

Although I'm sure that Robertson was very excited to hear that Microsoft was suing him, just because of all the publicity he would get, it does seem like he wants to revolutionize the software industry with a place for software similar to what mp3.com is for music.

Sample text to post to any windows web forum.

No reason to run Windows anymore. No reason to keep paying Billy Gates his ransom. Mandrake Linux 8.2 is free and easy to use, not virus prone, doesn't crash and....
LOOKS AND WORKS just like windows, plus....
"SOT, a Linux-distributor is offering SOT Office, a free productivity suite partly based on OpenOffice, it is fully compatible with MS Office and StarOffice."
More and more games are available now from major companies, all the hardware out there is pretty much supported now, and Linux comes with a lot of software already installed, nothing to buy!
E-mail programs, web browsers and more are already installed! It's time to make the switch, and it's easy.
You can FTP the CD-ROMs for free from this FTP site or other mirrors
(make sure you use binary mode in your FTP transfer)

KDE is "Windows" for the Linux OS, it's easy and is just like windows, but with all the software already installed for you.
And there's always the Lindows project, but it's not ready yet. lindows
The OpenOffice story is at slashdot or the SOT site
And a good newbie site is HERE

Why is this important to Windows users? One reason is if the RIAA has their way, Windows will be forced to make any MP3 type players copyright protected. Your only choice for freedom will be with Linux and open source.
Windows always crashes and you get used to it. I remember when I ran Windows all the time I got used to the crashes and saving things every 2 minutes just in case. Now I leave things overnight and come back and it's still there. Even if a particular program crashes, the OS doesn't! I have seen Win 2000 crash blue screen too so it's not any better. $300 for NT isn't a good choice either.
I spend several hours a week helping my friends with problems from viruses and locked up IE (spamware popups and hidden registry startups) and have been slowly changing them over to Linux.
Linux doesn't get those viruses, I download them all the time just to look them over in a binary editor, people think I am crazy but they can't affect Linux. Viruses are very hard to make work on Linux, open source developers are security minded. What does that say about the Windows developers? Why run a OS that threatens your privacy and security?
"Wine" for Linux will let you run some windows software, it is what Lindows is doing, and DOS runs fine on it. When "wine" crashes, you restart the WINDOW! it's funny!
You have total control with Linux, you can run it 24/7 without worry, it's more hacker proof than any other OS and it's what the WWW is built on! Browsing and transfers are faster and the TCP/IP stack is designed better. Software RAID is possible and easy to do, hardware cards are supported. With Mandrake sharing a dial up connection over your private LAN is easy as pressing a few buttons.
You can relax now, no more worries about spyware, crashes, restarts, viruses, hackers, firewalls, strange popups and a screwed up registry. There is no "registry" required in Linux, what a stupid concept that was. Spyware would be very hard to sneak past people since it's open source.
Your "root" directory is protected, unlike windows, linux protects it's main "system" files from "user" files. No more calls to your "computer guy" in the middle of the night.
I have personally installed Mandrake on 3 laptops and many, many different PCs, old and new. It is very, very easy now that 8.2 mandrake is out. I haven't paid for a software program in over 4 years now. I used to buy one every few months for Windows.
After showing people Linux on my laptop they all want to try it out and are amazed at how easy the conversion was because it's just like windows!
Give it a try! Linux programs are waiting for you to try them out! Spread the word! Pass some Linux CDs to your friends. It's time.

Compare and contrast with the guy from ... oh crap it's early ... Redmond Linux?

Nope. Lindows.

Part of the GPL is that any software covered under it should be freely distributable (this is basically what 3/4 of RMS's lectures complain about). However, as The Lindows.com FAQ points out, people who get Lindows are not allowed to distribute it. Even if they don't distribute their source, this sure looks like a GPL violation to me.

http://www.lindows.com/lindows_products.php

Take a close look at the screenshots. Those are KDE programs with new names.

According to the Lindows Licensing Information page Source code is available for download at http://net2.com/lindows/source/. Of interest is the statements to check the main developer trees for products they use (KDE, Denbian, Wine), as most modification made by Lindows have been accepted and integrated into the main trees.

The dates on the source files are 12 Apr 02, although the downloader is cautioned in two places the Lindows OS software "has not even been released in beta", so the source may not reflect the most current build.

When you click on Licensing on top of one of these pages, you can see where they get the software from.

Btw Debian is on this list. Maybe they use .debs for their Click-and-run(TM) thing?

You mean this contract?

Lindows.com Insiders Sign Up

Confidentiality Agreement & Disclaimer

1) As a Lindows.com Insider you agree to make your best efforts to keep the information you obtain through the Insider program confidential.

2) You understand that LindowsOS is not a product from Microsoft.

Please acknowledge that you have read and agree with the Confidentiality Agreement and Disclaimer above by typing your initials in the box below and clicking on the 'I Agree' button.

If you are not in full agreement, please click on the 'I Disagree' button and you will be taken out of the sign-up process.

Nothing about being an employee, and I am paying for this?

but I have one word for this chap: LEECH.

I was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt when I came across:

Kword repackaged as Wordpublisher

and other rebadged stuff

Major credibility plunge there. Not to judge the rest of the package, but it looks more like they're just grepping through the source for places where they can splash the words lindows and/or Michael Robertson. No value added.

Like I said, leech.

but I have one word for this chap: LEECH.

I was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt when I came across:

Kword repackaged as Wordpublisher

and other rebadged stuff

Major credibility plunge there. Not to judge the rest of the package, but it looks more like they're just grepping through the source for places where they can splash the words lindows and/or Michael Robertson. No value added.

Like I said, leech.

http://www.lindows.com Lindows.com

The article was a little thin, but it looks to me like we're dealing with the difference between "Windows" the brand and the windows that every current GUI interface uses. If the Lindows folks were arguing that their brand was based on a combination of "Linux" and "windows" (say, if they were developing yet another desktop interface for Linux) that's one thing, but if it's a combo of "Linux" and "Windows" that's something else.

Given that the big appeal of Lindows is supposed to be the ability to run both Linux and Windows software, I have a hard time believing that the generic sense of the term will apply here.

The case you mentioned is indeed a very interesting case, but it doesn't directly support the Lindows side of the case. Why?

In the case you mention, the man proved that the Mc- prefix actually meant something in a language that he knew well, and that it made sense to name a restaurant McChina because of the meaning of the prefix. Therefore, there was reasonable doubt that he was capitalizing off of McDonalds' success.

However, in the Lindows case, there is no doubt that the product would have been named Lindows if there was not already a product named Windows that was created by Microsoft. Indeed, if you look at Lindows' about page, it is obvious that the name is a mixture of Windows and Linux, and doesn't derive from another language.

I, too, think the McChina case had the correct outcome, but Lindows doesn't have that luxury. IMO, Lindows will lose.

Why would *any* company want to release something that makes them look bad??? What exactly is the advantage they think they will get from this?

One word: Publicity.

How many more people know about Lindows because of Microsoft's uproar over their name?

There's a saying in marketing: no publicity is bad publicity. (Yes, there are exceptions.)

American civil procedure provides for jurisdiction over foreign companies that do business in America. The theory is that if you come to America and avail yourself of our markets, resources, society, labor, and laws, you are bound to obey our laws. This does not mean that you can be sued in New York if you offer goods for sale in China and some American happens to buy them while on vacation in Beijing. It does mean, though, that if you knowingly advertise in America, ship goods to America, or provide services to American clients, you can be sued in America for violating American law.

On the Internet, this analysis is a little complicated because websites are accessed internationally, and it is difficult to detect what country people are really browsing from. Still, efforts can be made to exclude certain jurisdictions. For example, Lindows.com used to have a message on their website that refusing to do business in Washington state. This is because they were trying to avoid being dragged into court by MSFT in Washington state.

There is plenty of caselaw on this emerging area of law:

• A Blue Note jazz club in Missouri was sued by the Blue Note jazz club in New York. A NY court held that the Missouri club's website, though viewable from NY, did not create jurisdiction in NY because the club was a strictly local Missouri operation. (Bensuan Rest. Corp. v. King, 126 F.3d 25)
  
• Likewise, Cybersell of Arizona sued Cybersell of Florida for trademark infringement and was denied jurisdiction because Cybersell of Florida was not really offering its services to Arizonans. (Cybersell, Inc. v. Cybersell, Inc., 130 F.3d 414)
  
• OTOH, Zippo (the company that makes lighters) sued Zippo.com (a company that provided fast news updates) in Pennsylvania. Since Zippo offered its news service to netizens across the land, including PA, they were adjuged to be doing business in PA and thus were amenable to suit.

As the cases make clear, there is a sliding scale that stretches from (1) passive website relating to local activities to (2) interactive website offering services to anybody across the land. Elcomsoft sounds a lot more like Zippo than it does the Blue Note jazz club in Missouri. If they are offering their services to Americans and offering downloads to Americans, they have to expect that they might be sued by Americans in America.

Steve Ballmer comes across as a poor, beat down soul in the video deposition [...].

Geez, I almost feel sorry for the guy. Being the subject of grilling by hostile, powerful lawyers has got to be very stressful.

BTW, the CEO of Lindows is handling fairly well the Microsoft lawsuit against the company for allegedly stealing a common English word, kinda, but not really.

Steve Ballmer comes across as a poor, beat down soul in the video deposition [...].

Geez, I almost feel sorry for the guy. Being the subject of grilling by hostile, powerful lawyers has got to be very stressful.

BTW, the CEO of Lindows is handling fairly well the Microsoft lawsuit against the company for allegedly stealing a common English word, kinda, but not really.

Dear Linus,

I have always felt that Linux is a nice operating system (for hobbyists and geeks), but there are some areas where it is seriously lacking, especially when compared to its main competitor, Microsoft Windows.

• File sharing. Windows has long been superior when it comes to making large amounts of files available to third parties. Even early versions of Windows automatically detected and made available all directories thanks to the built in NetBIOS-powered file sharing support. But Microsoft has realized that this technology is inherently limited and has added even better file sharing support to its Windows XP operating system. "Universal Plug an Play" will make it possible to literally access any file, from any device! I think universal file sharing support needs to be built into the Linux kernel soon.
• Intelligent agents. With innovations like Clippy, the talking paperclip and Microsoft Bob, Microsoft has always tried to make life easier for its customers. With Outlook and Outlook Express, Microsoft has built a framework for developers to create even smarter agents. Especially popular agents include "Sircam", which automatically asks the users' friends for advice on files he is working on and the "Hybris" agent, which is a self-replicating copy of a humorous take on "Snow-White and the Seven Dwarves" (the real story!). Microsoft is working on expanding this P2P technology to its web servers. This project is still in the beta stage, thus the name "Code Red". The next versions will be called "Code Yellow" and "Code Green".
• Version numbers. Linux has real naming problems. What's the difference between a 2.4.19 and a 2.2.17 kernel anyway? And what's with those odd and even numbers? Microsoft has always had clear and sophisticated naming/versioning policies. For example, Windows 95 was named Windows 95 because it was released in 1995. Windows 98 was released three years later, and so on. Windows XP brought a whole new "experience" to the user, therefore the name. I suggest that the next Linux kernel releases be called Linux 03, Linux 04, Linux 04.5 (OSR1), Linux 04.7B (OSR2 SP4 OEM), Linux 2005 and Linux VD (Valentine's Day edition). Furthermore, remember how Microsoft named every upcoming version of Windows after some Egyptian city? Cairo, Chicago and so on. I think that the development kernels should be named after Spanish cities to celebrate Linux' Spanish origins. Linux Milano or Linux Rome anyone?
• Multi-User Support. This has always been one of Microsoft's strong sides, especially in the Windows 95/98 variants, where passwords were completely unnecessary. Microsoft has made the right decision by not bothering the user with a distinction between "normal" and "root" users too much -- practice has shown that average users can be trusted to act responsibly and in full awareness of the potential consequences of their actions. After all, if your operating system doesn't trust you, why should you trust it? (To be fair, Linux is making some progress here with the Lindows distribution, where users are always running as root.)

  With Windows XP, Microsoft has again improved multi-user support. Not only does Windows XP come with a large library of user pictures that are displayed on the login screen, such as a guitar and a flower, it also has "quick user change". This makes it possible to login as a different user with a simple keyboard shortcut, and the good news is: programs from the old user keep running in the background! Beat that, Linux!

• Programmability. Microsoft has always been known for making computer machine power accessible to end users. The operating system comes with many helpful tools such as VBScript, a programming language especially useful for developing intelligent agents as mentioned above, and QBASIC, a truly innovative "hacker" tool that makes it possible to develop even sophisticated applications without much foreknowledge. Scripts can even be embedded into documents such as Word files. This together with the mind-blowing Windows XP shell, which now also has amazing features like "autocompletion" (you no longer have to type all those long paths) and a scrollback buffer, makes Windows XP the "hacker's choice". Linux should stop "dumbing down" users with pretty pictures such as in KDE or GNOME. Also, I think that a BASIC interpreter should be an unremovable component of the Linux kernel.

I also find it disappointing that Linux has not embraced new technologies such as Digital Rights Management which will finally make it profitable for artists to sell their intellectual property on the web. The content industry has calculated that it loses about 450 trillion dollars per day to piracy. If this continues, the economic effects will be devastating. Richard Stallman has supported DRM for years and made it a fixed part of his GNU/Hurd operating system -- Linux should not hold back progress in this important area. DRM should be made part of the Linux Standard Base (LSB), and Linux distributors should put "DMCA-Compliant" buttons on their websites. We all know that Linux would never have been created without strong intellectual property protection as enforced by the FSF, so let's not be hypocritical.

On the plus side, I have found Linux an absolutely superior operating system for viewing pornography. Porn is loading much faster than on Windows, especially with the Cox and Love kernel patches and powerful porn browsers such as Pornzilla. This is truly an operating system written by geeks, for geeks!

Sincerely,

Bruce.

A nice side effect of the "BSD License" is multiple targets for Microsoft as there's more commercial exploitation of WINE, and thus more dissipation of the energies of Microsoft, especially as they draw more fire for trying to suppress their competition, thus a better chance for more open-source projects to thrive in spite of annoying the Evil Empire at Redmond.

Nearly anything that increases commercial participation in Linux is good, especially if it directly attacks the Windows semi-monopoly. Seems good! :)

The screenshots look impressive. It would be cool if I could play that on my platform. And however I realize, that I belong to the minority of gamers (which is good, like Mark Twain has already said, "Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it's time to pause and reflect."), I still think that when they would wisely program this game for many different gaming platforms and few desktop ones, it'd be a piece of cake to release other version. But I'm affraid that they would prefer us to use other options, unfortunately...

Oh, well, I gues I'll just have to wait for Mason, or Warewolf, or Sands of Syllus, or Archipelago, or Catacombs, or Belchfire, or Acid Tempest, or Phoenix...

I did this once on my network. Within two days, my /var filled up with logs from all the Windows machines on the network. They were trying to download http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com/ident.cab every 30 seconds constantly. No Windows Update feature had been activated on any of the machines. This ident.cab file, when extracted, contains a single text file with some interesting information in it. Microsoft is already doing stuff behind our backs. Unfortunately I've not been able to rid myself of the need for Windows-only software yet, but hopefully my employer, or some other group will be able to change that.