LindowsOS Softens Microsoft-Compatibility Claim

jukal writes: "As seen originally at newsforge: On Friday we reported the appearance of Microtel PCs with LindowsOS pre-installed at Walmart.com. Then, Walmart.com and Lindows were claiming that LindowsOS 'delivers the stability of UNIX with the ease of Windows and the ability to run most Microsoft programs.' Today, that last phrase has gone missing and there is no more talk of running any programs designed for Windows, let alone Microsoft products"

Comments

is this a suprise?

[T.Monk]

i mean seriously, there's no way they could've gotten away with that kind of campaign.. MS would've tied them up in litigation just for using the word windows with a capital W until their money ran out and they went bankrupt. On the good side, Wal-mart isn't really afraid of Microsoft, so Wal-mart is in the unique position of being able to weather MS's wrath and make an offering of something like Lindows... now if we could just get them to package something decent like a BSD variant and KDE3, and build the computer out of lots of translucent brightly colored plastic, we might have some appeal. Go after that Mac market!

Kinda better wording actually.

[MarvinMouse]

I think the new wording is better, and perhaps a bit more accurate for two reasons.

1. It doesn't accidentally promote windows products or even microsoft products. It lets you know that Lindows is a completely new OS, but it "delivers the stability of Linux with the ease of Windows." As well, it now lets you know that instead of having to return to the old Windows products, which were known to be buggy. There are new products made specifically for Lindows that will fit your needs (Which may or may not be buggy, but there is the chance that they aren't). This is the first really good reason for the change, because now a new user will feel that instead of just getting another computer like the rest of the world, he's riding the wave of a "exciting new OS". :-)

2. As well, now it is more accurate. Originally it used a lot of terms making it appear as though Lindows was a UNIX operating system, when it is really a Linux one. This would deter customers since UNIX has a sorta connotation of difficulty to it for newbies (who have just kinda heard of it from users who just touched it and saw commands like egrep, col, ls, and wc ;-), but Linux doesn't have as difficult of an aura around it. Thus, it is more accurate, and also more likely to sell to the ordinary computer user.

To be honest, their new wording is considerably better then the old one. IMHO.

Re:Kinda better wording actually.

[fruey]

Clearly, the wording had to go. They were setting themselves up for all sorts of trouble by trying to make the PC look like it was running some kind of "Free Windows"

What I'd love to see is some kind of mass market push for a Linux system that is actually better than Windows for the users. The issue is really compatibility, as many newbie Mac users know when they get files from their Windows chums which won't launch on their machines.

The moves are already there anyway. Having too high a %age of one OS is always going to be bad for cross platform compatible programs, since everyone is just *expected* to run Windows, as many of my clients gasp when I tell them I can't open their email because I run Linux on my desktop. People have cussed me for this, but until people like you and me take a stand then it's no good moaning that Linux doesn't support x, y or z. I can get good documents to clients, I can use open standards, and I will continue to do so. Linux doesn't need to be Windows binary compatible, and it has many advantages over Windows in terms of networking tools. I get all my software for free, learn way more, and have only about 5% time overhead for cross-platform tasks, whereas I save time with software like mutt, Opera, Apache and GIMP because I don't need the additional functionality of IE, Photoshop and Outlook. I'm not even going to gripe about Office suites. I do fine with Star Office and HTML as basic tools.

Re:Source code for Lindows?

[PhilHibbs]

So if they make a modification to WINE, it gets refused by the maintainer, but they distribute the modified version with Lindows anyway, where do we get the source?

Re:Source code for Lindows?

[Rytsarsky]

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.

Licensing

[Moderation abuser]

Check the license requirements on your Windows software. You may well find that you are *not licensed* to use it on anything but a Microsoft Windows operating system.

Lindows: Going Nowhere Fast

[asv108]

When Lindows was first announced, I thought it could be promising, but they took everything that is great about Linux and through it down the drain. Robertson is basically taking the MS approach towards software but doing under the reputation of Linux. One of the many reasons why people are moving to Linux is that their afraid of M$'s push towards a subscription model. Lindows should be capitalizing on this instead of trying to apply it to Linux. Lindows has some good ideas but the website is full of bullshit marketing claims that make Oracle ad's look trustworthy.

Probably the worse course of action Lindows has taken so far is ignoring the development community that has made Robertson's 1/2baked idea possible. I especially love the idea of repackaging OSS programs and charging for them. Great model guys, let me know when you will be auctioning off your equipment and office furniture.

Why doesn't Lindows just say...

[Codifex Maximus]

will run Certain Certified Microsoft Programs.

I agree that running as root is a Bad Thing(tm). However, the vast majority of people are still running Win9x so it's not a tremendous stretch.

I agree that Lindow's policies can alienate some users. However, the target market is composed of people who largely would not have ever tried Linux anyway. (Let em get thier feet wet!) So... getting Linux into thier hands will at least expose them to it and maybe garner a few more users for Linux. They will probably graduate from Lindows to a more mainstream Linux distro.

Not exposing these potential users to Linux is a You get Nothing from Nothing proposition. Exposing them to Linux will generate a larger userbase. It's guerilla marketing sort of but... maybe it'll have a long term positive effect. We already know it's gonna have a short term negative effect.

Bottom Line: Many users want to be spoonfed.

Re:Click 'N Run Warehouse -- $99/year for GPL apps

[HiThere]

That's an interesting business model. I bet they let WalMart have the install for free, or possibly at cost (if manuals are included -- beyond the advertisements). Then they offer to sell all this software to people at really cheap prices. Yeah, it's free software, but:
1) These people don't know how else to get it
2) They make it really easy
3) They give away free samples

So people actually end up paying them $99 over cost for each machine sold. Whee!

And people said there was no way to make money off of GPL software!
:-)