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Interview with Joseph Cheek of Lycoris
Glykoriza writes "Lots of talk lately about the future of Linux in the desktop. Red Hat wants to have a piece of the pie, while Lindows seems to do well too. Lycoris seems to do great as well, they released their latest beta a few days ago, and they have already made deals with retailers, like Fry's. OSNews hosts an interview with Lycoris' CTO and founder, Joseph Cheek."
I know absolutely nothing about this subject, and have no comments aside from "first", which I hate to read when other people do it, but god, when you see that no one else has posted....
Why, yes, I AM a Pagan Libertarian.
i am all alone, and would like some porn links please.
I R00z j00!!!!!
The name lycoris always reminds me of that Seinfeld episode where Jerry can't remember the woman's name, but knows it rhymes with a part of a woman's body, so he guess that it is Mulva. It turns out her name was Dolores, but it could just as well been Lycoris- I think it rhymes even better!
Have you been stalked by Seth today?
this is great for gettin linux on the desktop, its great to see it happening and happening in general mainstream stores, distros like mandrake are good but they aren't coming on computers in the mainstream, ppl have to go out and get it themselves
So who really gives a shit about YET another Linux distro? Who GIVES A SHIT? You freakin Linux weenies, go wash tour drawers and get the cum stains off of them. Fag bastards!
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IntroductionA canyon near a polar bear is a big fan of an annoying turn signal Indeed a judge somewhat teaches another hardly varigated lover Some short order cook gives lectures on morality to an insurance agent If some turkey over a microscope shares a shower with the canyon beyond the ocean then a briar patch inside a stovepipe leaves The pit viper toward a graduated cylinder plans an escape from a football team related to a grizzly bear a cloud formation toward a recliner An elusive tomatoIf the boiled grizzly bear befriends another football team then a lazily mysterious inferiority complex hides A crane the impromptu tape recorder and a cab driver are what made America great Most people believe that some grand piano brainwashes the raspy graduated cylinder but they need to remember how often a collegeeducated cargo bay beams with joy A tape recorder writes a love letter to a football team because the scythe for the tripod seeks a cough syrup related to the crank case An inferiority complexThe ski lodge from the eggplant pours freezing cold water on an abstraction If the scooby snack avoids contact with the pork chop from a photon then a particle accelerator panics An overwhelmingly skinny squid throws a support group from some pork chop at another steam engine For example a garbage can for an earring indicates that the cantankerous asteroid seeks a sandwich A nonchalantly feline apartment buildingThe diskette beyond a submarine ceases to exist or a muddy turn signal gives secret financial aid to another canyon Some sandwich toward a support group caricatures a fairy behind a girl scout A roller coaster of the bottle of beer is righteous An unstable polar bear gives secret financial aid to the submarine beyond another turn signal ConclusionsThe asteroid for a chestnut thoroughly trades baseball cards with an earring near the wheelbarrow A bowling ball over the particle accelerator earns frequent flier miles and a turkey gives secret financial aid to the garbage can A muddy pickup truck brainwashes the grizzly bear behind an anomaly A power drill caricatures a Eurasian line dancer Now and then the crank case beyond the avocado pit cooks cheese grits for an eagerly tattered apartment building IntroductionThe blood clot inside a hole puncher is paternal When you see the sheriff living with the microscope it means that the apartment building meditates A wrinkled submarine reaches an understanding with the lazily familiar customer because a food stamp toward a cargo bay buys an expensive gift for the fire hydrant of the deficit The recliner caricatures a pork chop A globule is stoic Some CEOThe ridiculously frightened turn signal ignores the financial oil filter When a traffic light starts reminiscing about lost glory a buzzard procrastinates The apartment building nonchalantly finds subtle faults with a lover Furthermore a pickup truck laughs out loud and a scythe about a fraction thoroughly competes with the demon defined by an industrial complex A bottle of beerFurthermore the impromptu briar patch hesitates and another load bearing deficit learns a hard lesson from the snooty hockey player An oil filter hides and the defendant plays pinochle with a greasy food stamp Any warranty can write a love letter to the parking lot but it takes a real dust bunny to carelessly give lectures on morality to the ski lodge toward a satellite The skyscraper toward a cab driver caricatures a moldy fire hydrant Now and then a bowling ball defined by some wedge makes a truce with the meanspirited blood clot The particle acceleratorWhen you see the lover near a mating ritual it means that a particle accelerator procrastinates When the graduated cylinder related to the ball bearing is singlehandledly optimal the asteroid over a crank case takes a peek at a somewhat rude submarine The eagerly imaginative pit viper pours freezing cold water on a mating ritual living with the sheriff If a steam engine organizes a selfloathing wheelbarrow then an umbrella near the hole puncher rejoices ConclusionsSome particle accelerator bestows great honor upon a senator of a paper napkin Now and then an usually varigated turn signal slyly gives secret financial aid to the earring related to an insurance agent A crane toward a tape recorder the movie theater and a plaintiff related to a bartender are what made America great A skinny tape recorder lazily learns a hard lesson from the snooty grain of sand Now and then an infected lover seldom bestows great honor upon a cowboy IntroductionAny cowboy can singlehandledly borrow money from the makeshift bartender but it takes a real turkey to wisely pour freezing cold water on the incinerated line dancer If a fruit cake can be kind to a nearest chestnut then the buzzard defined by an ocean reads a magazine Most people believe that a wheelbarrow beyond a fruit cake cooks cheese grits for a stovepipe but they need to remember how secretly a razor blade goes to sleep Indeed the cantankerous customer goes deep sea fishing with a resplendent submarine Sometimes a fashionable tomato takes a coffee break but the turn signal defined by a tornado always seldom teaches a carpet tack toward the steam engine A worldly crank caseA warranty is accidentally temporal For example the precise vacuum cleaner indicates that another fractured bowling ball ridiculously finds lice on an insurance agent If a cough syrup slyly assimilates another minivan then a bartender related to some short order cook earns frequent flier miles Sometimes an insurance agent beyond the lover daydreams but the inexorably pompous football team always laughs and drinks all night with a wedge inside a blood clot The nuclear tabloid takes a coffee break and a dust bunny hesitates however the bowling ball seldom has a change of heart about a line dancer about a hydrogen atom A fairyThe temporal fighter pilot gives secret financial aid to a fractured cloud formation The miserly tomato is cantankerous When a corporation near a recliner dies a squid defined by the defendant rejoices Furthermore the short order cook related to another girl scout hides and the crispy apartment building figures out the pine cone from a rattlesnake When a wisely mysterious roller coaster is frozen the ridiculously infected defendant brainwashes a food stamp related to a polar bear A reclinerA frozen chess board gets stinking drunk because a bottle of beer around a pickup truck finds lice on an eggplant over a chess board The impromptu rattlesnake derives perverse satisfaction from a light bulb or a pit viper related to the razor blade eagerly is a big fan of a scooby snack from a reactor Any fairy can laugh and drink all night with a hairy defendant but it takes a real pig pen to secretly compete with a pit viper over a chestnut When an inexorably worldly wedding dress is dreamlike a chess board around a scythe bestows great honor upon the mating ritual from the corporation A skyscraper is makeshift ConclusionsAnother tuba player the photon living with a turkey and a fire hydrant of the diskette are what made America great Now and then a carpet tack gives a pink slip to a stovepipe defined by a scythe When you see the rude turn signal it means that the anomaly starts reminiscing about lost glory Indeed the freight train related to the blood clot plans an escape from an asteroid related to a blithe spirit the hesitantly Eurasian cloud formation Now and then the recliner figures out some resplendent warranty IntroductionA sandwich procrastinates because a chestnut satiates a power drill toward a submarine Some green fighter pilot befriends a defendant over the cashier When an abstraction hides a scooby snack near a tape recorder laughs out loud Another fruit cake around a roller coaster competes with a pit viper For example a spider around a fighter pilot indicates that the crank case inside an apartment building pours freezing cold water on a stovepipe A CEOA mortician daydreams and a paycheck gives a pink slip to the frozen satellite Another grand piano writes a love letter to the apartment building related to some wedding dress When a senator is outer a precise tuba player accurately makes love to a turkey toward the squid A hydrogen atom a wrinkled nation and the cosmopolitan polar bear are what made America great The demon inside a vacuum cleaner trembles and the purple light bulb hibernates however a chess board trades baseball cards with a treacherous support group A warranty near the wedding dressMost people believe that a dust bunny writes a love letter to a cowboy toward the cyprus mulch but they need to remember how nonchalantly a cashier wakes up When a defendant related to the pit viper daydreams another tripod panics A lover wisely bestows great honor upon the highly paid umbrella The pit viper feverishly makes a truce with the federal umbrella A reactor finds subtle faults with another stovepipe for some class action suit A frustrating cargo bayA traffic light over an earring goes to sleep but a photon requires assistance from the inferiority complex The moldy hole puncher gives a pink slip to a tape recorder of a fire hydrant When the accurately varigated roller coaster is load bearing a squid for a dust bunny ridiculously borrows money from another mortician A cashier figures out a fire hydrant of an earring A light bulb for a stovepipe trades baseball cards with the meanspirited fairy ConclusionsThe cashier barely seeks a chess board over a tape recorder Now and then some eggplant toward the asteroid teaches the green minivan The mastadon beyond a cargo bay is a big fan of the freight train Most people believe that the pompous mastadon steals pencils from a loyal tornado but they need to remember how often a vacuum cleaner rejoices When the book is openedWhen you see a protective territory it means that this nyannyan under the farmer falls in love Indeed a Sunnake Baba drawn to a nosy brother secretly knows a true love away from a pervert When a lecherous old man hides this Taiitsuikun fades from existance When the chi away from the mystic fades from existance a Genbu under a priest goes to sleep Most people believe that a lover related to this Shogun hides from a but they need to remember how almost the temporal ninja beams with joy An Emperor from a wandering monkAn artist slyly gets devoured by the artist When the slyly brilliant child wakes up the evildoers over a nosy brother senses a plot An angry junior high school student follows their true love through the city or this Tenkouworshipping monster over some cackling madman makes a pact with the child genius Sometimes an alleged sunnake baba wanders the halls of the imperial palace but a prince always has a change of heart about some evildoers away from a sneaky fellow Sometimes this under a body stealing little freak hides but a Seishi always passs out from seeing a Suzaku no Miko over the desired boyfriend An Emperor from a magicianAny child can amazingly reach an understanding with the Seishi toward a Byakko Seishi but it takes a real bandit to hesitantly avoid contact with an insecure prince The family from the wandering monk figures out a sacrificial seishi Indeed the poor Genbu no Miko eagerly borrows money from the Seishi An angel senses a plot or some halfmanhalfbeast figures out some Suzaku Seishi A Taiitsuikun related to the is horrified The enraged chiThe peon with a father often watchs from the shadows this family A priest hesitates and a peon around a eats more than one person should be able to at one sitting however a hero toward a rebel slyly satiates a beyond a manipulative bastard A the Genbu no Miko and an opera singer away from an animal god are what made the panics Gods Sky and Earth the legend that it is A cackling madman over the husband gets swept up by the illusion of the seishi This husband assimilates an Emperor And so in the endAn animal god under a stranger has a change of heart about a magician If the enraged demon seldom ignores a spy for a wife then a away from a mysterious stranger falls in love Most people believe that a often goes to a poet around a pervert but they need to remember how completely a nearest Emperor eats more than one person should be able to at one sitting A nosy brother for a wandering monk sets aflame a nearest Suzaku no Miko A miko controlled by this seishi leaves and a handsome doesnt want to return to the real world however some hardly unseeing spunky schoolgirl laughs and parties all night with an idolized spunky schoolgirl
-pwpbot
Can they really do better than Dell, Gateway, or any other dedicated system builder who has attempted to provide Linux systems and given up?
Wouldn't the DIY'er who is attracted to Linux more likely download Debian or buy RedHat or SuSE? What's the benefit?
I guess we're just warming up for another "Desktop Linux is Dead" article 3 months from now when Fry's gives up on this silly venture.
I have been pwned because my
is that Mr. Cheek announced in the Lycoris forum sometime back that Lycoris, following the lead of Caldera, is going to per-seat licensing for business use- thus joining the ranks of those selling Linux outright.
That's really too bad, it had a lot of promise for that niche.
This is not a question to Joseph Cheek, but to the linux community reading /..
It said in the article about Lindows:
LindowsOS is based on a distribution of Linux, which is covered by a license that requires it to be made freely available for modification and redistribution. However, a system designer who used an unlicensed version of LindowsOS would not be able to use Lindows.com's logo or join the LindowsOS Certification program, and would receive no technical support.
So, where can I download a free Lindows ISO without the logo?
From the interview:
People saying things like this obviously aren't experiencing financial problems yet. ;-)
42. Easy. What is 32 + 8 + 2?
IntroductionA canyon near a polar bear is a big fan of an annoying turn signal Indeed a judge somewhat teaches another hardly varigated lover Some short order cook gives lectures on morality to an insurance agent If some turkey over a microscope shares a shower with the canyon beyond the ocean then a briar patch inside a stovepipe leaves The pit viper toward a graduated cylinder plans an escape from a football team related to a grizzly bear a cloud formation toward a recliner An elusive tomatoIf the boiled grizzly bear befriends another football team then a lazily mysterious inferiority complex hides A crane the impromptu tape recorder and a cab driver are what made America great Most people believe that some grand piano brainwashes the raspy graduated cylinder but they need to remember how often a collegeeducated cargo bay beams with joy A tape recorder writes a love letter to a football team because the scythe for the tripod seeks a cough syrup related to the crank case An inferiority complexThe ski lodge from the eggplant pours freezing cold water on an abstraction If the scooby snack avoids contact with the pork chop from a photon then a particle accelerator panics An overwhelmingly skinny squid throws a support group from some pork chop at another steam engine For example a garbage can for an earring indicates that the cantankerous asteroid seeks a sandwich A nonchalantly feline apartment buildingThe diskette beyond a submarine ceases to exist or a muddy turn signal gives secret financial aid to another canyon Some sandwich toward a support group caricatures a fairy behind a girl scout A roller coaster of the bottle of beer is righteous An unstable polar bear gives secret financial aid to the submarine beyond another turn signal ConclusionsThe asteroid for a chestnut thoroughly trades baseball cards with an earring near the wheelbarrow A bowling ball over the particle accelerator earns frequent flier miles and a turkey gives secret financial aid to the garbage can A muddy pickup truck brainwashes the grizzly bear behind an anomaly A power drill caricatures a Eurasian line dancer Now and then the crank case beyond the avocado pit cooks cheese grits for an eagerly tattered apartment building IntroductionThe blood clot inside a hole puncher is paternal When you see the sheriff living with the microscope it means that the apartment building meditates A wrinkled submarine reaches an understanding with the lazily familiar customer because a food stamp toward a cargo bay buys an expensive gift for the fire hydrant of the deficit The recliner caricatures a pork chop A globule is stoic Some CEOThe ridiculously frightened turn signal ignores the financial oil filter When a traffic light starts reminiscing about lost glory a buzzard procrastinates The apartment building nonchalantly finds subtle faults with a lover Furthermore a pickup truck laughs out loud and a scythe about a fraction thoroughly competes with the demon defined by an industrial complex A bottle of beerFurthermore the impromptu briar patch hesitates and another load bearing deficit learns a hard lesson from the snooty hockey player An oil filter hides and the defendant plays pinochle with a greasy food stamp Any warranty can write a love letter to the parking lot but it takes a real dust bunny to carelessly give lectures on morality to the ski lodge toward a satellite The skyscraper toward a cab driver caricatures a moldy fire hydrant Now and then a bowling ball defined by some wedge makes a truce with the meanspirited blood clot The particle acceleratorWhen you see the lover near a mating ritual it means that a particle accelerator procrastinates When the graduated cylinder related to the ball bearing is singlehandledly optimal the asteroid over a crank case takes a peek at a somewhat rude submarine The eagerly imaginative pit viper pours freezing cold water on a mating ritual living with the sheriff If a steam engine organizes a selfloathing wheelbarrow then an umbrella near the hole puncher rejoices ConclusionsSome particle accelerator bestows great honor upon a senator of a paper napkin Now and then an usually varigated turn signal slyly gives secret financial aid to the earring related to an insurance agent A crane toward a tape recorder the movie theater and a plaintiff related to a bartender are what made America great A skinny tape recorder lazily learns a hard lesson from the snooty grain of sand Now and then an infected lover seldom bestows great honor upon a cowboy IntroductionAny cowboy can singlehandledly borrow money from the makeshift bartender but it takes a real turkey to wisely pour freezing cold water on the incinerated line dancer If a fruit cake can be kind to a nearest chestnut then the buzzard defined by an ocean reads a magazine Most people believe that a wheelbarrow beyond a fruit cake cooks cheese grits for a stovepipe but they need to remember how secretly a razor blade goes to sleep Indeed the cantankerous customer goes deep sea fishing with a resplendent submarine Sometimes a fashionable tomato takes a coffee break but the turn signal defined by a tornado always seldom teaches a carpet tack toward the steam engine A worldly crank caseA warranty is accidentally temporal For example the precise vacuum cleaner indicates that another fractured bowling ball ridiculously finds lice on an insurance agent If a cough syrup slyly assimilates another minivan then a bartender related to some short order cook earns frequent flier miles Sometimes an insurance agent beyond the lover daydreams but the inexorably pompous football team always laughs and drinks all night with a wedge inside a blood clot The nuclear tabloid takes a coffee break and a dust bunny hesitates however the bowling ball seldom has a change of heart about a line dancer about a hydrogen atom A fairyThe temporal fighter pilot gives secret financial aid to a fractured cloud formation The miserly tomato is cantankerous When a corporation near a recliner dies a squid defined by the defendant rejoices Furthermore the short order cook related to another girl scout hides and the crispy apartment building figures out the pine cone from a rattlesnake When a wisely mysterious roller coaster is frozen the ridiculously infected defendant brainwashes a food stamp related to a polar bear A reclinerA frozen chess board gets stinking drunk because a bottle of beer around a pickup truck finds lice on an eggplant over a chess board The impromptu rattlesnake derives perverse satisfaction from a light bulb or a pit viper related to the razor blade eagerly is a big fan of a scooby snack from a reactor Any fairy can laugh and drink all night with a hairy defendant but it takes a real pig pen to secretly compete with a pit viper over a chestnut When an inexorably worldly wedding dress is dreamlike a chess board around a scythe bestows great honor upon the mating ritual from the corporation A skyscraper is makeshift ConclusionsAnother tuba player the photon living with a turkey and a fire hydrant of the diskette are what made America great Now and then a carpet tack gives a pink slip to a stovepipe defined by a scythe When you see the rude turn signal it means that the anomaly starts reminiscing about lost glory Indeed the freight train related to the blood clot plans an escape from an asteroid related to a blithe spirit the hesitantly Eurasian cloud formation Now and then the recliner figures out some resplendent warranty IntroductionA sandwich procrastinates because a chestnut satiates a power drill toward a submarine Some green fighter pilot befriends a defendant over the cashier When an abstraction hides a scooby snack near a tape recorder laughs out loud Another fruit cake around a roller coaster competes with a pit viper For example a spider around a fighter pilot indicates that the crank case inside an apartment building pours freezing cold water on a stovepipe A CEOA mortician daydreams and a paycheck gives a pink slip to the frozen satellite Another grand piano writes a love letter to the apartment building related to some wedding dress When a senator is outer a precise tuba player accurately makes love to a turkey toward the squid A hydrogen atom a wrinkled nation and the cosmopolitan polar bear are what made America great The demon inside a vacuum cleaner trembles and the purple light bulb hibernates however a chess board trades baseball cards with a treacherous support group A warranty near the wedding dressMost people believe that a dust bunny writes a love letter to a cowboy toward the cyprus mulch but they need to remember how nonchalantly a cashier wakes up When a defendant related to the pit viper daydreams another tripod panics A lover wisely bestows great honor upon the highly paid umbrella The pit viper feverishly makes a truce with the federal umbrella A reactor finds subtle faults with another stovepipe for some class action suit A frustrating cargo bayA traffic light over an earring goes to sleep but a photon requires assistance from the inferiority complex The moldy hole puncher gives a pink slip to a tape recorder of a fire hydrant When the accurately varigated roller coaster is load bearing a squid for a dust bunny ridiculously borrows money from another mortician A cashier figures out a fire hydrant of an earring A light bulb for a stovepipe trades baseball cards with the meanspirited fairy ConclusionsThe cashier barely seeks a chess board over a tape recorder Now and then some eggplant toward the asteroid teaches the green minivan The mastadon beyond a cargo bay is a big fan of the freight train Most people believe that the pompous mastadon steals pencils from a loyal tornado but they need to remember how often a vacuum cleaner rejoices When the book is openedWhen you see a protective territory it means that this nyannyan under the farmer falls in love Indeed a Sunnake Baba drawn to a nosy brother secretly knows a true love away from a pervert When a lecherous old man hides this Taiitsuikun fades from existance When the chi away from the mystic fades from existance a Genbu under a priest goes to sleep Most people believe that a lover related to this Shogun hides from a but they need to remember how almost the temporal ninja beams with joy An Emperor from a wandering monkAn artist slyly gets devoured by the artist When the slyly brilliant child wakes up the evildoers over a nosy brother senses a plot An angry junior high school student follows their true love through the city or this Tenkouworshipping monster over some cackling madman makes a pact with the child genius Sometimes an alleged sunnake baba wanders the halls of the imperial palace but a prince always has a change of heart about some evildoers away from a sneaky fellow Sometimes this under a body stealing little freak hides but a Seishi always passs out from seeing a Suzaku no Miko over the desired boyfriend An Emperor from a magicianAny child can amazingly reach an understanding with the Seishi toward a Byakko Seishi but it takes a real bandit to hesitantly avoid contact with an insecure prince The family from the wandering monk figures out a sacrificial seishi Indeed the poor Genbu no Miko eagerly borrows money from the Seishi An angel senses a plot or some halfmanhalfbeast figures out some Suzaku Seishi A Taiitsuikun related to the is horrified The enraged chiThe peon with a father often watchs from the shadows this family A priest hesitates and a peon around a eats more than one person should be able to at one sitting however a hero toward a rebel slyly satiates a beyond a manipulative bastard A the Genbu no Miko and an opera singer away from an animal god are what made the panics Gods Sky and Earth the legend that it is A cackling madman over the husband gets swept up by the illusion of the seishi This husband assimilates an Emperor And so in the endAn animal god under a stranger has a change of heart about a magician If the enraged demon seldom ignores a spy for a wife then a away from a mysterious stranger falls in love Most people believe that a often goes to a poet around a pervert but they need to remember how completely a nearest Emperor eats more than one person should be able to at one sitting A nosy brother for a wandering monk sets aflame a nearest Suzaku no Miko A miko controlled by this seishi leaves and a handsome doesnt want to return to the real world however some hardly unseeing spunky schoolgirl laughs and parties all night with an idolized spunky schoolgirl
-pwpbot
Did anyone yet take a closer look on them? Is everything they do in accordance to the respective licenses? I know that they are using a lot of GPL programs, but the only source code I can find is here
i es . hp?category=29
i es . hp
http://www.lindows.com/lindows_products_categor
and it doesn't seem to be much.
Also, one can only download (often GPL'd) software from them if he pays them a fee to access this software
http://www.lindows.com/lindows_products_categor
is that ok too?
Don't get me wrong. I'm a linux enhtusiast too and would love if linux finally came to the desktop and I would also love seeing a company making money with desktop linux...but I have a strange feeling about the legality of what lindows does....can anyone enlighten me? Or just join the discussion?
This reminds me so much of the period before Win3.0 came out. Lots of companies making valiant efforts to produce the 'best desktop'. IIRC, Microsoft beat them all largely because it produced VB and with it, a way for millions of amateur developers to make Windows applications.
I remember using GEOS, a GUI that kicked Windows' ass mightily. I remember trying to find tools to build GEOS applications. Zilch.
Today, Windows is totally out of reach of amateur developers. It is one of the most complex development environments imaginable. And Microsoft seems to be heading at full speed towards even more complexity with every new technology it brings out.
This creates a wonderful opportunity. Instead of aiming for 'end users', Linux desktops should aim at amateur developers who want a free and simple workbench for writing the kinds of applications that made Windows 3.1 rule the world.
Imagine a really simple programming environment for excellent web applications, running on a database that is as easy to use as Access, with as many widgets as you can dream of.
This is the kind of thing that will start the revolution. Not cheaper Window-like boxes.
My blog
Redhat needs to make their distro be able to more easily add other Desktop WMs, as it stands now with 7.3 Redhat dropped Enlightenment, and now only comes with KDE, Gnome, and WindowMaker, (twm if you can stand to use it), what i do with Redhat7.3 is i uncheck Gnome, and leave KDE unchecked too, so there is no WM except for twm (yuck) then i install Blackbox and run switchdesk, then Xclients-default will have to manually edited to point to /usr/bin/blackbox, because the switchdesk command only looks in /usr/X11R6/bin for WMs...
one other thing, if Redhat does to its distro what Mandrake & SuSE done with theirs, i will be looking for another distro, because i have had nothing but grief with Mandrake & SuSE because their distro specific hand-holding applications totally suck and cause more problems than good...
can we say Slackware???
The article claims that "Red Hat is warming to the use of the Linux operating system on desktop computers, a difficult market where customers are picky and Microsoft is the leader."
Most customers aren't that picky, but just go along with the mainstream of users and do not understand the power of open source systems such as Linux. The majority just wants text processing software, solitaire, and some internet capabilities, and seem to think Microsoft software is user friendly and Linux software is complex as hell. If customers were in fact picky, Microsoft would have a very hard time competing with these open source software systems, since they provide more stability and speed at much lower cost. How's that for user-friendly? Easy of use is becoming less of an issue in later distributions of Linux and and you don't have these big-brother issues as with XP and the coming Palladium...
No, customers being "picky" hasn't got much to do with it, but many customers are just ignorant.
How user friendly is it to have to push "start" in order to shut down a computer anyway?
"The name of the game is Microsoft wins and you lose,"
They'd deserve to be bashed just for this, even if nothing else from them had ever been annoying.
History teaches to the sage they'd better not be bully.
13-4=54/6
LindowsOS [...] with the goal of allowing Linux to load and run Windows applications. The software has also been criticized for automatically logging users in as "root" [...]
Don't be angry at them, guys. How can you give a user the Full Windows experience when viruses, trojans and alike won't force you reinstall at least once a week???
13-4=54/6
What's your take on the Linux desktop war? situation? Do you think that Gnu/Linux will remain an OS for servers and geeks or that our mothers could some day use it too?
Trollem mirabilem hanc subnotationis exigiutas non caperet
omg. wtf is wrong with me ! what have i done :(
Did he really write this app himself?
Or can I rebrand ls to:
Cyber 3d Turbo Filesystem Navigator (TM)
Funny, it has the annoyingly verbose location descriptions on the desktop like Windows with the annoyingly cryptic and randomly placed dirs of Linux behind the scenes. Damn I miss AmigaOS. :(
Well, 3 sites mentioned on the linux front and the only one that isnt slashdotted is RedHat. Does that prove Lindows is only for the Desktop and not a server enviroment ?
Sig went tro...aahemmm.....fishing........
"Each major desktop/lx version is named after a rock. Version 1 is Amethyst, version 2 will be Beryl, version 3 will be Citrine, version 4 will be Diamond, and so on."
:)
hehe, i think this guy is on to something. I'm going to name my software after trees
Could they have misspoken?
:-) or the Borg. Its too inefficient, insecure and vulnerable.
The livelier Linux gets, the more vociferous and ridiculous the denials from Redmond.
Eventually, the man will hold up his hand and ask us like he did to Winston Smith: "How many fingers am I holding up?"
And we'll chop it off and say "None..."
M$ will never necome Big Brother (Bug Brother?
MSBPodcast.com The opinions expressed here are my own. If you don't like 'em... Think up your own stuff.
only 1 thing stands in their way:
If the Linux community can refine the desktop in such a way that the AVERAGE american can install it, configure it, and modify that configuration easily and with a novice level of computer savy THEN Linux is assured of a large chunk (if not all) of the desktop market.
Its that simple.
bottom line is that no one cares what OS they are running as long as:
1) its easy to use as mentioned above
2) its compatible with common formats (read MS office, etc)
3) its cheap
4) they can get support when its necessary without paying an arm and a leg to get that support.
Thats it!
This is just another case of someone misunderstanding or misquoting the GPL.
Short correct version re distribution only:
If you distribute, you must distribute the source or,
if you distribute the binary, you must distribute the source with it or,
if you don't distribute the source with the binary, you must make the source available to the people you distributed the binary to at no extra charge (I believe small media charge is allowed IIRC)
It is YOUR CHOICE as to whether you charge for the original distribution or not. These rights for source pass to the people who get the software, not to the world at large.
BTW - I am a big time GPL supporter and appreciator and don't like it when people try to wriggle out of their obligations, but it would be better if we actually understood what those obligations are.
A Nony Mouse ~;-)
Well we have the nice easy to use desktop, now we need to come up with some easy to use development tools. While I'm a Linux user and have been for over 2 years now I never develop or help develop anything. I did on the other hand look into Borland's Kylix for the simple fact that it's rapid development just like VB and it has a nice pretty little IDE. On top of that they have Open Edition for amateur or hobbyist programmers. For something kind of like Access I think Data Architect from theKompany looks like a nice tool. Then again that's just me, I'm sure you can find a ton of tools and IDEs for Linux of you just looked.
From Zero to Hero... Starbuck Zero
I have posted a lot about this, so I hope I get the opportunity to have this question addressed by the guys who can make a difference.
/etc/modules.conf.
.mov (Quicktime) is owned by apple, and they haven't been too kind about giving away the software requierd to get it working on linux, so that I understand. But Divx :-) is an open standard. There are players available. Mpeg is open, and there are players out there. Why doesn't the default desktop install in RH work? KDE? I can't answer that because I still haven't gotten this working.
For the record I would like to say that I hate the way M$ treats its customers, the draconian patents and copyrites, and their business practices. Following that I would like to say that I have Windows installed on nearly every PC in my house (except my firewall) and every non-server PC at work. Here are the reasons:
When I first set up a linux desktop to try it, these problems caused me to recoil from using it:
#1) I had to learn new keystrokes for everything. M$ may be bad, but their choice of keys isn't 3v|L, it's just a standard. It's not a standard because someone agreed to it, but because about 90% of the PC market uses it.
#2) Software install/uninstall is a real problem for people unfamiliar with the platform. Yes, I know what an RPM is and how to use one, but it's flaky to say the least. When I first attempted to start using RPMs they complained about older versions of the utility or app I was installing but (after much searching and downloading) the older RPMs refused to uninstall the older versions, claiming they weren't installed. Is it that hard to wrap the RPM functionality with a GUI and make the latest RPMs uninstall older RPMs?
#3) I don't want to dive into the whole driver issue, but I will go through my nightmare with my latest PC. I installed RedHat 7.2 on a Asus CUV4X Dual PIII motherboard. The apic problem hit me right off, refusing to boot the PC in SMP mode. Something about that problem kept RH from detecting my integrated NIC (an EtherExpress Pro 100). After about 2 days of searching I found the answers I needed, but not the know-how. Luckily, I knew enough about Linux by this time to do the required: Modify my grub.conf file boot line to add the -noapic flag. Once I had rebooted into smp mode I loaded my network driver with insmod e100 and added the alias line to
4#) Following the above issue, I wanted to be able to watch Divx, Mpeg and Mov files on my desktop. Now
#5) I wanted to use my scanner with Gimp. I went out looking and discovered this thing called SANE. After a long time in the man pages (I have NEVER IN MY LIFE used the Windows Help file BTW), I figured out enough to try it. Sane was already installed, but it wouldn't detect my scanner. I downloaded and installed the latest sane from source and got it working, but, little surprise, my ScanMaker 3700 didn't work. There were ScanMaker 3600 drivers which claimed that they might work with the 3700, but they didn't. I'm now going through the source for the 3600 and the specs from Microtek to see if I can get my scanner working. I write code for a living so I can do this, what about everyone else?
If I hadn't already spent a lot of time getting to know Linux, I would have given up days before. This isn't the first time I had this much trouble either. Nearly three years ago I bought a copy of Suse, and I flat gave up on using it on my desktop.
I hate to say it, but all other development is secondary to getting a stable, easy to use and learn desktop working. Until then the Linux userbase will be limited. Only people who have either an excessive amount of time and energy to spend learning linux can use the OS in a meaningful fassion.
My $0.02 will always be worth more than your â0.02, so
Users, being stuck in the office on nice days, having to schlep to the office on nasty ones, occasionally confronting the BSoD, having to put up with their idiot colleagues, Hell, having to work at all, have no love for M$ or much of anything else work related.
M$ may not be kidding itself about that but I suspect that the reality distortion field around Bill Gates these days makes the one around Steve Jobs look like clear-eyed, realistic pragmatism.
Users don't like M$. The great majority of them hate it. Its work.
Customers, the OEM who just want to shove boxes out the door and make enough dough to pay the rent and DP/MIS/IT deparments, on the other hand are applying the same rules that gave rise to M$ in the first place:
1) nobody ever got fired for buying IBM quickly followed by
2) nobody ever got fired for saving money which created the clones, and M$.
Usability was a secondary concern at the time. Remember all those books about DOS and the command line?
Visicalc opened the office door, Lotus 123 swept in followed by WordPerfect and M$ became an expert at ripping off other people's IP.
And nothing much has happened since except in niches like desktop publishing, graphics, (now Apple is doing it again with video editing,) email and the web which didn't depend on M$ in the first place.
Given the downward direction of the ROI and upward direction of the acquisition and support costs of an M$ box, M$ will disappear when Linux becomes just "good enough." Not even, uh, "Insanely Great," but just good enough.
OpenOffice, a free OS that any MSCE can install on existing boxes to extend their usable life (even by a single year,) and cheap site-wide licences will destroy M$ on the desktop almost as quickly as the switch to the x86 destroyed Digital Research, who never made it off the -80 architecture.
The switch to a new architecture on the server side is starting to worry M$ too since they have nothing real ported to it anyway. (NT in x86 emulation on the Itanium architecture? Naw, I think, we'll go Unix or Linux.)
I should be smelling fear from Redmond but since M$ has billions in the bank and can survive a change in course, in direction and in what sea they swim in, they won't disappear.
MSBPodcast.com The opinions expressed here are my own. If you don't like 'em... Think up your own stuff.
Language - Python
IDE -IDLE
SDL libraries - Pygame
OpenGL - PyOpenGL
Simple GUI - Tkinter
Complex GUI - wxPython
All free, of course, and conveniently packaged for Linux.
Note to budding developers: wait no longer, go for it!
-- What do you need?
-- Gnus. Lots of Gnus.
So use what you want, why do we care?
(Self-reporting uber dork, -1)
Actually mandrake is on the mainstream as well, they just announced a partnership with best buy. To have mandrake in their pcs.
The JZA
--Linux is fun, I've been using it for several months now, but it sure isn't as raw newbie user friendly as either microsoft or mac OS. Example, a glaring one, out of the box ability to actually get on the internet and to actually have a functional firewall. I've been using the previous OS's for many years, actually RTFM, and still had a major tussle to make the dang boxen dial out on a simple PPP conection. Then I had the fun of becoming an instant security administrator. I still have the problem of the box losing the modem "awareness" I'll call it with a shutdown, have to delete the modem, then re-find it to get it to work on a new boot up. The two shipped "firewall configurators" I've used with redhat and mandrake were very difficult for a newb to use. Mandrake I was never able to get to actually work, I was NEVER able to get online with it, and redhat I had to reload OS several times, had to go to an outside GUI front end to configure the firewall. Catch 22, you need to actually BE on the internet to go accomplish these tasks. A lot of people have ONE computer. I am more patient and enjoy learning about the computer itself, but here's the "but" MOST people want to use the tool, not hand design the tool. Computers are tools. When I go to the hardware store, I don't want a "tool-kit to learn how to build a tool". I don't want to have to learn to dig raw iron ore and develop the blast furnace and learn to forge and harden just to have a set of socket wrenches.
Same deal with "das kompooter". Linux is still making you do this. Most people do not want to do this. clue stick time. I don't mind myself, because I have several boxen and when I get frustrated I can reach one foot over to a mac and actually do something, and it's easy. That's worth a few bucks to me, and I have spent it in the past. Even windows isn't that hard to really use, I don't LIKE windows, but I can use it, and it's not that hard to find a firewall and use it. linux? Exxcuuse me, but firewalling is still a major issue.
I built a nice tower for a friend, made it dual boot, two HDD's, windoze and linux. I eventually told him to stop using linux because I was tired of going over there trying to get it to dial out for him. He's not a geek but runs a rather large business, several locations, he makes the final decisons on "computers" for his company and employees, and I can guarantee he's not gonna go with linux any time soon. I did my best guys, but it ain't happening. He's owned computers himself for a long time, I think around 15 years, and honestly he couldn't figure out how to use linux to do even simple tasks. He'snot stoopid, is a multi millionaire, does 'complex" things every day or he wouldn't be a multi millionaire, runs PGP and allsorts of programs all the time, etc, etc and linux was a dead end stumper for him, and I wasn't able to help. He owns around 6 personal boxen himself, windows and macs. His company, I don't know, a lot though. Many employees, it's a retail chain, clerks, secretaries, bean counters, you name it. I wasn't able to help enough. When he couldn't make it work his comment was "this looks cool but it's crap" He popped the full price for his copy, and isn't about to throw any money away on it again. And I had to agree. Linux is NOT non sys admin or non coder friendly, not yet anyway. It LOOKS like it is from the GUI facade.
Windows or mac you can at least get the CD, stick it in, they work, dial out. He popped the full price for the redhat install, I tried in vain to get any help from them including faxes-ignored. I spent hours and hours and hours in a vain web search for info that was easy enough to understand to use. I finally made it "work" but it was a serious pain in the ass, and the onlyreason I did is because I like to fool around with this stuff, but even I reached my "aggravation" level faster with linux than with any other OS I had ever used. You can't use up2date if your box won't dialout. You can't find out info if you can't get online, and the man ppages are written in code-lish that the average person is not going to be able to use because this problem requires this set of acronyms which means go to another entire set of man pages, which lead to another, yet another, about 5 or 6 levels in you've lost track of the original problem. See? Well, I made his box dial out three times (normal external modem, not a winmodem, so that isn't the issue), now it's quit, and frankly, I'm tired of fooling with it for him, and tired of reloading the OS. I just plain don't want to go into a code editor and try to tweak PAP and CHAP and whatnot. The box I am on now I can make work, but 99.99% of people out there will throw it away after one hour if it can't do this simple task, they could care less how many themes or desktop eye candy dealie widgets ship with a distro. The other major companies, again, windows and mac, got this down 15 years ago or so to make it work as advertised.
This is real world testing here, take it for what it's worth.
I ADMIT to being a n00b, but sheesh gosh and gomorrah, the average joe blow home consumer doesn't want 6,789 programs they don't even know what they do and 99% of them are betaware. I've been a pooter user since the 80's, but I'm NOT a coder. Not any raging desire either. I got actual work to do, if I wanted to be a professional coder guess I would have picked that career field, but I didn't. I got things to do, I will do *some* tweaking and learning, but I'm not going to spend hours every day doing this, NOR will this "most people" that the phrase "home desktop market" represents. It ain't happening, so stop wishing it will, because it won't. If this means 7/8ths of the distros out there have to be abandoned, I recommend you coder guys do this as soon as possible or your linux experiment is gonna continue to spring leaks and sink, at least on the home market. Yep, walmart shipping with some linux is cool, but after two weeks when they get brought back to the customer service deak with "it don't work" that experiment is gonna end, too.
Linux works IF an ubergeek sets it up for you and can do the almost constant tweaking. Big hint to linux developers trying to make money-most home users aren't going to hire a 60$ an hour sys admin to keep their boxes running. You coders doing it for fun, well, thankyou, honestly, but don't expect the average joe to really use it either, until it's *not* betaware. Second big hint, the exterior sheet metal on a car and the price as in cheap does not make a good car. cheap is just that, yugos were cheap, but they broke a lot, total ownership experience was dismal, they lasted some time and phased out. Detroit used to ship iron that had gorgeous "skins" -you could get any flavor of what a car looked like you want-but when japanese cars started working better with three times the mileage-guess what? Pretty "skins and themes" lost out to functionality. First major problem on a linux box will mean-bye bye, most folks will switch back to what they had before. They aren't gonna see any benefit from saving a few dollars for something this hard to set up and use. The ease of set up is sorta misleading. yes, it will install just fine usually. After that it'smuch harder to use than the zealots here maintain. Most people aren't coders, if this is forgotten, it will never "take off" like you want it to. If "the community "wants to be taken seriously on the desktop, 3/4ths of the coding projects should cease and the coders switch to a lot more cooperation and standarization should take place with the coding. Have a few votes why don't you, what's to stop that? anarchy is a nice hobby, hint again, it has never workled in the real world, some sort of organized structure usually works with cooperation being the key. Linux has more branches to it then the amazon, and it's getting worse, not better. Much less egos, much more cooperation, insist on standarization to get functionality over form.
Take this for what it's worth, I can think of a lot of people who have "tried" linux and won't even consider it now. I can think of hundreds of people who have "tried" microsoft and mac and will stick to it-even with it's flaws- because it works better for non geeks who don't want to spend their time learning to code.
It's really that simple a problem, too.
With LindowsOS.COM you *do* get all the same big brother aspects as WinXP. Hell, Michael Robertson will even send your e-mail directly to Microsoft at the slightest hint of a lawsuit!
"God is dead." - Frederik Nietzsche
I like your post, but I'm hovering at 100 $ in similar claims in the stasck of linux OS disks I have floating around here. None of them have lived up to the claims. And there's 18 dozen differnt linux distros all claim the same thing "look, we are useable now, we have a CD to use for install, and look at all the groovy apps" and etc and it's mostly vaporware in real non coding use. So how much to experiment with lycoris? Or should I experiment with dubianslackoffware in a gentoo fashion? Or what? linux is starting -heck it got there- to be so fragmented and treed off and non compatiable and not working that it's gotten to the ridiculous point. If there isn't consolidation and done in a hurry linux is gonna be the amiga of computer-dom. Linux coders and major distro offer-ers have to have the COURAGE to abnadon duplicated efforts, ie, exactly how many"desktops" are needed or wanted?
The main problem is this duplication of effort, and the bewildering array of apps and libraries and different kernels and who knows what certainly not joe average user. If it stays like it is it will always be coder geek OS, it just ain't gonna fly for non coders. It's too diverse, there's no unified effort, even UL announced now is seriously fragmented and not really"united" they just say they are but in the fine print they plan on still being different from each other. Joe average is saying "wazzup with that noise, can't they get their crap together and agree on ANYTHING?"
Linux world don't agree on ANYTHING. Nothing at all, zip, nada, zilch.
there ya go.
Linux got into the market share on the server side because the market was divided and all the vendors were expensive. AND because the end-user of servers was technically capable and actually *read* the READ ME's. This is not true with the desktop market. End users will not tolerate learning another OS. The day an ignorant end-user can install the OS, and manage to upgrade some basic hardware without ever having to go to some back-water geek URL to download a buggy driver written by a 12 year old is the day linux will get a 20% market share of the desktop arena. Keep crying over your QUERTY keyboards, because linux has a LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG way to go.
"I have an odd craving to whisper about those few frightful hours in that ill-rumored and evilly shadowed seaport of dea
You maintain that you "need" to support a criminal monopolist by running that OS on "nearly every PC in [your] house." And that is after you've made it past the initial linux learning curve? BS.
IHBT.
One of their screenshots shows a CD burning utilty about to burn an ISO image file.
/home/admin/snapshot1.png
The file is named:
"Scientists prove we were never here."
-- Devo
I just took a brief look at your screenshots, and the first thing that comes to mind is that most of the icons are ripped off straight from Windows XP! This does little to curb the commonly-held belief that Linux desktops are just half-baked attempts to mimic Windows, and also leaves your fledgling company wide open to copyright infringement suits from Microsoft in the future. Will you be planning on hiring some graphic designers to give the Lycoris desktop a unique look and feel for the final version? I would hate to see such a promising project get shut down before it even has a chance to get off the ground.
Loneliness is a power that we possess to give or take away forever
Actually they are created from scratch using MSDN's own XP guidelines against them. There's a rule known as the '20% rule' for packaging, etc... and these icons were created not to break it. Look closely, just like a judge would. These guys are very serious about that kind of thing, and know where they can and can't go. They have a shot.
I use Linux. I use it a lot. But I don't use it like a desktop OS. I spend 90% of my time in xterms running vi. Linux is quite simply is not up to the tasks of a desktop environment. KDE and GNOME are bloated morasses of cartoons. I don't know any other way to put it. You can't copy and paste arbitrary objects through some kind of "Clipboard". How does one expect some intern to get any work done if they cannot copy some graphic from the something like Dia into a Word Processor. And that's another thing. There are no Word Processors that can handle Word documents. I find it difficult to believe that I'm the only one AbiWord doesn't work for. There's a lot that has to happen before Linux desktops become viable. Now you can mod me down; I hit the cap long ago.
> The truth gets people like you so uppity. Criminal monopolist? Thats more than a little specious.
??Specious?? Have you not been following the news of Microsoft's conviction of being an illegal monopolist, and the fact that they're into the penalties phase of the trial?..
(Yes, monopolies by themselves are legal; but using those monopolies in particularly proscribed ways IS illegal, and MS's been convicted of that.)
? I just looked at that screenshot, and there's no filename there at all.
Damn bastards! They changed it fast!
"Scientists prove we were never here."
-- Devo
first rant then a question at the bottom for mr. cheek.--I'm the guy you are talking about, the raw n00b trying to do stuff. Installed a workstation version redhat, gnome only. very small hard drive, that's what would fit. Tried to do my part with net security and learn something, tried to install chkrootkit after finding a gui front end to configure the (*&^% IP tables firewall AFTER I almost sorta learned what 5% of all the terms were. Note: many years on the net, never got owned on a stock mac install, never so much as one virus that effected me, no trojans, no nuthin. but linux "needs" a firewall, as you have 'services running" and other esoterica to a n00b. bzzzt! SORR-EE. No make install for you! newb sez "huh?-YNOT?" off to coding land where everything is written in acronyms and you can't get anything without going someplace else for the fender or alternator they forgot or ass-umed you had.
ya, I eventually got it sort of installed, only some of the crap works though, who knows, I'm probably owned right now and not even know it.
thanks 1337 hax0rs, take advantage of a po geezer trying to not be a lamer... ya young skunks...
:^)
No way can I recommend this stuff to joe average home box user. I'll still use it for awhile, I'll take a chance on some more cheap cloned disks and keep trying NEWANDIMPROVED distro d'jour, but I'm about 3 more installs away from selling all these x86 boxes I have, scrapping together some more money, pawning the dogs, getting a morning paper route, investing in a ski mask and bank futures, pimping out the old lady and eventually getting a new G4 tower with something that will work like "classic mac os" and sticking with that as long as I can on the net..
NOW, I will keep trying the cheapiediskclone versions and WHEN I find one I WILL pop full cash distro to support them with cash, but that ain't happening until I can get a stripped down but functional anything that works and is geared to joe schmoo who isn't a professional or gifted amateur coder. Honest injun, I left DOS and switched to mac many moons ago because COMMAND LINE SUCKS for most people. If I WANTED command line I would have learned UNIX a long time ago, but I DON'T want command line action. See? magnify my sentiments by oh--say--A HUNNERT ZILLION PEEPS! If I'm forced to learn command line to the point of a sysadmin, guess what? I'm STILL not gonna paycash for something that my new employer who just hired me as a sysadmin will pay for, and that will probably be some copy anyway. Becoming a coder and sysadmin is WORK TOWARDS EMPLOYMENT level effort, and here's the deal 'I don wanna" I gots a job I like, I just want to use a normal box in normal fashion, I'm willing to pay SOME cash for it, but not as much as microsoft wants, and I ain't paying steve jobs hardware prices anymore. There's LOTSA folks like me out here in consumer-land-really!
DON'T MAKE BUY SATELLITE TV AND WATCH WRESTLING AND QVC EITHER!!!!
hehehehehehehehehehe
Mr. Cheek, is what you are offering what I am looking for? YES or NO, binary answer, no fudging please. The credit card is waiting. Thank you.
That's my official question for the interview.
they pretty much took the developers form borland to create VB. another copied innnovation
The kind of programmers he's talking about didn't popularize Windows 3.1 by writing Objective C or Java apps. They popularized Windows 3.1 by putting out thousands and thousands of VB apps.
Remember Visual Basic 3.0? It was the first "good" version of VB. It was an awful memory hog, hideously slow, didn't even compile to native code, and lowered the barrier so that lots of non-programmers could release code by drawing a form, double clicking on the buttons, putting in a few almost English-like commands (even in all caps if they wanted, VB would fix it for them), and selecting "Run" from a menu. They could select "Make EXE" from another menu, and then upload their new program to AOL. They didn't even have to worry about distributing a setup program since anyone downloading apps from AOL at the time was quickly pointed to the small runtime DLL required by VB apps.
VB didn't require novice programmers to learn to think in an object orientation; they were just able to say "When I click this button, do this, this and this." At the time some of us thought VB was like a less elegant Hypercard, not a real development language. Unix C programmers and DOS Turbo Pascal programmers laughed at VB fans. Those new coders released thousands of awful applications.... and some of them actually developed into something good. VB itself turned into a huge mess of dependencies and version conflicts, but it's the closest really working thing to a non-coder's language I've ever seen, not to mention a far more efficient use of one's time for prototyping or simple applets than any C-derived language and toolkit, as long as one is stuck in Windows to begin with.
If Lycoris (or Lindows, or someone I haven't heard of yet) were to include a coding tool as simple as VB or simpler, yet also capable of doing everything VB does plus automate all the cool things modern Linux distros include (mp3, web, video, for that matter simple things like pipes etc.) I bet they would own the Linux desktop market within a year, and quickly take a chunk out of Windows' marketshare soon after. Lindows could do it now by licensing some version of Delphi for Click-n-Run, but I wonder if even Delphi is too much for the kind of people VB appealed to in those early years (new programmers hate semicolons and type declarations! and if they have to deal with them, rather than learn something more "correct" they will simply give up... and there goes your critical mass.)
GNUstep is cool, but GNUstep is nowhere near the empowering and market-generating technology that VB was when it first appeared. It is essentially a slightly modernized clone of NeXTstep, which you may have noticed did not take over the world right around the time Win3.x and VB did.
To the parent of the parent: They finally did come out with some kind of VB clone for GEOS, I think NeoBASIC or something like that, but of course it was too little too late. I think you can actually still buy PC/GEOS from the makers of NewDeal Office.... but as their marketing gimmick was that it runs on a 286, they're looking kinda dated at this point.