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Lycoris Build 71 Beckons For Your Desktop
PenguinRenegade writes "Lycoris has released a new Beta, Build 71. Lycoris is not a Linux distro for those who already know Linux, but more for the masses, for those who want to migrate from Windows, and don't really want anything to do with the command line. Lycoris Desktop/LX equipped computers are available from Wal-Mart starting at $268.00 (build 46). It's a great OS for the masses, $30 or less, $19.99 from the company if you download your own and just want the Product ID. Registered users get REAL e-mail support and full access to IRIS, an RPM-based click-to-install program base." (There's no cost to download the beta.)
wal-mart is excellent for making a stand on something like this; I hope they continue to make offers like this. It would be interesting to see how many of these boxes are selling.
Unfortunately, the only way that Linux will have a chance to take greater market share in the desktop or server arenas is through consolidation.
/. said recently, too much free software (whether different distros of Linux or office suites or whatever) can be a bad thing for quality. Paraphrasing, you can probably download 10 different programs that do A-B-C functionality. But none of them do it 100%.
There are simply too many different flavours out there and this causes the problem of limited takeup beyond die-hard Linux users and the wider problem of quality.
As someone else on
In any other movement/"industry", there are periods of rapid growth followed by consolidation. Some might say this is when monopolies form - look at the motor industry or telecoms or computing. There used to be dozens of players in each field but this has shrunk down to a handful.
So - what's more important, diversity or quality? Only one of these will lead to greater adoption in the mainstream...
G4 Hackintosh
Honestly, I haven't been looking at Lycoris earlier, but judging from the screenshots, I'd not say that they are making a migration easier. They're just cloning Microsoft Windows XP, right down to the default (I suppose) desktop picture. Luna is really one of the ugliest interface designs ever, but I guess that if this helps spread an IMHO superior desktop operating system to the unwashed masses who are still caught in Microsoft's web of darkness, the cloning is somewhat excusable. They could have made it a _little_ bit different, though. I wonder if a lawsuit's coming up...
I think it's great that people and companies supporting Linux are finally starting to reach the masses with their message. It seems the only things that are really missing from Linux (and other *ixes, for the most part) are games and a few key apps like Photoshop, Flash, Dreamweaver etc etc. Since I'm not a graphics guy and I don't play games, the switch was pretty easy for me to make on the majority of my PCs.
Personally I prefer FreeBSD + KDE, but I think any market share taken away from Microsoft on the desktop will be good for diversity. Of course, for gamers and graphics nuts, switching over will be more troublesome. Hopefully even that will change as Linux gains more market share and companies start realizing it and diverting more development efforts towards non-MS platforms (ideally cross-platform, although I'd imagine the prospect of supporting too many platforms would be prohibitive for some companies).
We hang the petty thieves, but appoint the great ones to public office. - Aesop
The 'original'? Was MS actually the first company to release a Minesweeper-esque game, or did they embrace and extend it from somewhere else?
I certainly remember playing the vastly superior variant 'Mined Out' or 'Rescue Bill The Worm From Certain Old Age' back in 1984 or so...
++ Say to Elrond "Hello.".
Elrond says "No.". Elrond gives you some lunch.
From Lycoris's Website (http://lycoris.com/products/desktoplx/)
"Power Flower", it says.
Their XMMS skin looks like iTunes, too...
These guys will face lawsuits both by Microsoft AND Apple... Yay! That's what I call platform oecumenism!
Hello! I'm a disaster waiting to happen!
I don't use linux. The closest I've come is one failed attempt to make redhat work. It didn't. It just pissed me off. I'd like to run linux. But I'm not sure what the point would be. Once you took away all of my Adobe/Macromedia programs and my Win32 Quake 3, there isn't a whole lot appealing about running a *nix. I think that the only other thing I really use my computer for would be roaming around the internet. And yes, WIN2k sucks a bit for doing anything, but its not bad enough that I'd want to install a completely unfamiliar OS, learn how to use it and boot into, just so I can sit on IRC and look at webpages. Things like Lycoris are more appealing because I don't think I would end up as confuzed and annoyed. But I put it out to all you linux lovers - Why would I actually want to install linux? Security? Dont care. Speed? Mirc opens up fast enough thank you. L33Tness? I might be able to make linux boot, but I still wont understand half the crap you people go on about. Please - convert me.
Yet Winodws has taken the greater market share on the desktop and continued to do so (up until now it seems :).
There aren't too many flavors of Windows that cause major problems for business' and home users alike?
Let's -- forgetting Windows 3.1 and Windows for Workgroups 3.11 we now have in the wilds and widely used: Windows 95, Windows 95B, Windows 95C, Windows 98, Windows 98se, Windows 98Bse, Windows NT 4.5x, Windows NT 5.x, Windows Me (how many builds?), Windows 2000 Home Edition, Windows 2000 Professional, Windows XP Home Edition, Windows XP Professional. The sad thing is that I know I missed many releases.
And yes, even for Windows I too can get 10 different programs (free) that do A-B-C in functionality -- but none of them do it 100%. Heck, this is true for very expensive programs like Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Money, Microsoft Project, etc...
"What's more important, diversity or quality?" you asked. Obviously diversity will lead to qualityy as we've tried it the other way for the last decade+ and where IS the quality with Windows so far???
For those of you saying that "Linux won't work for the desktop until my grandma can install it.", please remember your grandma can't install Windows either. Being mainstream is not about how easy it is to install. It's about being OEM installed by major retailers. Most people never install a version of Windows from scratch. The upgrade releases are usually easy, but you get driver and dependancy problems sometimes. This is especially true of the NT/2000/XP line. I find that anyone who can run Windows preinstalled can run Linux preinstalled.
Scenario: newbie installs "finished" winMe. Newbie gets frustrated by blue screens of death. Newbie thinks this is normal, and reboots.
Warning: Opinions known to be heavily biased.
We have a misunderstanding. For the geek "broken" means one thing and for the would be live support client it would mean something else completely. When my father's computer needs fixing it means that he has an rpm dependency problem, wants Sorenson for his Xine or wants new fonts copied into the right directory. These things are very simple to a geek and would not be classified as a fault or instability.
The end user usually can not and should not have to deal with these issues. The automation of these simple tasks usually creates more trouble by introducing a vastly more complex layer of GUI above simple software that really works.
and I thought the beauty of Linux was that it _didn't_ need weekly fixen because the registry got messed up.
The registry really doesn't get messed up but from my father's viewpoint there is no noticeable difference. How can he tell the difference between the registry messing up the sound and Redhat not including mp3 support (real example). He simply noticed that the sound was not working and therefore for all intents and purposes "broken". It took me 5 minutes with SSH and Lynx to download and install it for him one night.
This distinction is crucial. The very fact that you mix the two levels of proficiency mirrors the corporate stance. The would be company will be free from fixing really broken (geek level broken) machines and will deal with fonts, installation of newer software and such. It's Linux's reliability that makes such an enterprise plausible. When I log into my dad's machine I'm never looking for kernel errors and the uptime is usually measure of time between power failures.
If you outlaw the law, only criminals will have laws
The difference is that you know it's in the shop for a couple of days, but you don't know who or when someone is crawling around their computer via the Internet. (Unless your dad knows w, who, last or lastlogin and /var/log/secure, etc.) There's a blame factor here, too. If it's in someone's shop, it better be secured, or it's their fault. How do you draw the same analogy over to the Internet and this service?
I had this problem with one of my customer's. We have a multi-million dollar software package that is supported via a dial-up modem. I could neither successfully convince them to get broadband, nor could I convince them to leave the modem on all the time. With broadband, they were concerned with trying to push the idea with their own IT dept, who in turn want control over everything and ensure crackers do not get in. With leaving the modem all the time, the customer wanted to know when we logged in and did stuff. It's a control thing, but usually only comes up when mysterious things happen that we say is not our fault.
Anyway, if you have some answers to these, I would be most greatful to hear!
This page from my website shows some interesting thing. How often are pictures recycled?
Windows needs the same kind of tender loving care. One time my Dad was using his PC in safe mode for 6 months before he had someone take a look at it. If he was running Linux I could have fixed it remotely.
If tits were wings it'd be flying around.
Instead of ruling out options due to your own ignorance, hire a consultant/contractor who has extensive experience with Linux and have him select the distribution and develop a written routine for installation (since he will likely not install more than a couple machines himself).
If you stick with Lindows or Lycoris, sure you won't be able to copy it due to the license of software bundled with Linux; however, Redhat does not require a license, although Redhat does sell support contracts.
In regards to hardware 'not working', there is a lot of hardware that works in Linux. You should not simply skip a distribution because IT didn't setup the Cd burner, setup the CD burner yourself.
You could use completely for free: Debian, Gentoo, Mandrake, Slackware, and a horde of others.
I personally recommend Debian because it has APT which allows you to download and install programs via 3 simple words ('apt-get install name-of-program). Gentoo is a great distribution; however, it requires more effort to install and will require you to compile all software from portage (like APT) which you wish to use. You may like Mandrake 9, it sets up a lot of hardware for you (more than any other distribution); however, it uses RPMs like Redhat so it is not as easy to maintain as Debian and Gentoo.