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OpenLindows.com: Wherefore Art Thou?

Posted by timothy on from the apt-get-transparent dept.

Joe Barr writes "I ran across a curious website recently: OpenLindows.com. The name alone intrigued me. It gave rise to speculation about a weird mix of free-as-in-beer and free-as-in-speech alternative to the $99/year Click-N-Run software subscription offered by LindowsOS, the most Windows-like/proprietary Linux distribution out there. This is a report on what I found, and perhaps even more importantly, what I didn't."

3 of 256 comments (clear)

  1. Community by vosbert · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Interesting how the author mentions community. Does a great software program really need a community? Can't there just be a great product without community? I assume good software will automatically attract a community, but perhaps this is not the case anymore. Maybe it is just as important to produce a great product as it is to promote it.

  2. Re:lindows... I still don't get it by thinkninja · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I understand Lindows better than OpenLindows. The WalMart bargin basement box has an interface that the average computer user (the much maligned Joe Sixpack) is familiar with. To them Windows == Computers (yes, I know this is a Bad Thing).

    OpenLindows, however, seems to require as much effort as installing any other Linux distribution.

    So what niche does it cater for, exactly?

    --
    "The number of Unix installations has grown to ten, with more expected." (Unix Programmer's Manual, 2nd ed.; june 1972)
  3. Maybe no one uses Lindows??? by rindeee · · Score: 5, Interesting

    After all, every machine I've seen my peers purchase from WalMart.com or Tiger gets reformatted and Windows 98 installed on it from the old CD they have lying around. For $199 it's tough to bit...and Lindows blows.

    I have purchased a few of them, installed SuSE 8.2 and made Hylafax servers out of them. Blah.

    ER