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Xandros Releases Open Circulation Edition
jasonp writes "Xandros has just announced the release of an Open Circulation Edition of its famous Desktop OS. The Open Circulation Edition includes the Xandros File Manager, Opera for web browsing and email, and access to Xandros Networks. To accompany this exciting release, DesktopOS.com has published an exclusive interview (mirror) with a number of key Xandros executives." The license is a little off-putting, at least if you want to use the OS at work, but Xandros hopes people will find the OS attractive enough to pay for.
http://www.desktopos.com/printfeature.php?artid=22
http://www.desktopos.net/printfeature.php?artid=2 (mirror)
Looks like its very promising... I think I might like it :)
Hmmm.
As soon as I get my hands on a copy, I'll attempt to review it.
;-)
Actually, it looks like it's available via BitTorrent already. Start downloading people! I want more bandwidth.
Javascript + Nintendo DSi = DSiCade
Four-click install with automatic disk partitioning
;))
lets just hope this isn't like with some 'earlier' SuSE Linux where it overwrites the whole harddisk (yeah windows is gone
Linux is like a Wigwam. No Windows no Gates but Apache inside
...I don't see what all the whoop is about. Just someone trying to mutate linux into a windows clone and cash in on it. At least RedHat has (had?) a decent corporate strategy and a respect for the linux community. Xandros has done an impressive amount of work on their OS, but in the end, it's nothing to write home about.
...in case someone has not heard of Xandros before, it's basically another Linux distro. What makes it so special is that Xandros purchased the rights to Corel Linux and repackaged it as XandrOS Linux. The desktop is designed to be easy for new users, and even has WINE integrated so that Windows programs run without much fuss.
Javascript + Nintendo DSi = DSiCade
I'm glad they told me it was famous... I didn't have any idea what it is!
Agile Artisans
... a Compaq Presario with a P4, if I remember correctly. As a novice user, he was pleased. The Xandros interface, a modified flavor of KDE, is remarkably familiar looking from the Windows standpoint. It also uses the Plastik KDE theme as the default window decoration, which is pretty fancy. Though the interface is clean and consistent there are no breakthrough usability innovations that I can remember. I think the only hardware that gave him trouble was a PCMCIA WiFi adapter. Though wifi chipsets have consistently given Linux trouble because of closed-source drivers, it didn't help that this particular card was a Microsoft...
"The license is a little off-putting, at least if you want to use the OS at work..."
I should say so.
Section 1:
B. Subject to the terms and conditions contained herein, Xandros hereby grants to You a non-exclusive license to use the Software Product:
for your personal, non-commercial use;
and for internal business purposes only and only if You are a Developer; where a "Developer" means a person who uses the Software Product in connection with the development of a software application or component.
"We want the Open Circulation version of the Xandros desktop to replicate like a virus," said Dr. Frederick H. Berenstein, Xandros Chairman and CTO.
I really wish that analogy would just die. It connotes too many negative ideas.
Fedora Core 2 had that issue too, it's kernel based, nought to do with the distribution further than their choice of kernel version.
I personally have been using Xandros 2.0 on my laptop for about 6 month. All that they say is true, the 4 click install, moving the windows partition, Xandros Networks (which allows you to get the apps you want). -- the former is one of the best features - Being debian based it's ease of installation and ease of use, is usually my recomendation to new linux converts
A bunch of Tech Stuff
Could someone explain to me how it is that Xandros has managed to not distribute their OS for free for so long? Don't they have to adhear to the GPL? Am I missing something?
This looks like an attempt to cash in, betrayal of principles etc., but in the end this will probably migrate more non-geeks from windows.
# cat
Damn, my RAM is full of llamas.
ftp://ftp2.xandros.com/src/
I've been using Xandros Deluxe for a while (with CrossOver office) and it's great, but a recent change to their "Xandros Networks" system (a front-end to apt, but with "channels") means that you cannot download the latest version of a package until it has aged a bit. As an example, you can use apt-get to install gimp1.2, but gimp2 requires a "Premium Membership", which doesn't come with even the paid for versions - you must purchase this separately for nearly $40.
I loved Xandros until this change. I don't mind paying for a distro, if it's good enough, but I don't appreciate them trying to gouge me with extra charges just to have the latest version of an open source program.
I also am annoyed that their new Open Circulation version limits cd writing speed to the minimum. That is a stupid restriction. What is the point?
This looks to me like Windows '95, which is really Apple '86. Sorry, I don't mean to flame, but honestly - why would anyone want to pay for that when you can make your desktop look so much better with free, GPL'd products?
With a new release of mozilla out, why do they quietly choose a non free of browser software? I do emergency think this is emergency a sensible choice.
Read journal when you are not understand
CD burning speed in Xandros File Manager is limited to the minimum burning speed of your CD burner. To get the maximum burning speed out of your hardware you can either become a Premium subscriber to Xandros Networks or Upgrade to the Standard, Deluxe or Business editions of the Xandros Desktop OS.
Quality.
(Alerted to by jdub's blog)
Malike Bamiyi wanted my assistance.
SuSE was not for me a problem. SuSE gave no trouble and had good better documentation to users who German speak ;). The mother tongue of SuSE is German, and yours just inferior implement.
Read journal when you are not understand
'Xandros' is a singular noun. While there may be many people in the company, the company itself is a singular noun, therefore 'has' is appropriate.
It seems that what they're pushing in this is that there's full NTFS support and so it's easy to do a dual-boot with XP without having to reformat all the windows stuff to FAT32. Other distributions (e.g. Red Hat's) refuse to include NTFS stuff because it's still unstable (especially writing), so have Xandros made some advances in this area or do they just discount the danger?
I find this kind of unabashed shameless shilling totally disgusting. Slashdot should know better than to accept such submissions.
Last i looked they were still running REALLY old versions of major apps like KDE.
Also it seemed that most anything you might want to install using their 'installer' thingie, required a $ subscription.
Even for things like GIMP, which is free..
Those 2 things turned me off.. Has this improved any?
Yes i know its debian based, and i could update manually, but whats the point? If im going to go thru that much trouble, then the 'distro' doesnt offer me any advantages over anything else..
---- Booth was a patriot ----
"The Open Circulation Edition installs an ad-sponsored version of the Opera web browser and e-mail client."
The Open Circulation Edition does not include CodeWeavers CrossOver Office or Plugin so you are not able to run any Windows compatible applications on Xandros Desktop. Upgrade to the Deluxe or Business editions if you need this functionality.
Somehow, I don't think popup ads, crappy CD, and the lack of compatibility with windows promised (unless you upgrade) in the first place burning are going to convince people to jump over to Linux. The idea of an extremely easy to use distro that is Windows compatible is a great idea, but this doesn't seem like the best way to gain support.
What does visual candy (on Gnome, no less) have to do with meeting the requirements of a modern, functional desktop? Honestly, what does all the crap on that screenshot hand to do with integrating seamlessly into a Windows domain (or creating a Windows domain yourself, for that matter)?
The Xandros desktop is KDE 3.1, with additions that allow the system to WORK as smoothly as Windows XP. If you want candy, download a KDE theme for it.
Where does it say in the GPL that I'm restricted in regards to where I can use GPL'ed code? Non-commercial use only?
I think that what you stated is the accepted rule in the US and Canada, but in the UK, an organisation is referred to as a plural noun.
I make a reasonable middle-class wage by going to work and not spamming blogs with scams.
they use a chipset that is well supported in linux. From what I've heard, the MS wifi card is actually easier to make work in some Linux distros than in most versions of Windows thanks to the lovely "stable" windows drivers and the all too familiar dll hell.
- Disclaimer: Information in this post deemed reliable but not guaranteed.
All the parts that are GPL the source is releases, as stated ina sibling post.
All the parts that aren't GPL are not infringing on the GPL and are closed source.
The GPL allows you to distribute GPL binaries along with non-GPL binaries.
The GPL allows for the sale of GPL binaries so long as the source is available.
The GPL does not allow using GPL code in a non-GPL binary. Xandros appears to follow this rule.
- Disclaimer: Information in this post deemed reliable but not guaranteed.
It's not. I had no problems repartitioning using the Deluxe edition of Xandros, and I bet they didn't change anything for this version.
It doesn't hurt to be nice.
I asked one of the support guys on the forum if Xandros is getting a cut of the ad revenue from Opera, he didn't know. I wouldn't expect a 1st level support guy to know, but I wouldn't be supprized if they are.
The support guy also said that you are free to install Mozilla from Xandros Networks.
- Disclaimer: Information in this post deemed reliable but not guaranteed.
How is their GUI front end to their firewall (if they have one,I do not know) compared to the mostly freebie industry standard zone alarm most folks use on windows? Any newb contemplating switching over is going to have "security" as one of the prime reasons. I DO know the first 15 minutes on the web are the most critical, the default install had better be secure or it rapidly gets into U_B_hosed territory.
The bad: A subscription for software upgrades for paying customers is a BAD idea. I don't think getting CrossOver in paid bundle is all that big of a bonus. IE and media player don't run worth crap on CrossOver. I'd rather they dropped CrossOver and included the software subscription. Although it's great if you need to run any Office products on a Linux box.
The license does suck. Very unfortunate they chose to handicap what would otherwise be a good distro with that EULA.
If they don't drop the software upgrade subscription for paying useres I'm not going buy another copy. I'll find a distro with a more liberal license and broader support.
That's our life, the big wheel of shit. - The Fat Man, Blue Tango Salvage
I am glad to see this happening - I wish all the luck to xandros and will recommend them to new users.
I was always impressed with the corel linux -
and always happy to see it in stores like target.
I wish people would stop complaining - just don't use it if you have problems with anything they do - otherwise try it and if you like it send them some money.
My hope is to see all these distro's make it because it enforces open standards so they can all talk to each other. I am sick of working with Microsoft - I would kill if our company standardized on Xandros or any other distro for that matter - Just get me off windows.
Keep up the good work Xandros!!
Your momma's so fat it took me 3 days to download her using internet2.
My beliefs do not require that you agree with them.
Completely correct.
It is only possible to make money with FLOSS if it is imperfect (i.e. needs _support_).
But this doesn't make this mindset bad or somehow wrong. It is imperfect in the current world, but commercial software development is even more imperfect.
The problems which arise when one writes free software without compensation are even recognized by RMS, the hated fundamentalist in the FLOSS movement. Somewhere on the GNU pages, in the philosophical sections, you'll find texts where RMS talks exactly about that. I'm not saying here that I support a software tax, like he does. BUT:
If there are very talented people who write very good software in their spare time, then there must be something fudamentally wrong with the assumption that intellectual property and capitalistic greed is _neccessary_ to produce good software.
This is assumption is stated over and over again, yet it is apparently flawed.
I will, of course, if neccessary and/or attractive, code for money in the traditional, commercial, closed-source sense. I can't change the world alone.
But I'm convinced already that the world, especially the software world, can't be reduced to the 'greed is good' rule stated by 90% of all economists.
I won't propose a solution to the dilemma here (since, of course, I have none), but saying "Free software doesn't feed you. Period." is not enough.
The _free_ software movement is in danger of being squashed like a bug by the commercial world with money, i.e. power.
I wonder where the real *freedom* goes in the process. Let the _free_ market grow, _occupy_ 'mind space' by patents and other overly restrictive _intellectual property_ laws. WTF?!
Well why not? With a windows installation it's not different, it erases LILO/GRUP even without any asking. If you don't install LILO/GRUP in the bootsektor but on a partition, windows takes "owner ship" to be the bootable partition after every boot, in this case, boot 1 time windows -> LILO gone.
--
Karma 50, and all I got was this lousy T-Shirt.
I've used Xandros 2.0 for about 4 months and love it. The install was easy although I didn't do the express/4 clicks as I wanted some control over partitions, etc. The only things that are "broke" out of the box are Real One Player (and their support site tells how to fix this with Realplayer 8) and the fact that it won't play dvds as shipped. You don't have to use opera and installing mozilla is very easy with the Xandros Networks. I highly recommend it for someone who wants a linux distro that works--vs one to be worked on.
You mean like you stopped thinking? You think somehow that the menus should be in the upper left? Makes no intuitive sense to me. Why is it on the mac that no matter where an app is on the screen its menus are at the top of the screen. Talk about stupid, yet mac users still blindly believe that that's easier.
Incidently, not all written languages are read top-left to bottom-right. I prefer my menu bar on the left edge of the screen where it takes up less real estate.
Fuck that.
Software is a comodity. You can't make money from software anymore.
Xandros may be a very user friendly distribution (it is indeed, is what I am using to write this) but they gain absolutely nothing closing the source of some of their stuff. That business model is dead.
Services, people, services is what will save the day.
IANAL but write like a drunk one.
I'm debian user myself, and I tried pirated version of xandros on one system just to kill boredom once and I was surprised just how easy it was to install.
I had raw system, unpartitioned hd, sound card, tuner card, 2 network cards, realtek and some nvidia, cd-burner, matrox g450.
I threw the install cd in and booted, 5, that's FIVE mouse clicks, reboot and I had fully installed operating system including just about everything I needed for daily use.
Only thing missing was pre-tuned tv-channels, but that wasn't big problem.
I tested the system for about a week, and recommended it for couple of friends who bought it and liked it.
Myself being poor student, decided to format and go back to my vanilla debian use.
Seriously, if you need desktop linux for office, I recommend xandros.
It's good value for the money, and if you want the latest progs for home use, just throw in more apt sources and upgrade using unstable debian packages.
There are no atheists when recovering from tape backup.
Doesn't the new Debian Sarge installer make efforts like these irrelevant? From everything I've seen it's cute, graphical, holds your hand, and when you're done you have fully configured true Debian. Why mess with this or Linspire/Lindows when a friendly Debian seems to be right around the corner?
Knowledge is power. Knowledge shared is power multiplied.
Notice the little symbol in there we all like to call a semi-colon. A semi-colon denotes end of thought without ending the sentence.
They even devided it up on the page to make it easier for dumb people to understand. But I guess it wasn't toned down enough..
I will break it down for you.
1) You may use this software for free if you are using it for personal, non commercial use.
2) You may use this software for business, but only if you are a developer (ie no Billing Clerks or Secretaries.)
You do NOT have to be doing both, which is obvious, because you can't use something for personal use (home) and business (the office) use at the same time. You're doing one or the other.
In fact, I think that the license is pretty loose. "Unless you are a developer" is a pretty loose term. You could be developing kernels and applications, or you could be developing web pages. You could probably get away with "developing" spreadsheets.
- It's not the Macs I hate. It's Digg users. -
hmm..... anyone's got a catalogue of the people available for download?
When did a request to mod a parent up become Offtopic -1? Oh well...
I would really like to try Xandros out for some purposes of replacing windows - since the codeweavers part is not included this is moot. I thought Xandros might be a good alternative for others who usually use windows.
What they need is some time-expiring try beforfe you buy-version. I have nothing against shelling out for quality, but then I need to know that it is quality - and quality of the kind I need.
I have been using Xandros 2.0 since it came out, and have recommended it to a number of friends. These are people who simply want a device to read email and surf the 'Net without being swamped with viruses and worms. All of us bought our copies, because we don't mind paying money for a stable and trouble-free computing environment. Also, we gave up trying to update Windows - when you are using a 56k modem it is simply not feasible to download 100 mb patches every second week.
People complaining about Xandros Networks miss one point: you can set up OTHER websites as sources for downloads (Xandros Networks is just a front end for apt-get) - which means you can get all the free software you want for your Debian based box. (And of course you can still use apt-get)
Really guys, Xandros is good. I have played with RedHat 7.x, 9, Fedora, Suse, Mandrake, Knoppix since 1999. Xandros simply works straight out of the box - no fiddling, no "just edit this file". There were a few very minor snags, but nothing serious.
AND: the Deluxe version does contain all the source code plus gcc & all the stuff you need to write code, so don't let anybody tell you it's "only" for ex-Windows people who can only point and click.
I did suggest to Xandros to release a bottom end product for free. I am not saying they did this on my recommendation, but I believe it is the right move. ANYONE can now have a solid Linux desktop at home, WITHOUT the pain / virusses / expense / flakiness of Windows - for FREE. Obviously one would want to upgrade to the Deluxe or Business edition, if only for the extra software - and I, for one, wish Xandros all the best. The whole point of the OSS business model is to add value and sell it.
Good job, Xandros. Thanks for letting me sleep at night!
Yes, that may be true, but i personally wouldn't want to pay for things that are so out of date.
Not saying i want bleeding edge, but come on.. they are ancient in many cases. And also seemed to be missing some important pieces in the first place..
If you don't keep up, you fall behind.
---- Booth was a patriot ----
top of the screen, not top of the window
Top of the screen means that the mouse have to travel great distances on today's desktops compared to small ones that the original interface was designed for. "Easier to hit" is the argument for doing it but what difference does that make when you have to pick up the mouse half way through to get to it? Sure you can have excessive mouse acceleration but that doesn't contribute to making the mouse more accurate does it? Why is it that all macs on display don't have proper mouse acceleration if that's the proper solution to the big desktop problem? All demo macs I've tried feel like shit with sluggish mouses and menus that can't be reached easily.
Making the menus common across applications and using shortcuts are unrelated.
In fact, I think that the license is pretty loose. "Unless you are a developer" is a pretty loose term. You could be developing kernels and applications, or you could be developing web pages. You could probably get away with "developing" spreadsheets.
Does a shell script such as this count?
#!/bin/sh
cat $1 > ssh privateprintserver lpr
It is an application running on a Linux box, is it not? If I write it am I not a developer? Therefore if I am a sysadmin, am I not a developer?
They do further define developer, but it is still incredibly ambiguous. One could interpret most IT people who use Linux to be developers because we write little shell scripts to make our lives easier.
One issue that they may not have really considered is that the line between developer, sysadmin, and user is a lot less watertight than it is on Windows.
LedgerSMB: Open source Accounting/ERP
well i (and the friend of mine who nuked his windows partition) are from austria so we speak german ;)
Linux is like a Wigwam. No Windows no Gates but Apache inside