LindowsOS 1.0 Preview

LindowsOS 1.0 Preview

LindowsOS is the new operating system from Lindows.com. This operating system is meant to bring choice and bridge the compatibility gap between Windows and Linux. LindowsOS is currently unreleased with only previews distributed at the moment. Unfortunately I do not have a pre-release version to test and this was because I wasn't going to pay US$99 to sign up to their Lindows Insiders program just to get what is effectively a Beta copy to replace. This article will look at what LindowsOS is designed to be and not what the final product will offer. I hope I will have the chance to do this at a latter date.

Lindows.com
Lindows.com is a relatively new Internet based company founded by former MP3.com CEO and founder, Michael Roberston. The objective of this company is to bring choice back to the consumer desktop market. Their first product to do this is their LindowsOS operating system but more on this later. Lindows.com will position their software for novices, office staff, and power users alike with goals to make their software easy to use, prices reasonably, and compatibility with industry standard software like Microsoft Office. Only time will tell whether this is the case.

LindowsOS
LindowsOS is a Linux based operating system with the addition of Windows Compatibility Layer similar to Wine along with some proprietary modifications. This will hopefully give this operating system the flexibility and stability of Linux along with the compatibility and ease-of-use of Windows. LindowsOS will have full support for most major Windows applications including the likes of Microsoft Office and Adobe Photoshop, and over time the ability to have full 100% Windows software compatibility. There is also no product activation or security keys to be used upon installation. The LindowsOS EULA states the software can be installed on as many machines as you like so long as you are the sole user, thus the software is licensed to you and not the computer. If this seems to good to be true then check out the screen shots below. LindowsOS is running major Windows applications. I can't verify how well they're running but I must say even getting these programs running on Linux is a feet on it's own. I couldn't get any of these programs to install under Linux and Wine.

The only thing that is in the back of my mind is software support. I doubt Microsoft will respond to tech support requests if you tell them you're running LindowsOS and the main question is whether or not software programmers will support this OS. Without good software support, a good operating system equates to zero. Just look what happened to BeOS. I feel if LindowsOS gets programmer and manufacturer acceptance then it may well be a challenger in the consumer market but if not it may find a home in the power-user or low-cost markets.

Legal Issues
With the release of this product due this quarter I had a feeling it might attract legal attention from Microsoft's lawysers and it seems it has. Microsoft claims the LindowsOS name and or logo could confuse consumers with Microsofts Windows XP Home and Proffesional operating systems. I can't say whether or not the courts say this is justifiable but when placing the logos side by side as I have below, I can't see how the average consumer could become confused.

Conclusion
The main question is whether or not I would use or recommend it over Windows or even a Windows/Linux dual boot system. Well the answer to that is LindowsOS looks very promising but since I haven't had proper first hand usage I can't say I'd use it over Windows. At this stage I would probably tri-boot between my current Windows 98 SE, and Red Hat Linux 7.1 installations along with LindowsOS. We will know for sure if it could replace Windows entirely when it has been released used in the real world by real people for a short period of time.

UPDATE 26/01/2002

The first software review of Lindows was at NewsForge and it was in the form of a Lindows Insiders Pre-release version. As you can see by reading this article there are many bugs and there are problems installing many Windows applications much like you encounter under Wine when using a standard Linux distribution. It could possibly mean that Lindows might be destined to fail but things might change before the official 1.0 release. Below are enlarge copies of the screen shots from the official preview version as tested in the NewsForge review.

It could possibly mean that Lindows might be destined to fail but things might change before the official 1.0 release. If compatibility stays the same way in the final release that is patch at best then I definitely will not lay down my hard earned cash for it. Will Lindows work out? Only more time will tell. It still looks promising but there are major hurdles to overcome first!

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