[Techtalk] Lindows/OS X/Linux and the future?

[Caitlyn Martin]

Hi, Keith,

I know you're a nice, well meaning guy, but reading your post made me
just a tiny bit ill.  Actually, more than a tiny bit.
> 
> Younger brother says that Lindows is great, but the nondisclosure
> agreement he signed won't let him tell us how great,

Lovely.  Meaning it's proprietary and not open source.  Tell me, what is
the advantage over just running Windows, then?  This kind of defeats the
purpose, doesn't it?

> From what little I have been able to pry loose, Lindows seems to be
> Linux with WINE and KDE configured to run it all from one desktop.  No
> reboot to switch from Linux to Windows and back.  Neat, but why do I
> keep hearing this guy saying "Pay no attention to the man behind the
> curtain!!!"

Um... if you want to run Windows software you are probably still much
better off just running Windows.  There are many apps that just don't do
well under WINE. 

The whole thing that bothers me is that Lindows and any clones that come
out defeat the whole purpose of Linux.  The idea, as far as I am
concerned, is to have an open source, free operating system where I can
take control of my own PC.  I want native applications to match.  I do
not want to run proprietary code written for a proprietary OS.  There
are very few things that the typical PC user does on Windows that can
not be done at least equally well, if not better, using native Linux
code.  I don't want to pay huge sums for regular upgrades of MS Office
or whatever other Windows apps you care to run.  Thanks, but no thanks.

If Linux is viewed as cheaper Windows or better Windows, we might as
well give up now.  Anyone remember WIN-OS/2?  Did it make OS/2
successful, or stifle ISV development and help doom a superior OS?  The
latter, methinks.

All the best,
Caity