Is a linux distro being 'closest to Windows' a good thing? I don't really think so but that seems to be the aim for most distributions. The release from <A HREF="http://www.xandros.com/" target="_new">Xandros</A> is no exception. Recently, they released their latest forray into the desktop market. And I'll have to say that they did a good job...the only other distro I can think that is around the same quality (for windows like environs) is <A HREF="http://www.lycoris.com/" target="_new">Lycoris</A>. These are both good alternatives to the WinBlows option if you are in the market.

Personally, I will continue to use <A HREF="http://www.trustix.org/" target="_new">Trustix</A> (formerly Tawie) and <A HREF="http://www.slackware.com/" target="_new">Slackware</A> on all of mine due to familiarity...but I usually take the old hard disk (10GB from an old HP) and install a new distro of linux each weekend. If anyone want's any distro checked out, let me know and I'll install and test it (not deeply mind you...I only have so much time) for operability and installation as well as configurability. If you've always wondered about a Linux distro and never had the chance to test it out...I'll give it a go if I haven't already

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<b>It is always brave to say what everyone thinks. </b> <i>Georges Duhamel</i>

TKS<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by TKS on 12/17/03 06:16 PM.</EM></FONT></P>

You should start a website with your experience of each distro. Unless of course, you already have one, that is.



<b><font color=red>"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."</font color=red><font color=blue> - Benjamin Franklin</font color=blue></b>

Did you try installing office or another windows app out of curiosity? That seems to be something they tout on their website. I'm just wondering how elegantly/inelegantly it might work...

<i>The wrath of penguins shall be felt. No windows shall be left unbroken.</i>

<A HREF="http://www.mepis.org/" target="_new">Mepis</A> and <A HREF="http://www.yoper.com/" target="_new">Yoper</A> please :-)

<i>Knock Knock, Neo</i>

yes i think its important that a distro is close to Windows, and Mac

i mean if you think about it, Windows, Mac OSX, and Linux are all converging and taking from each other. so there must be somthing there that is good.


however a trend i see soming from linux more and more now which IMO goes against the spirit of it, is "propritary" and "commerical" software.

i don't deny that these things are good for software developers and will ultimatly lead to better products.

but in all seriousness Linux is going the way of microsoft.

Linux will remain free, but the best linux distros (basicly the easiest to use for the avergae joe, therefore getting the largest market share) will ultimatly become commerical.

for example mandrake releases its distros in a commercial "pre-release" so they are on the market as commerical products far before the distros are available to the public, bad thing or good thing i am undecided. sure they say they are selling you "support" but soon they will be offering full functional distros for money, and then removing features in the free versions (my prediction)

yeah linux might take over microsoft, but there really needs to be only a few distros for it to ever work.

with each linux company trying to write their own software that makes it better than the competition we are gonna see a whole pile of different methods of doing the same thing. its gonna branch out like a SOB and nothing will be compatible with each other. (unless you know what you are doing)


for example the software i use the most "Blender" it is an Open Source project now, this has seen a few other "distros" emerge, each one destroys compatibility with the official foundation release. and a few of them will go commercial some time, only realising the source code they need to.


Anyway this is my rant about it all.

i hope it can remain free for all, because right now it seems a few companys are profiting on releases when the majority of the code they use has been written by others for free, 99% of the employees that have put it together are getting nothing while they are selling OS's based on a few widgets.


Alltaken

<A HREF="http://www.mud-puddle.co.nz" target="_new">http://www.mud-puddle.co.nz</A> its where its all going on, oh and its also all going on HERE <A HREF="http://doug.mud-puddle.co.nz/gallery/" target="_new">http://doug.mud-puddle.co.nz/gallery/</A>

<i>yes i think its important that a distro is close to Windows, and Mac</i>

The odd thing about this is that Windows and Mac are very, very different OS from a user perspective. So I disagree with the need to make Linux close to Windows... The important thing is that usability issues are addressed, and if that happens to result in something similar to Windows or Mac or BeOS or Amiga or whatever, then so be it.

Re the commercial aspect, it's something I've been mulling over. I've considered trying to roll a Gentoo or Debian based distro, using as much commercial software as I can - just to see. Eg, XiG graphics, Opera, Star Office, and maybe a modified version of Ximian desktop for example. Funny thing is, the more I think about it the better it looks...

As far as Linux and GNU staying free, it has to. All of the ground work has been licensed that way.

<i>Knock Knock, Neo</i><P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by poorboy on 12/20/03 06:42 PM.</EM></FONT></P>

i don't know what things you are judging this on, but you may be correct.

for me however i am judging it on these things.

Win 3 buttons mouse worked for a long time and 3 button wheel mice also. Mac a 1 button mouse was all you used with a control key modifier. now a mac uses 3 button scroll mice in the exact same way, right button menus are identical basicly.

windows adopted macintosh style graphical systems and they are both almost identical in function, apart from a few minor differences the two interfaces work exactly the same.

microsoft products are available on Mac such as IE,Word,MSN,WMP etc...
graphics programs available on Mac's that used to only be available on macs are also now available on PC and you can buy every major title for both platform.


basicly they are virtuslly the same for human interfaces, they use the same vid cards, memory, USB, firewire, .... the two computer technologys as well as OS look feels are converging very fast each OS takes features from the other.

i use them both on a regualr basis and switch file between the two (home and university)

i had never used mac before on a serious level, but most of the things i knew about Windows could be assumed in Mac as also working. and they did.


they both have been converging because of functionality and so will linux. (IMO)

Alltaken

<A HREF="http://www.mud-puddle.co.nz" target="_new">http://www.mud-puddle.co.nz</A> its where its all going on, oh and its also all going on HERE <A HREF="http://doug.mud-puddle.co.nz/gallery/" target="_new">http://doug.mud-puddle.co.nz/gallery/</A>

The UI may be similar, but that's really about it.

Some day I'll be rich and famous for inventing a device that allows you to stab people in the face over the internet.