[ale] Lindows vs the semi-annual Windows suck-a-thon

Geoffrey esoteric at 3times25.net
Mon Feb 24 15:11:12 EST 2003


Pretty much any distro with kde would probably work.  I set up my 
daughter and monther-in-law both this way.  For my mother-in-law, I put 
the right short cuts on her desktop, so she can do the two things she 
does on this computer without too much of a hassle.  Read email and 
browse the internet.  Oh yeah, she's done her resume' there too.  My 
daughter just figured it out. :)


By the way, it's quite interesting to see how clueless some folks are. 
I got an email from my isp that my mother-in-law's inbox was getting too 
full.  Blew me away because she doesn't email that many folks.

Anyway, I go over to check it out and here's she's getting all these opt 
in email messages.  She tells me she's not subscribed to anything.  Then 
I start poking around and find about 10 *.exe in her home directory, 
which she has apparently downloaded or picked up as email attachments.

So, there's no telling how much time I've saved myself with her being on 
a Linux box instead, what would likely be a heavily infected windows box...

Joe wrote:
> Hi folks,
> 
> I'm sitting here trying to get Win98 working on my wife's machine
> *again*. As usual, the box, which boots and runs beautifully under
> Linux, absolutely refuses to function properly under Win98
> (specifically, it refuses to install any driver for a PCI
> network card of any description - well, Netgear FA311s and
> DLink D530s, anyway). There's little bits of computer guts
> scattered all over the living room as I try different combinations
> of junk-bin hardware, trying to create a system that Winblows
> will deign to boot properly on. Not exactly a recipe for marital
> bliss. I'd love to just install some variety of Linux on the
> thing and be done with it, but my last attempt to convert
> my wife ended with a fizzle.
> 
> So into my inbox drops a CNN article about the new Lindows.com $799,
> 1Ghz, 256MB, 20GB laptop. It looks pretty sweet, and the desktop looks
> familiar enough (read "Windows-esque") to prevent my lovely and
> talented but technophobic spouse from having a stroke. I wonder, can I
> download this OS? Surely I can, it says right on their web site it's
> based on Linux, so certainly it ought to be available under the GPL,
> no?
> 
> But no, it's a proprietary EULA, with a specific exception
> for any open-source licensed software included in the
> distro. What's up with that?
> 
> The Lindows OS is $129, and apparently I can get a complete
> system with Lindows pre-installed at Mall-Wart for $199.
> Hmm.
> 
> So, anybody using Lindows? What do you think? If it sucks,
> what then would be a good distro to use for someone who doesn't
> necessarily like Windows, but is used to it and doesn't
> want to have to learn something else? (Hear those "distro
> flamewar" sirens wailing in the distance?)
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> -- Joe Knapka
> _______________________________________________
> Ale mailing list
> Ale at ale.org
> http://www.ale.org/mailman/listinfo/ale
> 
> 

-- 
Until later: Geoffrey		esoteric at 3times25.net

The latest, most widespread virus?  Microsoft end user agreement.
Think about it...

_______________________________________________
Ale mailing list
Ale at ale.org
http://www.ale.org/mailman/listinfo/ale






More information about the Ale mailing list