Desktop, Meet Linux

About two years ago, I said that Linux wasn't ready yet for the average desktop user. It was at least a year, more likely two, from reaching that point.

This review of Lindows suggests that the day has finally arrived:

It's hard to find something bad to say about such a polished product. The email client on the Mozilla-based "Lindows Internet Suite" browser is configured by default to "check spelling before sending", which is great for my aunt, but I found highly annoying. It can be turned off, hopefully.

The notebook's internal Lucent LT-WinModem wasn't recognized. But then that piece of crap is not recognized by any other non-Windows operating system, not even by those that have a winmodem driver. Creating and establishing a dial-up connection worked well when using a PCMCIA modem.

It's all there. It all works. And if it's not on the install CD, the Click 'n' Run feature provides nearly two thousand applications that you can download and install with a single mouse-click. This includes Nethack, the ultimate adventure game, which is still missing from RedHat as of version 8.0. (I have yet to install 9. Sue me.)

It's not a Linux for the hard-core geek like me. I'll continue to build my own kernels and compile my own applications. But for those looking for a good, cheap desktop OS with some Windows compatibility, this is it.

I'll get a copy myself and take a further look. I'm sure one of the computers around here needs a quick scrub and reinstall.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 01:34 PM | No Comments | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)
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