LindowsOS 4.0 Examined

What sets LindowsOS 4.0 apart from the crowd is not what is shares with standard Linux approach, but what it doesn't. LindowsOS has been reviewed many times over, mostly with favorable results - but this is not just another review. This piece will tell you not only about my experience with LindowsOS 4.0, but also what you need to know to arm yourself with the knowledge to make the decision whether LindowsOS is right for you. LindowsOS (hereafter, casually, "Lindows") is a project aimed a users of Microsoft Windows. Unlike other Linux distributions, Lindows assumes no previous experience with Linux, no experience with installing alternative OSes, and little knowledge of computers. Lindows is based on Debian Linux, and under the hood, is still exactly that. Familiar users will be able to edit /etc/apt/sources.list and use apt-get to install and manage their packages. You can still go to the command line and administer your system like any Linux box. But why would you want to? This is no ordinary Linux, and shouldn't be treated as such. Lindows is much, much more, and at the same time - much, much less. I've installed various Linux and BSD systems close to 100 times, and Lindows installation is the easiest I've ever experienced. It's blazingly fast, about 7 minutes on my system, and requires very little attention. In fact, to a seasoned Linux user, or even one with casual experience, it's nearly disconcerting. There's very little in the way of options - even if you chose not to "TAKE OVER ENTIRE DISK," you simply select a partition, give the computer a name and a "system password" (which is the root password, but never referred to as such), and choose continue. Since my test system contains other OS'es, I admit that even though I knew I chose the right partition, I worried that Lindows might somehow decide to install somewhere on its own. While I see this as a negative, the truth is that to someone investigating Linux for the first time, this might be the only way to go without confusing them. I am quite positive that virtually no one I knew who isn't in the IT field knows anything about partitioning their hard disk(s), and I am confident that such an option would end with a phone call to me. So to summarize installation without getting into the details covered a hundred times over elsewhere, it'd dead simple for a newbie and possibly scary in its lack of interactivity for anyone else.