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For years, the debate between Linux and Microsoft Windows have infuriated both sides, and left many businesses less certain about their purchase decisions. So what does one company do? Former CEO of MP3.com, Michael Robertson, creates a new product called Lindows: a convergence of Linux and Windows technology.
Lindows is a unique product in that it adopts a Linux kernel core and in-house technology to run Microsoft windows applications through its emulator. The product has adopted a Windows-style installation and share similar desktop properties to ensure end-users can instantly understand the operating system.
Previous Linux interfaces and windows managers can be cumbersome at best, and lack the intuitive nature users are accustomed to in Microsoft products.
Lindows is developed to be lean and operate on hardware that would not support Windows effectively. Thus, businesses are able to have much longer hardware upgrade cycles.
The operating system aims to combine the best of both Linux and Windows platforms, by taking the stability and security aspects found in Linux distributions coupled with the friendly streamlined interfaces embedded in Windows. The Lindows operating system is heavily interwoven with the WINE project, which is a project developed to emulate a Microsoft environment to operate Windows developed applications.
Lindows runs Linux software natively, and so are not constrained in any manner in terms of performance or stability. By taking such an approach it can retain the benefits and features inherent in the UNIX/Linux architecture.
The product is also priced significantly lower than its Microsoft counterparts with a single license starting from $49.95. A Windows XP Professional license retails at $299.
However, when Lindows mimicked certain aspects of the Windows environment and its name, Microsoft launched a trademark infringement lawsuit against the company. Robertson was unfazed by the legal action and took it all in his strides. “…It's going to be a fascinating trial, because somebody's going to lose a trademark. It's either going to be Microsoft losing Windows or Lindows.com losing the right to use the word Lindows” he said.
Whether Lindows will survive the legal batter remains to be seen, but it seems the company is focused to become profitable and deliver Lindows to the mass-market.
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