(...if I do say so myself)
On Saturday, 9 May of this year, it was revealed that I think that LinuxXP is the worst Linux distribution ever - except that I LIED. It really isn't.
But all this isn't false advertising because when I originally started kicking the tires on it about a month ago, that was my opinion THEN. Since then, I'm a little more sympathetic to the developer because it actually delivered on some of the promise of the concept. Also, leaving aside that there are more interesting things happening in Linux than this, I provided an historical service to the Linux community by focusing on this distro, since (evinced by web searches) there are some that think that this distro is a hoax. But it's true; a guy in Russia (where Russian versions are apparently selling for about 1700 rubles or 50 bucks American) decided to try to make Linux easier for Windows users by taking a copy of Linux and putting a custom GUI on top that looks like XP.
Basically this 2008 version (shareware 30 days) that I tested revealed itself to be a year-old copy of Fedora with the Gnome desktop running WINE underneath the GUI that offered stuff like XP-ish icons and a "Start" button in the lower left hand corner.
To its credit, WINE ran both the installers and the programs of several things I tested like WinRAR, Microsoft Encarta (failing at the point where it had to integrate with Windows Media Player, of course) and several archiving programs. No special button-pushing required: just plop in the CD, open the disc-looking icon and look around for something with a .exe on the end of it and click. And surprise: WINE was not slow! This test machine was a P3 550 with 458 on the RAM, built in Feb. of 2000 and it was perking along nicely. Whatever the objection to WINE (like your favorite program not showing up on the compatibility list yet), it's at least not slow in these latter years.
Courtesy of the Gnome crew, there was another concession to the Windows user, being a ripoff of "System Information", the convenient little report that tells about the OS build, hardware specifics, etc. The Gnome version was far more comprehensive than that in XP though, resembling the "Apple System Profiler" that some of you know well.
Although some things worked better than I've experienced in more than a few Linux-i (like super easy installation of Firefox plug-ins for Adobe stuff), LinuxXP is an example of a strategy whose time has probably passed. The other example of WINE reliance (Lindows/Linspire) I have no experience with, but five years ago it was persuasive that Linux was scaring Windows users since they had trouble finding basic controls. But today GUI development has converged so much that many things look like all the other examples in modern OS's. Maybe people are less scared of computing in general as well.
So there you have it. Next meeting (skipping one slot of course due to Memorial Day), I think I'll have another weirdo OS for you, BUT THIS TIME AROUND which may be relevant to your getting a job or something. Stay tuned...
