Lindows Showcases Download Feature

By Jim Wagner,
Associate Editor, internetnews.com

Lindows, Inc., officials released Tuesday the “broadband
operating system (OS)” feature of its Linux/Windows hybrid, letting
customers buy and customize their applications entirely on the
Internet, a vision of many software makers but one that’s been
largely unrealized.

This is the latest iteration of Lindows.com’s “sneak preview”
features, a move designed to build up interest (and get the Lindows
brand name out) before LindowsOS goes live; a final version isn’t
expected until later this year. It’s currently in its beta
build.

LindowsOS SPX is a Linux-based OS compatible with both Microsoft
Corp. Windows-based applications like Word, Excel and Outlook and
Linux applications. For the past year, Microsoft has been trying to
stick a monkey wrench in Lindows plans via a trademark lawsuit. The
Redmond, WA, software giant lost its
appeal last month with a Seattle judge.

Microsoft has been fighting Lindows on the grounds it confuses
customers with an OS sounding very similar to its own Windows OS,
which is installed in more than 90 percent of the world’s PCs
today.

But what makes Microsoft more worried is two-fold: Lindows costs
$99 and gives customers access to a library of applications to
download.

Windows XP, on the other hand, costs between $189 and $300
(depending on the version), and doesn’t include any of its popular
applications — Word, Excel and Outlook. That comes in a separate
disk, Windows Office XP, for approximately $479 ($239 if you’re
upgrading). Also, download support for Windows products is largely
non-existent outside security patches and Windows Media Player and
Internet Explorer upgrades

Michael Robertson, Lindows.com chief executive officer, said his
OS is the perfect offering for a growing number of computer users
today looking for a bargain

“There’s a whole new class of computer users being cultivated by
the combination of broadband and low-cost PCs,” he said. “Unlike
legacy operating systems, LindowsOS SPX includes a membership
component which means for one affordable price the user receives a
complete computing solution, including the OS, and an entire
library of quality software which they can digitally access and
tailor to their computing needs.

Microsoft, though it retains a dominant hold on the consumer
market, is finding its corporate base eroding before its eyes. A
series of much-publicized security vulnerabilities, as well as
IBM’s migration to a Linux server
solution, has moved the software giant to treat the open-source
OS as its biggest
rival.