Xandros review

[mike808@users.sourceforge.net]

To folks that have Xandros, you by now also know that you also get
the latest Codeweavers Crossover Plugin and Office products.

If you used the discount code (like I did) and picked it up for $50,
you can see what a value it is, since the Crossover bundle alone is more
than $50.

I'm looking into asking Xandros and Codeweavers to clarify the license terms, 
but since it doesn't come with support, (which is one thing you get when you 
send the $50 directly to Codeweavers), I wondered if I could use my 
Crossover license to install it in another Linux OS partition on a 
multi-boot system. I'm still only using one copy at a time, and all 
partitions are properly licensed Linux OSes. Gotta love the GPL. License
management is simple: 1. Do you have a copy? 2. Can you get the source code?
If your answer was "Yes" to both of these, then you are properly licensed.
Time to go play in the yard until the Micro$ofties finish their "audit".

Since the OS contingent is frothing at the mouth over Microsoft's EULA
tying "components", such as Media Player, to only be licensed for use
on a licensed MS OS, I thought I'd pose the question "How well does the 
other shoe fit?" when applied to the Linux world.

Is Codeweaver in the same camp as Microsoft if they only allow Crossover
to be licensed for one OS, and a specific one at that, using the same
EULA tactics as Microsoft? Or, if licensed for one "machine", what's the
impact for clusters? Microsoft doesn't have this issue, because, well,
they don't cluster in a useful way in the first place.

BTW, I will prognosticate a bit and say that I think Xandros will have
the best "deal" with Codeweavers. Why? Well, it seems that an
investment firm called Linux Global Partners owns Xandros, and also has a 
significant stake in Codeweavers. Can you say "synergy"?

And the more I use Xandros, the more I like it as "the distro your mother could 
use". Everything is simplified, so there's no bewildering choices for
software you don't know what it is. It's also clearly oriented to a desktop
office/SOHO installation. It's not your fax/uucp/ssh/firewall/webserver 
all-rolled-into-one do-everything distro like the others.

But, being Debian-based, you're free to drop the OS and application support
(only available for apps installed from Xandros-shipped media and updated 
from Xandros servers - aka Xandros Networks), and use the nice apt GUI to
install whatever packages from whatever Debian flavor that you like.

I haven't played too much with the File Manager, which is not GPL and
comes from the Corel acquisition. It looks to be more like Windows XP's File 
Explorer, but as I said, I haven't looked at it. But, the usual Nautilus
and Konqueror are also available (via apt).

Xandros is looking to lean in favor of KDE for the desktop GUI, which 
makes sense, given that WINE and Crossover technology are also based on QT.

While I don't have a pre-existing Windows XP installation, Xandros purports
to allow you to flawlessly resize those partitions (unlike FIPS and other
distros that only claim to resize FAT32 partitions) during install. Another
feature I've heard is well received is the remote Windows shared printer
detection and configuration - literally a couple of clicks and you're
printing on that SAMBA (or RealWindows) printer.

Mike808/


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