I first tried Xandros when they released version 1.1. Being quite skeptical, I was unsure what to expect from this spawn of Corel Linux. I must admit in general, I was impressed. So needless to say, I was curious as to whether they managed to improve upon this distinct distribution and cater to the many requests they received about various improvements. Update: Another screenshot, Mozilla on Xandros.
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What I wanted to know is crossover supports IE browser? I am with netzero.net and that's the only browser it support.
too bad i never got it to work with a seperate /usr partition, and never got it to work with my wireless pcmcia card for my laptop.
maybe i'll give it another try with a future version, but 2.0 wasn't cutting it in my book.
when i bought version 1.0 deluxe it allowed me to install a version of IE 5 i believe through the crossover office portion of it.
I am using Crossover 2.0.1 under SuSE, and I have IE 5.5 installed without a problem.
According to the article it seems there's not much into Xandros. All seem pretty basic, KDE control center with minor tweaks, Xandros file manager and basic driver detection. No specialities at all, same installer as in last version. Standard web browser looks aweful and the desktop (as seen in the screenshots) looks mostly like Windows 95, though the file manager GUI is really amaturish.
I don't get it - how does this system deserve 9/10 (hinting a 10/10 was it not for the horrible look of mozilla) !?!?
The reviewer certainly doesn't justify it...
The main reason he gave it such high praise is that it just worked out of the box. The install was soooo easy... Like he said this is just a 1st impression...
I plan to buy my copy tonight, and then put it through its paces, and then doing a real review. From a Windows power user perspective, we're going to find out how badass this distro really is.
Yeah, I was a beta tester for 2.0. Well, I did not beta test very much because it NEVER wanted to boot on my test PC (Compaq Presario with nForce chipset and Athlon XP 1800+). I've tried everything, posted message on the Xandros Beta Forum but nothing ever worked.
Will I buy Xandros? NOPE. I'm back with Libranet 2.8.1 and Mandrake 9.1, both work very well on my test PC.
The main reason he gave it such high praise is that it just worked out of the box...
Oh, then we certainly have alot of 10/10 OS'es out there - Mandrake, Lindows, SuSE, ArkLinux, Windows (any version), MacOS (any verison), AmigaOS (any version) etc...
Maybe by todays standard an OS should be able to do more than install "correctly" in order to get such a high rating?
Darius (or somebody: Eugenia?) I'd appreciate a more in-depth review than this one. Here's what I'd like to know that no other review has mentioned:
Xandros Networks:
is it just a subset of the software or is it full DEB archives? Can I download postfix, mutt, mysql, LaTeX, gphoto2, opera, aterm, lynx? Those are my primary apps; traditional stuff like koffice doesn't interest me much.
Partitioning:
Can I use my existing /home partition?
Customization:
Can I seriously tweak the KDE configuration? (i.e. new icons, new background, move the kicker to the top of the screen, add additional themes, etc.)
Geek stuff:
Can I use it to compile stuff if I need to? Or do they strip out GCC and all those other goodies? Does it include Perl and so on?
Finesse:
Are the tweaks as good as they're cracked up to be? I'm mean log-on to a Windows domain upon boot up, automounting of removable media, the nice organization of the XFM filemanager, hardware detection?
Answer some of those questions and you'll have one very pleased reader here. No offense, but this review didn't answer many questions I have. Thanks.
We will have a more in-depth review soon.
One thing you should know when you install (and have windows partitions) is that when you setup Linux partitions you don't have to select a mount point for your Windows partitions. Xandros does that for you (and mounts them so you can see them from Linux). If you try to give your Windows partitions a mount point then it will format your partitions.
As for dual boot you don't have to do anything at all. Xandros just did it for me. I was a little worried I'de have to manually edit the grub or lilo conf (haven't looked at what it's using yet), but Xandros did it for me... not too shabby...
I've been wanting to check out Xandros 2.0 but it sounds like it's heavily KDE oriented. Personally I prefer Gnome. Anyone know what kind of Gnome experience Xandros offers? Is the Xandros File Manager QT?
My review will be from the point of a Windows user, who has never compiled apps in the past and doesn't intend on doing so anytime in the near future.
You won't get any info about existing Linux partitions, but you'll get very detailed info about how it handles existing Windows partitionis 
I thought the review was very well written. Folks here have to realize that Xandros is aimed towards the Corporate/SOHO user's desktop. It will not come with all of the bells and whistles that RedHat or SuSE comes with.
Plus, it is geared towards Window's users, not Power Users, but the 90 percent that work in Accounting, Claims, Administrative, etc.
9/10? If a Windows user can install it and use it right away, it is a success.
Frankly, I prefer a more beefy distro, but not everyone wants choice. I believe the typical Windows user wants the OS to pick the editor, paint program, file manager, etc. This is where distros like Xandros and Lindows rule.
Heck, that's the reason Windows 95/98 are still out in force. most people don't want to mess around with the OS, they just want to use the PC.
In any case, good review. I may purchase it and load it on my daughter's laptop. She just wants a browser, email and Open Office.
If you're a power user just apt-get whatever files you need or use the gui front end to apt-get they've provided.
I have to agree with most here that the review wasn't very usefull. There was no detail, what's included as far as special features? How has Xandros made Debian more user friendly? What programs are included upon installation.
I can sum this review up.
"I had to wait a long time for xandros to release 2.0.
They finally released it, and I bought it because I like to support things I Like. Nothings really changed except updated packages, and it works on my computer, but mozilla is ugly. so I give this a 9/10!"
Wow. Last time I installed gentoo it worked. And everything i emerge works. And it was free.! 10/10!!
Folks, I think this review was intended to be, as its title states, a "First Impression." No, it isn't a detailed in-depth review, but I don't think it's supposed to be. Given that fact, I think it's a fine article and gives readers a "taste" of what Xandros 2.0 is like.
Plus, it is geared towards Window's users, not Power Users, but the 90 percent that work in Accounting, Claims, Administrative, etc.
So exactly which distro is geared towards Windows users that are power users? I thought this was it? But if not, this is not the one I want to review. Which is the distro that gives you all the great features and works right out of the box? Or does one exist ?
Frankly, I prefer a more beefy distro, but not everyone wants choice. I believe the typical Windows user wants the OS to pick the editor, paint program, file manager, etc. This is where distros like Xandros and Lindows rule.
Why do you suppose Windows users either don't want or don't have choice? If I want an office wuite, I probably have three dozen in which to choose from. The difference is that on Windows, every one of them will work the very first time I attempt to install it.
Heck, that's the reason Windows 95/98 are still out in force. most people don't want to mess around with the OS, they just want to use the PC.
First you say we don't want choice, then you say we don't want to mess around with the OS. I will tell you that the answer lies somewhere in the middle. We want choice, yet we don't want to messa round with the OS outside of customizing the GUI. That's what I get with Windows XP. Besides download a few patches every month, it pretty much runs itself.
It doesn't have gnome, but does have all the libs so you can run whatever you want...just not the gnome desktop.
You can tweak the desktop all you want. It is KDE 3.1.4 and anything KDE can do in any other distro can be done on Xandros.
Xandros Networks has it's own repository. You can set the sources via GUI in xandros networks, but you can screw it up by apt-getting some debian packages. You will want to pin your Xandros packages to a 991 priority. Then you can update or install anything you want from Debian - even testing or unstable - and be sure that you will not overwrite any Xandros dependencies or packages that will "break" Xandros.
It's important to note that you can also install RPMS and DEBS that you have or download in the gui as well. It automatically converts the RPMS, and works amazingly well.
As for the Dev Tools, I believe they're on the second cd but I'm not sure. However, they are also installable from Xandros Networks.
This distro is incredible. If you're a big Gentoo geek you probably don't get that, but whatever. The rest of us quasi-geek linux users and new to intermediate users will all love this distro. It is the current KING OF THE DESKTOP.
>Mozilla looked awful (as you can see in the screenshot)
which screenshot ? They are only 2, and nowhere I can see mozilla
You don't have to change my sentences when quoting in order to make them look stupid. No one ever said Mozilla looked awful (as you can see in the screenshot)
Read the original post again, HelloWorld, and you might be able to interpret the meaning of it, or at least the get the words in correct order.
It doesn't have gnome, but does have all the libs so you can run whatever you want...just not the gnome desktop.
Thanks for the information. I was debating on buying it but now I'll definitely wait for the free trial download so I can see it first. I'm just not big on KDE. I *want* to like KDE, but I just don't. So these distros that are KDE centric and come with QT based tools don't really appeal to me. But I'm still curious to see how great and wonderful Xandros is so I'll check out the free trial when it's available.
> You don't have to change my sentences when quoting in order to make them look stupid. No one ever said Mozilla looked awful (as you can see in the screenshot)
> Read the original post again, HelloWorld, and you might be able to interpret the meaning of it, or at least the get the words in correct order.
The orignal poster quoted from the article, not you.
Ummmm... HelloWorld was quoting from the article. Maybe *you* should take the time to read more carefully before posting. And HelloWorld is right -- the author does reference a screenshot of Mozilla that isn't there.
Simmer down, ealm.
I don't see any screenshots of Mozilla either? Where?
Ohh.. then I'm sorry 
My own sentence was so similar so I mistook it...
Thanx for pointing it out psycosis
"These reviews of a "me too" distro of linux grows tiresome"
Xandros is anything BUT a "me too" distro. It is one of the few left that actually has a REAL company behind, and moving from 1.1 to 2.0 is hardly an "upgrade". It has a number of major feature changes.
Not that your point is invalid by itself, I just think raised at the wrong time. Wait until the new Libranet release, then we'll all be happy to sit and listen. :-)
I was a beta tester, and yes, it is ugly. oh well, that's why mozilla is themeable.
it is just an app that uses Links to organize the programs in it, why not make a sliker looking and workign application a-la OS X's system prefrence application.
Why reinvent the wheel? They have done quite a few tweaks to it, so it's way better/easier to use/navigate than the standard kontrol centre, but I don'think making a new interface for it is a great idea. Doing that really doesn't add much value IMO. Some people disagree, but I've always been a fan of kontrol centre. I find it easy and even nice to use.
Ok. first of all, I wrote this article with the intention of giving people a VERY QUICK rundown of what i found it to be like in the first 30 minutes of installing it. I wanted to show some screenshots so people could see it.. as the xandros website doesn't show much (at the time). So as for everyone's comments on my reviewing capabilities.. this is a very quick review and is intended to be such. As for the screenshots. I included several when I submitted this review.. including a mozilla one.. for space constraints it doesn't appear they have included them. As for the rating, I gave it a 9/10 on first impressions. If I choose to give something a high rating because I like it, then that is simply my choice.. the point to this review was to let people know my opinion.. and not to force them to agree.
Having said that. Xandros 2 is still on my desktop.. and I find it very usable and enjoy it as my main desktop so far. The product is simply good. And that, ladies and gentleman.. is simply my opinion.
As a final comment, Eugenia asked me to allow them to put this up, because I had changed my mind about how well the review was written and how indepth and therefore emailed osnews to ask them not to post it. After receiving an email from Eugenia asking me why they couldn't post it, I agreed to let them go ahead.. since there aren't any other quick previews at this point on Xandros 2. So if you don't like the review.. that's ok, but it was quick and simply. period.
I think it was a good first look. I installed it and would have said just about the same thing as you did. I didn't have time to launch Mozilla yet though. (I installed it at home during my lunch break and didn't setup the modem yet)
Everyone who was bitching because it wasn't a full review should have RTFA. Xandros hasn't been out long enough for a full review yet anyway...
Is there a JDK/JVM 1.4.x (or 1.3.x) available for Lindows or Xandros? Has anybody ran Eclipse, JBoss, or NetBeans on Lindows or Xandros?
JDK1.4.2 is included in the deluxe version of Xandros 2. I believe that the 99.95 US priced option.
As for Gnome support, it looks like Xandros is pretty tied to KDE. One can use Gnome, I'm sure, but then you get less of the "benefits" of Xandros.
That's my main problem with these kinds of distros. By "these kinds," I mean most every one that imposes a DE on you. "But Windows and Mac OS impose a DE on you," you may say. But that's the whole neat thing about access to tons of free software and Linux... there are so many choices. I prefer if a distro maker tries less to hack a DE to their liking and instead just provides the underlying infrastructure and lets the user run free customizing their desktop to their needs. Debian already provides a rock-solid package management infrastructre. That's really what Linux is about. The truth is, no matter how hard you hack KDE, it's never gonna look as nice as OSX/Aqua, etc.
Libranet, I think, gets good reviews because it is essentially a Debian desktop that is "delivered" to users with hardware working through a better installer and good packages quickly installable off the CD (not to mention XFree86 4.3 and other goodies).
What I wish these distro developers would do is provide this underlying infrastructure and if they want to make changes to the DE, submit those patches to KDE or Gnome (or whatever) directly, and if the dev community likes the patches, it'll get integrated into the official branch! Doesn't this make sense?
A distro will be liked by users if it gets them access to working Linux software out of the box, without hardware problems, and if the company is willing to support their product with competent people.
Beyond that, everything's bells and whistles, methinks.
however can you tell us if this new version has scanner support similiar to Suse, Mandrake, Red Hat, and Libranet. The last version of Xandros was sorely lacking in this area.
Well, if we're talking first impressions, just look at those icons! I've said it before, but they're hideous, and look utterly amateur. I don't think this is subjective - for example I don't like Gnome's icons, but I recognise that they do at least look professional. The Xandros icons look truly terrible, and it really spoils the look of the whole desktop.
If they're using KDE and the Plastik theme, why not just use the standard Crystal icons? I know it sounds silly, but this really bothers me ;-)
I think most people here (including my self) being critical isn't about review not being "complete". It's perfectly fine to write a "first impressions" review, and I found it pretty good actually.
What the review IS lacking though, which hasn't got to do with how in-depth it is, is that the author simply doesn't justify the rating.
Of course that's subjective, but to me it doesn't seem like the author points out many good and strong points about the product.
The review more suggests the product is "ok" and then, summing up with a 9/10. Only explanation being an excuse for not being 10/10 due to ugliness in the web browser.
Don' t take my words too hard though Mike - it was a nice review all through. I'm only skeptical about the rating you give it.
I think the problem with providing multiple DEs in a distro like this is that it just doesn't have a very cohesive feel to it. The one thing that Linux lacks is consistency, which is what a lot of people who this distro is geared towards want. The DEs within themselves have lots of consistency, but when you throw a bunch of them in the same OS, that consistency is lost. Just give me a kick-ass DE that's sensibly out of the box (to satisfy Joe Sixpack), and let the power users customize it accordingly.
So, I think it is better to have different distros with different DEs, as it allows vendors to customize their interfaces accordingly, instead of trying mesh all of this crap into one disorganized heap. I myself have tried Libranet and I find it irritating as hell when I launch KDE and look for the utils I was using in IceWM and nothing is where it was in the other DE. I think the Xandros way is much, much better.
I'll acknowledge that perhaps I didn't point out why it got a 9 out of 10.. in fact the rating may have been too good for the depth of the review. I still think it's deserving of the 9/10.. but not at the time the review was written. Understanding that, I think i gave it that rating mostly out of the fact that I did find it fit exactly what I wanted. Sorry for not justifying the rating further tho.. i can understand the confusion/frustration there.
" It is one of the few left that actually has a REAL company behind, "
Sorry to nickpick, but that just makes absolutely Zero sense. Red Hat/Fedora Linux, Novell/Suse Linux, Mandrake Linux, Lindows Linux etc, all have REAL companies behind them. The only semi-well known distros that don't have "real companies" behind them are Slackware, Debian, and Gentoo, and Xandros sure doesn't compete in their ballpark. Even those distros gets lots of support from various corporate sponsers.
Just wanted to point this out for anyone here who isn't familiar with Linux and might have thought for some reason that Xandros was unique in having corporate backing.
iti is not reinventing the wheel. the Kontrol center layout might be logical, but it is clunky and does not go well with the rest of the DE.
How can you rate an OS after fiddling around for four hours only?
He sais he will let people know if he changes his mind ... why not testing this thing thoroughly before posting the review?
What is so ugly about it? Can I see a screenshot of it? Is it the Classic theme as used on Fedora? Is it the Orbit theme? Is it the Modern theme?
mythought: If you don't like first impression reviews, why do you at all click it when topic says it all?
Of course, you realize that you reviewed something before the argumentative types go ttheir own copy. I think they may be disgruntled that they can't cite specific evidence of their own experience to make a good argument over.
Personally, I liked the review. You can't please everyone so don't try. Just please yourself and go on with your life.
I am happily waiting for my copy to get here, hopefully sometime before Christmas. I intend to dissect that manual from the point of view of a technical writer. This should be interesting.
Barry
http://www.xandros.com/pdf/xandros_desktop_stddlx.pdf
Producer: Acrobat Distiller 5.0 for Macintosh
Producer: Acrobat Distiller 5.0 for Macintosh
Hehe .. that's pretty good, almost as good as MS running Linux servers
The review was too superficial and not looked over. There are just so many mistakes uncapitalized "i"s and general vagueness.
While I think Xandros hasa very good distribution, and may very well deserve that rating, more details need to be provided and some comparrisons.
Alex:
Your comment was too clueless and not looked over. You haven't went through the discussion that has already taken place here and you do too many spelling and grammatical mistakes.
While I think you might be a nice guy anyway, I do believe you should think your own attitude over for a second.
I've installed it and its great. Some points:
- hideous icons? some dude claimed that this wasn't subjective! I peronally don't mind them. Personally, I think Xandros looks much better than lindows (too commercial looking for my tastes) and better than Redhat's blue curve theme. But hey I won't claim my tastes are objective and universal! Anyway its KDE 3.14 so you can install whatever theme you want from www.kde-look.org
- Someone asked about internet explorer. I'm currently installing it now via codeweavers. Its version 6.0. Ok it installs nicely and works well.
- Xandros networks- I'm currently in the middle of running a kernel update due to some security problem. However, the application looks pretty slick. There are both free apps and commercial apps in there (netraverse and codeweavers)for those that only bought the standard edition - just whip out credit card and you are away)). I imagine it has access to the full debian archive (sarge) as Xandros 1.0 did. Remember you can always use apt-get if you prefer the command line.
- All my hardware was configured properly (nvidia card, hp printer etc. I don't have a scanner so I can't comment there.
- Sharing my music and photos directory via samba was a two click procedure via Xandros File Manager. I now access my music from my Sharp Zaurus via a wireless lan.
- I similarly shared my printer via two click procedure.
- Xandros File manager has an integrates cd burner. I needed to burn the iso for the second cd. I just navigated to the directory clicked on the iso and selected burn to disk. I'm now burning the second iso. How easy is that? I literally have not configured any info on my cdburner- it already new. You can also select mp3s and burn them. In addition, you can drag and drop songs from a regular cd and it will automatially ogg them (or mp3 them if you have the encoder installed, which Xandros doesn't but I'm sure you can find if you are desparate for mp3 burning capability).
Xandros File Manager also automatically mounts any usb storage device etc. At least this was the case for 1.0, and I'm sure its the same for 2.0 (don't have any compact flash cards lying around).
- All the plugins are installed by default. The java is 1.4 point something. It is very fast to load up and plays
Yahoo Chess well.
- Kontrol centre has all the config options in one place. I don't need to go there though, as everything was configured for me when I installed Xandros.
- Everything is pretty boring really as it should be. Sorry I don't have more exotic hardware.
Problems:
- I think we found a bug. I installed Xandros over an existing Xandros installation (it preserves user directories). But once installed I couldn't load up Real Player. It seems that Xandros was assigning incorrect permissioning to the user data including the .realnetworks directory. I fixed this issue by doing a fresh install. No probs now. Xandros support are aware of this and said, that they are working on a fix to be downloaded via Xandros Networks.
- In the short amount of time I have had this disto, every thing else seems fine.
Your right, I am clueless, clueless to what you mean.
"Your comment was too clueless and not looked over. You haven't went through the discussion that has already taken place here and you do too many spelling and grammatical mistakes.
While I think you might be a nice guy anyway, I do believe you should think your own attitude over for a second."
I have went through the discussion here, I am jsut giving my opinion on this review. I am aware I made grammatical and spelling mistakes, but I hardly find it worth my time to check when all I'm doing is submitting a comment. However I have much higher standards for myself and others when submitting a review to a website that gets tens of thousands of views each month.
What attitude are you talking about?
" I intend to dissect that manual from the point of view of a technical writer."
As a technical writer, what do you look for in a distro?
The title of the article was "First Impressions on Xandros 2.0 Standard Edition". What part of that did some of you misunderstand? It wasn't intended to be a thorough review; not after 4 hours. It was informational, for those who may be considering it.
There seems to be a lot of burnouts and crybabies on this site who piss and moan about every article anyone writes. READ the articles in the spirit they're written. Or else take another toke.
I wish their was a screen shot of mozilla. A whole point for a theme? Little rough.
Good article.
Your attitude towards people who doesn't speak enlgish natively.
This is an international OS site. If you have higher demands on the language in articles you better go to zdnet or something like that.
And about "more details and comparissons"; well... this is a "First impressions" article, not a complete review and it's already been discussed here in earlier comments.
Xandros Networks: Yes, from the beta that I've tested, you can add your own deb sources and download whatever you wish ...
Customization: Yes, full KDE customization is possible ... I have acqua style, aqua window broders, macosx like icons ... and yes, my panel is around 50% of my screen and I can move it to any side of my screen too ... Color schemes etc everything can be changed as usual ... In fact unlike LindowsOS, Xandros does not try to "hide" the fact that its based on KDE ...
Partitioning: Yes, you can use all your existing partitions ... probably (and i'm not sure) it might rename it to /home_old but it will be threre
Geek stuff: Yes, you can download via xandros networks or apt-get (since u want geek stuff) and install all that you wish ...
Does that answer all your queries???
Xandros has got it right!! Admit it folks!
Hello,
I think this mini review was good, although I also think there is going to be many more reviews to come out soon. We need to wait for people like myself to receive the boxed copy. I personally am planning to write a full 3 or 4 page review.
I was one of the beta testers also, and I can say that the folks at Xandros Corp. are ace, they listen to their users and beta testers, unlike some other distros out there. many of my improvement suggestions where implemented.
There are many cool features of Xandros Desktop 2.0 that no one has talked about yet, so just wait for them. But if your at all curious you should show your support and buy a copy. I do not believe you will be disappointed.
Just curious, as I can not seem to find it on Xandros site. What is the packages included on the second CD besides crossover? Anyone happen to know if there is a listing somewhere? Thanks.
Well thanks to those of you who made nice comments.. and to those who made "not so nice" comments... Instead of telling me that I don't know how to write and picking apart a review I wrote in like 10 minutes, why don't you just do something productive and bloody well write your own review and get it posted. I did this basically so people could have a quick overview and see what they thought since i couldn't find much info anywhere else.
Pick your battles... It's not worth ruining someone else's day just because you can.
A piece of advice: when you write an article, you throw yourself out to the wolves. So spend more than 10 minutes, and even if you spend a whole day on the article, expect to get criticised, harshly, perhaps even have your character attacked. The flames on the web never go out ;-)
If you're upset now, imagine if your article had gotten /.'ed! Us OSNews folk are kind compared to the unsightly trolls /. breeds and unleashes into the tech world.
In short, don't worry about it ;-) It's par for the course.
Following are the differences between the Standard and Deluxe editions:
* Xandros Desktop OS Standard Edition does not include CodeWeavers CrossOver Office or Plugin so you are not able to run any Windows compatible applications on Xandros Desktop.
* NTFS resizing is not possible when installing Xandros Desktop OS Standard Edition but you can still resize FAT and FAT32 partitions. Windows XP and Windows NT systems usually use NTFS by default.
* Xandros Desktop OS Standard Edition does not include the second CD which contains additional applications.
* No software manual is included with the Standard Edition (but you can download that with my above link)
* With the Standard Edition, you are entitled to 30 days of installation technical support via e-mail.
What a strange thing to keep out of the Standard Edition. NTFS resizing is pretty handy, and there's no sense to it only being present in Deluxe (except as a "we got you by the balls" impetus for buying Deluxe).
I always thought Deluxe was just Standard + Codeweavers. That's still basically true, but what a weird line to draw.
Also, John: I agree with you on Mozilla. Wow, is it UGLY! They could have just left it at default modern look and they would have been much better off with something like this, for their Windows converts!
http://themes.mozdev.org/phoenix/luna.html
foot in mouth, that's actually for Phoenix. But you get my drift.
Thanks. That much I had seen. My question was actually what are the extra applications on the second CD besides crossover. All it says is it does not include the second CD with the additional applications, but I was wondering what those applications are. I do appreciate the reply though
"Your attitude towards people who doesn't speak enlgish natively.
This is an international OS site. If you have higher demands on the language in articles you better go to zdnet or something like that.
And about "more details and comparissons"; well... this is a "First impressions" article, not a complete review and it's already been discussed here in earlier comments."
I don't speak English natively either, but I do check my work if it is something like a review and I make sure that I correct all I can. I am not dissapointed in the writter of this article, I am dissapointed in OSNEWS for posting something without meeting some basic quality standards.
I just got through burning ISO disc 2 and there's an assload of deb files on here - it just looks like the packages dir of any ordinary distro. I don't see anything that you probably couldn't get from the apt sources though.
On an unrelated note, I see there's an article on ZDNet that says they're getting ready to release kernel 2.6, which kinda pisses me off cuz I thought it was still months away. Anybody know if there will be a way for us Xandros whores to upgrade ?
ALso, something I completely forgot to look into - what about future upgrades for Crossover? Will we get any of those for free, or are we stuck with whatever version comes with Xandros til we cough up more $$ ?
I thought they were going to provide 30day trials?
From the screenshot, I don't see what's so awful about the browser theme... in fact, I kind of liked it. What am I missing?
Xandros have an distro that sounds excellent, but judging by the screenshots they could really do with some half decent artists in-house.
Lets lay off the reviewer, sure, it is on the shortish side, however, lets remember that the target of this distribution, it isn't Joe/Jane Geek or Joe/Jane Tweaker. It is aimed at an end user with intermediate knowledge of Windows and have an interest in moving to another platform for a reason; that reason I wouldn't know as I am not the target audience.
From the screenshots what I see so far, it is ALOT more polished than Red Hat, Mandrake or SuSE. Just take a look at that Mozilla screenshot. Good icons, clean theme and "Xandros" branding in the browser. These are CLEAR indicators that this company knows what it is doing. The only other thing that comes close to a decent branding and uniform themeing is JDS, however, they haven't released pricing yet for those interested in purchasing only one copy.
When people are going compare, they are going to compare it against Windows and MacOS; whether you like it or not the current distributors can't even get the basics of a uniform HIG and theme put in place. What is SO hard about the qt and gtk communities sitting down and working out how things should be arranged in menus, buttons arranged in dialogue boxes and so forth. The fact remains that the end user doesn't care about toolkits, all they care about is the applications that run on their computer. They have a computer to run applications not to try and tweak the heck out of it just to get something that resembles uniformity.
1) Does Xandros have a GUI utility for configuring SANE? (Some SANE scanners require a bit of configuration before they will work.)
2) Last time I used Xandros Desktop, the preferences dialog for Xandros File Manager was exactly the same as the one used for Konqueror, which looked oddball since the dialog was mostly about Konqueror's web browsing capabilities. (Xandros File Manager could be used as a web browser, but it didn't exactly advertise this functionality.) Has the file manager's dialog changed?
"Well thanks to those of you who made nice comments.. and to those who made "not so nice" comments... Instead of telling me that I don't know how to write and picking apart a review I wrote in like 10 minutes, why don't you just do something productive and bloody well write your own review and get it posted. I did this basically so people could have a quick overview and see what they thought since i couldn't find much info anywhere else.
Pick your battles... It's not worth ruining someone else's day just because you can."
Reviews are meant to be picked apart just as a review is meant to pick apart the product being looked at. After all, somebody has to review the review to make sure that it is fairly true.
As you said yourself you only took about 10 minutes to write this review. Which obviously means you don't really care about the quality of your work and now you expect only praise?!! Some of us just can't review it yet, we don't have the product.
If you are going to do something, do it right.
You have no ethics do you pal.
I think someone should remove those links.
Xandros has worked mroe thana year to bring this release and than some hooligan kills their business by posting the download links. Lindows has the same problem but at least they live off of CNR and not the operating system. This is very mean and I advise OSNEWS.COM to ban the user that posted these if they can.
Hopefully they'll change the links a bit.
Darius, you're an idiot, and I hope you get banned.
Thanks for removing that post. Feel free to delete the ones that bash him for doing it too...why leave that stuff on here to tarnish this good site.
Those are the links that they emailed me when I bought it. They did not say not to share them, so I think they did it on purpose. If they didn't, then that is one HELL of a lapse in security. And the sad truth is that if had been MS who did something like this, you guys would've been all over it in a heartbeat, but now you're bitching because it happens to be one of your precious Linux distros - I guess it doesn't feel so good when the shoe is on the other foot, huh?
Besides, what happened to all of this free software movement and 'your right to say what I can do with the software ends when you sell it to me?' I thought that was a major motivator of the free software movement? But now somebody takes the free software, adds a file manager to it, and the whole 'freedom' thing goes completely out the window? Does this whole model of thinking depend on people being ethical?
To the poster that put up his/her links for the xandros downloads. You really just shot yourself in the foot. Each dl iso has a unique identifier with it related to a single downloading customer. Obviously everyone can get the iso's now and use them, however, any attempt to contact the Xandros update servers will show that they are using your iso's and it may or may not come back to you since there is some propietary software that isn't GPL'd. Xandros said they would put out the 30 day trial once the initial paid customer dl eases off...that's when people can give it a whirl for free (as in beer). When that is, nobody knows for sure. I'm not going to debate the ethics of distributing an essentially GPL'd distro without the companies blessings, but you should really do some research before you point the spotlight back at yourself on /.
Darius they have not said anything, but isn't it implied!? You had to pay for it to get the links so quite obviously they don't want everyone downloading it for free.
It is also a secuirity problem with their website not the product. If it were Microsoft, it would be no different, people would not want you posting Warez here.
As for free software, you are free to do that. But Xandros is not all free software, the company lives off of this and it is just a start-up, not like Microsoft which has enough cash to go on for years without selling a dime's worth of products. The free software in Xandros has the sources available on Xandros's website and is also freely downloadable under the terms of free software licenses like the GPL. But, only if a company has modified a GPLd product do they have to return the changes. If they build somethign from scratch, like XFM, than that is not so.
Please understand.
Darius, each customer gets a unique URL. Your Order # is probably planted right there in that big long string. Xandros will probably charge your credit card for every download that is made on their servers from a different IP then your first download!
Merry Christmas, looser!
Each dl iso has a unique identifier with it related to a single downloading customer. Obviously everyone can get the iso's now and use them, however, any attempt to contact the Xandros update servers will show that they are using your iso's and it may or may not come back to you since there is some propietary software that isn't GPL'd.
So, what's the worst that can happen, my copy of Xandros stops working? When paying and downloading the stuff, I agreed to no EULAs and at no time was given instructions that the links were to remain private. And if my ISOs are specific to me, then why in the f**k are they sending URLs like that unsecured through email? Maybe they should just start including credit card numbers in there too? Heck, anybody who could've intercepted that email upstream now has free reighn of my ISOs. This could also happen to anyone else who bought a copy.
And, you know what they say in Microsoft's case - screw letting the vendor know first; just release the damn security flaw to the public and that'll give the software vendor a good kick in the ass. Personally, I think turnabout's fair play.
And don't think me too unethical - I actually paid for the distro.
I know a few people who use bootleg MS software as a matter of course, and feel justified doing it. And now there is an outbreak of righteous indignation that someone is providing the means (not forcing anyone, just offering a gateway) to doing the same thing for a Linux distro.
Does this mean that it is OK to steal from a big/rich company but not a small/poor company? As an American, this smells familiar. Is this akin to the same reasoning that leads our "allies" to graciously accept all of our money that they can hold with one hand while fondling a naked stilletto with the other?
If it is wrong, then it is wrong. Period.
Personally, my main concern is the fact that he did it on someone else's website. That was not nice. OSNews could easily get Xandros on their case for this. They probably won't because OSNews took it off quickly. But it might have happened. If you are going to post warez, please do it on your own site? Then it is between you, your conscience and the law. Please don't get other people in trouble just to prove a philosophical point.
Barry
Xandros will probably charge your credit card for every download that is made on their servers from a different IP then your first download!
Nope, they said you could download it as many times as you wanted for 30 days, so filtering by IP address would be dumb. The point is those links should've been password protected.
but I still don't think it was right to post that. you could have sent them back an email and told them your concerns.
I just clicked the link for the user guide that you provided and got a message that your order number was no longer valid. They may have left a security hole, but they closed it pretty quick I see.
Barry
"I know a few people who use bootleg MS software as a matter of course, and feel justified doing it. And now there is an outbreak of righteous indignation that someone is providing the means (not forcing anyone, just offering a gateway) to doing the same thing for a Linux distro.
Does this mean that it is OK to steal from a big/rich company but not a small/poor company? As an American, this smells familiar. Is this akin to the same reasoning that leads our "allies" to graciously accept all of our money that they can hold with one hand while fondling a naked stilletto with the other?
If it is wrong, then it is wrong. Period."
As I beleive too. It is wrong to steal period, and I wouldn't steal from Microsoft or Xandros. However waht I was saying is that, unlike Microsoft Xandros can not afford this and I doubt that they are even turning a profit yet. On the other hand, Microsoft covers all their costs and manages to make a 416% profit on Windows alone. This is far more than they should, and would not be possible without a monopoly. Most companies, make under 10%.
Also, again, I think that was implied that you shouldn't go and post the download links for anyone on the web to download. Even though, you might have a right to, since it didn't mention to the contrary. As you mentioned, you have 30 days to download the ISOs and as many times as you want, so there really isn't anything they could do, because you could theoretically go to many computers and download the ISOs yourself. So, yes you do have a point technically, but morally is another question. Why would you even want people to have acess to something you paid for?
The download was meant for you and nobdy else. If they see that one download from the same IP is coming fromA ustria, another from France, another from US, and one from Brazil, they know something is fishy, so, no this isn't cool. And, I'm pretty sure that they mentioned it was for private use only.
Furthermore, if you wanted to steal from the company and make them lose thousands of dollars in potential users you should of uploaded it to anotehr server so that the links don't expire and so that they have no control over it. But why, they are already offering a very good price for update users and new users a like. Xandros remember has to pay Codeweavers too for distributing Crossover Office and Crossover Plugin. Keep in mind that just the products from Codeweavers would cost you $100 without shipping or taxes applied so, really Xandros has a very good price. And they include a lot of their own stuff too, much which you won't find in other distributions.
And, I suspect that they will at elast e-mail you if not disable your account, I e-mailed them since you put up the ISOs. The PDFS ok, that is OK, give the curious users something to do while waiting and a way to see what the product offers. However, putting down all of their work, that was wrong.
Darius, I fear thou art busted
Well, I figured it was uniquely identifiable to me - I wasn't really that concerned with getting caught. Afterall, they're the ones that created this situation, not me.
And, I'm pretty sure that they mentioned it was for private use only.
They did not.
Furthermore, if you wanted to steal from the company and make them lose thousands of dollars in potential users you should of uploaded it to anotehr server so that the links don't expire and so that they have no control over it.
Obviously, this was not my intention. I just noticed the whole security thing and wanted to share it with others. If I wanted to steal from the company, I would've gotten it from alt.binaries.warez.linux. (If it's not there yet, it will be soon.)
They may have left a security hole, but they closed it pretty quick I see.
Did they? I would invite anyone else who has purchased a downloadable version of Xandros to see if you can reach the link from a computer that you didn't download it from without a username/password.
And, I suspect that they will at elast e-mail you if not disable your account
Actually, they have done both. I just got a letter from Xandros (don't think it was fake) saying don't do that again, or else threatening me with legal action. Seems they want to blame me for their own stupidity - whatever.
Also, again, I think that was implied that you shouldn't go and post the download links for anyone on the web to download.
I honestly don't know what they were thinking. Did they honestly not think anyone would do that? Surely, if I hadn't, someone else would have.
Why would you even want people to have acess to something you paid for?
Why not? Free software, baby!!!! Ok, technically this is not free, but it IS Linux, and Linux is supposed to be free .... it's all about freedom, right? Or at least that's what the zealots keep yelling at me.
My question to all of you is - if doing this sort of thing would hurt Xandros as you say, then how the hell would it have made a difference if the whole thing was open source and I had every right to do what they did? I thought it was all about SERVICES, and not PRODUCTS?
Darius, you can't redistribute for free the whole deal. Sure, according to the GPL you might be able to redistribute the Free parts of Xandros, but not the Xandros proprietary tools which come in the ISOs. Therefore, your links here were plain warez.
Please forget about the whole thing and do not post such links again. Talk about more happy things.