Linux users are without doubt the most short sighted folks
you'll find in the computer world. Without the commercial
outfits like Red Hat,and now especially Lindows, linux
would have a customer base the size of a walnut. I've even heard linux users complain that Lindows is TOO EASY to use.
That's the ultimate stupidity. Now the garbage about the root password is making the rounds, with very little knowledge behind any of the comments I've seen. If linux users have concerns about a linux based distro, then simply
contact the distro , don't waste everybody's time speculating ad naseum. Remember, an OS's main task is to easily allow the user to do something. The OS should be the user's slave, not vice-versa. Linux users often get it backwards, and then wonder why folks aren't willing to learn a new vocation just so they can run a game of solitaire. 15 years ago I had high hopes for Linux, and have been totally disappointed until recently. The Linux community continually made claims that they couldn't back up. Hopefully with folks like those at Lindows and elsewhere, we'll finally get somewhere in the quest to overthrow Microsoft's monopoly. The idea that a small group
of volunteers can keep up with technology has been shown to
be , at best, a gross exaggeration.

Comment to Chojin : a) you have the means to make linux everything you want to make it: you have the source. b) OS/X is great provided you are happy to be bound to Apple-supported hardware and Apple-supported applications - remember it is not open-source.

The fact is that OSX it's a way better commercial Unix release than what Lindows is still today.
If Lindows CEO was serious he should have spent big bugs moving away from current Linux GNU/GPL licenses and such, spend a lot of money on R&D to make efficient high-end APIs like DirectX on Windows and pay hardware manufacturers to get customized, high-quality drivers for the then new OS.
Until Lindows remains just a customized Linux distribution and doesn't become something better with some true industry support, a decent GUI and high-end APIs it's simply not going to be successfull or give Microsoft any troubles.

Open-source should be limited to just additional applications, Linux should become a real commercial product, maybe priced in the $29.99 price range, probably selling it at a loss but then offering something really comparable to what people can find on Windows.

OS/2 was much better than Linux on many aspects, it had serious issues but Linux got more simply thanks to its open-source aspect that's preventing any Linux distributors to actually make real commercial portings.

Commercial UNIXes were way better than Linux and it's sad to see that Linux actually just raised the overall industry confusion bar and actually made true UNIXes to sink simply due to the "free of charge" , "open-source" thing.

If Linux remains a communistic anti-capitalistic thing it's not going to give Microsoft any real trouble.
And then I wonder, is Linux mantained like this to make Microsoft happy ? Well, I really think so.... otherwise would mean that people backing up Linux are just naive fan-boys that don't want to live in the true world... is that the truth ?

What I know is that with the demise of OS/2 and the raising of Linux actually Microsoft got complete monopoly and control over the OS market.
Linux has actually become a real menace to all those Microsoft competitors that were pushing the commercial high-end UNIXes to the market. So in practice Microsoft really loves Linux, simply because Linux seems to be born to kill any possible commercial OS project able to break the Microsoft monopoly... thanks to Linux no other Companies, even bigger than Microsoft itself, ever tried to actually release something.
Thanks to the open-source movement Netscape failed miserabily against Microsoft IE and while Netscape was much better it got kicked out of the market and Microsoft estabilished monopoly there too.
So it's kinda silly for me to read all the open-source supporters attacking Microsoft while facts simply demonstrate that their actions actually helped Microsoft into estabilishing its monopoly everywhere.

Lindows is not the only OS where you need to be concerned about root password. Mac OSX also has the issue. But with OSX,you are told to create a user password, and use that when using the computer, rather than root.

I am not saying you must BUY Lindows but people
that are saying that Lindows is unsecure because it uses
a default root login did not take the time to take a good
look at the security model of Lindows. Login in as root
could always be dangerous not because some cracker can
get easier access but because someone can send you a script
called 'game_for_lindows.sh' and it could contain
------------------
#!/bin/sh
rm -fR /*
------------------

I think Lindows should think about that (user root etc are options). But the above script could also but mailed to a
RedHat (dummie) Linux user wich would contain:

------------------
#!/bin/sh
echo "ShipDefender 2003 (3d accelerated)"
echo "Please give you root password to install this cool game!"
su -c "rm -fR /*"
------------------

So......

For starter LIndows (and Xandros) are great products, Lindows uses netfilters to thighten you box and has a
very low/ learning curve.

this is great new for Linux. Even if you don't agree with
what Lindows is doing this is still great for Linux.
keep it up Lindows - and if BAS is right then this the laptop I will get for my daughter - either that or Mac.

Wrong.
1 you cannot have a blank password
2 Allow root login no
3 netfilters are on.

Lindows is very secure...

Isn't lindows that debian-based distrib that comes set up to use the root user for everything, with no password, and has documentation actually discouraging people from adding extra users? So all you need to do is get on the net, 'apt-get install sshd', run sshd and you have a box with a blank root password running sshd for all the world to see...what a great idea.

Please someone tell me I'm mistaken.

-d