Weekly news wrap-up: Lindows comes to Wal-Mart PCs, Open Source good for government

Awhile back, we reviewed the PCs available at Walmart.com without operating systems, a perfect fit for Linux users who don’t want to pay the Microsoft tax. This week, Wal-Mart and PC maker Microtel took a step closer to the Linux camp by offering PCs with the Linux-based LindowsOS installed, reports Tina Gasperson.
Our report generated a lot of questions from the Linux faithful, including, “why Lindows?” The relatively new company is promising to ship a version of Linux that runs several pieces of Windows software. Lindows has gotten mixed reviews and suffered through a rather public announcement from the Free Software Foundation that it may have been violating the GNU General Public License, although the two sides seem to be working things out.

It’ll be interesting to see how Wal-Mart customers react to the LindowsOS.

In a somewhat related review, Tina looks at Crossover Office 1.1, which continues to improve its Windows-programs-on-Linux software. Tina found that Crossover Office pretty much does what’s advertised, but non-advertised Windows programs can have a little trouble.

Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols reviews Win4Lin 4.0, another way to run Windows apps on Linux. It works well for daily office work, he says, if not for burning CDs or playing games.

Open Source in camouflage

Robin “Roblimo” Miller takes a look at a MITRE study of Open Source in government, prepared for the U.S. Department of Defense and just recently made public. The mostly positive report concludes: “Open source methods and products are well worth considering seriously in a wide range of government applications, particularly if they are applied with care and a solid understanding of the risks they entail.”

Meanwhile, Wired.com offered a report on the current use of Open Source in the U.S. government, concluding that bureaucrats are still penguin-shy.

Grandma likes Linux

Tina tells of her experience talking to a seniors computer group about Linux and the interest it generated, especially when they heard Linux doesn’t give you frequent blue screens of death.

While some grandmas are interested in Linux, they may be ahead of some major tech columnists. In an odd review, ZDNet AnchorDesk editor David Coursey finally takes Linux for a spin, describing his installation of Red Hat 7.3. You might find it odd that someone of Coursey’s status has never tried Linux on the desktop before, but that appears to be the case from this article.

Odds ‘n’ ends