Lindows - The Linux Distro That Microsoft Sued… and Lost

[@MichaelMJD]

Thanks again to Porkbun for sponsoring! Go to porkbun.com/MichaelMJD to get $1 off your next desired domain name.

[@unhenryable]

w

[@unhenryable]

Sigma

[@Barbecuemonkmain]

W

[@Windows10xsc]

Huh

[@I_Am_Unlocked]

Perfect time for this cuz I'm making a mc server and I need a domain

[@MrMackievelli]

I remember Lindows PCs at Walmart. They sat forever and you could get a good deal on them after awhile.

[@jakethreesixty]

The only time an insurance company is on your side is during subrogation lol

[@jakethreesixty]

But really they're still out for themselves, you just happen to be on the beneficial side of it 😆

[@hunglikeahearse]

As someone who works in subro, I really wish we were actually on the insured's side. When I worked at a mutual insurer it was easier to say that I was, but once you get to inland marine subro it's basically every party fleecing one another & the insured always gets the short end of the stick

[@GGigabiteM]

Shifting Sands Mutual, we collect premiums, we do not pay claims.

[@ethanpschwartz]

Get rear ended: "You're a valued customer and thank you for being a safe driver!" Slip on black ice and go into a ditch two years later: "You're a menace to society and we want nothing to do with you."

[@cameronbosch1213]

"Nationwide ain't on your side!" 😂

[@badopcode]

As an old dog of Linux. (pre distro) Let me fill in some of the missing drama holes of Lindows. First off. Wine. When Microsoft and IBM started their piss-fight (late 80's early 90's) and the court decided to allow IBM to have full access to the Win 3 API. Microsoft in a baby fit submitted Win3 API as an open standard. IE: Neither Microsoft or IBM had the exclusive on the API. This API is best called the Win3 API. Some call it the Win16 API but that's not completely accurate. In Windows 95 they did a mad rush out the door a completely non-standard not-compatible Win32 API. (That is why some people call the open standard API Win16. But both OS/2, NT 3.5 and Win 3.1 had Win3 32 bit API libraries.) Win32 API was an absolute disaster under the hood. It all came to a head in Windows XP. BUT all this is to explain that Wine at this time of Lindows was actually designed to run Win3 API (the open standard) and not Win32. They had just started to make experimental releases of Wine that could handle Win32. Lindows jumping the gun and thinking the process would go faster if they just throw money at the Wine project and put pressure on the team to get Win32 API working. It worked, sort of. But not at all enough completed and polished to actually be able to market something for Windows 95+ users. As everyone saw who watched the video. Everything you were trying in your video was Win32 API and not Win3 API based. If you tried a program for Win 3.x or NT 3.x it would have ran pretty much without a hitch including WinG (pre DirectX.) The Linux community did not appreciate Lindows much at all. First of all the commercialization of it... a lot of GNU zealots made doodles in their undies. For me personally... I didn't like how it was presenting itself and it's less then clear price tag. But let me break it down from my memory of the research I did on it a eon ago. To start off, no one got ripped off. It's just clear as mud. There was actually only one yearly subscription and that was for their "click-n-run" and all Lindows updates (including major releases.) So if you paid the stipend for click-n-run store or you specifically got it for the Lindows updates... you bought the same thing. No they didn't try to trick people to pay for the same thing twice. At the exchange of money, it was clear you got everything. They had a on-the-shelf box set that was $130 (roughly) which was like $30 for the install and a year of updates. Later they split it to $30 for the box and you can opt in to pay the yearly. Initially they were doing their own distro (they had their own package manager.) But later they did embrace the Debian packages and there was a price drop for the subscription. But on any case their marketing and over promising was a mess. What they did do right. Was simplified software packages for users and pushed to remove all the UX complications that was *nix then. Redhat and SuSE back then would force the users to make a bunch of technical decisions or forced to install everything under the sun. Lindows was the first distro that made some of those decisions for you. Like KDE vs Gnome. This is a thing modern distros all embrace now. ALSO... They repeatedly kicked Microsoft square in the johnson. Which was fun to watch. I thought about buying a copy just to support the great show they put on. The one thing I still grumble at Lindows for is the mindset that Linux should be able to run Windows applications like Windows. It is absolutely amazing what Linux has been able to accomplish with Windows compatibility. But all other OS's have their users running VM's to do other OS's. Linux is the only one with the expectation of a translation. I'm kind of optimistic that Wayland will bury Windows as a gaming platform. At this point, I half way expect Microsoft will make a "Windows Gamer Edition" that will be a Linux that runs Xbox/Windows as a sub-system (not Wine) and put their crusty old kernel out to pasture. Locking down hardware it can install/run on. Basically retiring it to just a for business use only product.

[@Sean27007]

Thanks for this fascinating story! I was kind of curious on how the battleground was for those companies at the time. I only discovered Linux during the XP years like many did.

[@ArchLars]

Linspire is probably defunct now, so their payment model didn't really work out in the end. Last update on blog and distro was in Dec 2023.

[@gus2603]

Pls pin this

[@RickSanchez-ig3lp]

The Win 10/11 kernel isn't so rusty anymore. It actually makes Linux look old in some spots. Windows microkernel vs Linux mono kernel stuff.

[@nathanlamaire]

ew Wayland

[@aaronbrown4275]

Man, I remember Lindows. My coworkers and I at the place I worked at that time were messing around with Linux off all sorts after hours on stuff we scavenged from eWaste and someone brought a disc in to check out since it was just hitting the tech news. I remember we all knew they were going to get MS breathing down their necks. The only other thing I remembered about Lindows/Linspire was that it was...fine. Just didn't seem to have a point. It wasn't going to get non-nerds to use it because it wasn't Windows and it wasn't all that attractive to actual nerds because everything it charged for could be done better by better FOSS software.

[@RichardPinewood]

How to become a milionare : Step 1 : Create a linux distro sounding like windows Step 2 : Go to court Step 3 : Microsoft gives you money to shutdown your company And thats how you become rich..... 😂

[@josephvida1439]

So, I just need to hire some Russian hackers to make Windows 11 24H2 run on a SSE3 CPU by deleting the code that refers to 4.2, POPCNT support in the kernel...

[@RoshanKumar-qe1nl]

Good idea 😂

[@DominicExcedol]

@@RoshanKumar-qe1nl isn't that the only reason ReactOS exists? So Microsoft pay them not to do anything for 30 years?

[@YoungMrBlue]

In order to win you must lose :&

[@RoshanKumar-qe1nl]

@DominicExcedol they have unlocked the secret of life 🤣

[@taltamir]

Having the setup prompt appear behind the setup background and require moving around to find is something I used to experience on windows too.

[@josephvida1439]

Judging by the taskbar it looks like 800x600 resolution...I remember back in the day XP would default to 800x600 when a graphics card driver was not installed...Trying to navigate through safe mode in those settings was a disaster...The window was so large that it hid the exit or okay button...

[@RomyTrinidad-lets-go-make]

Wow hi

[@Alefjj]

Back then I used my PC at 800x600, even though my monitor supported 1280x1024. Low resolutions supported 85hz, high resolutions only worked at 60hz and made me nauseous;

[@hahayes1122]

i think safe mode was 640x480 and painful

[@josephvida1439]

@@Alefjj I agree, 60hz is the worst...Most cheap laptops and phones operate at that frequency...So if you are in the market for a new device, it pays to check the hz before you buy...

[@josephvida1439]

@@hahayes1122 Mine was at 800x600...Could be you had an older laptop than mine that made safe mode go to 640...

[@JPs-q1o]

The Lindows...err...Linspire theme song mocking the Microsoft ads was hilarious! They also invented the "app store" concept long before Apple co-opted it!

[@SidcupRC]

Any graphical package manager front-end was essentially an 'app store' back in the day when I moved away from XP.

[@novafurry]

@@SidcupRC this. Linux Distros have had stores for AGES

[@deusexaethera]

I remember the lawsuit. I said back then that if they were forced to change their name, they should change it to Winux.

[@JOEKING-z4r]

i was thinking rename to windex 😛

[@FloridaMann123]

The name Lindows was too clever for its own good. Sure, it's a cute little portmanteau of Linux and Windows, but it's also just changing one letter from Windows like a sketchy knockoff. For unaware consumers, it instantly positions it as inferior to the original, like if I was at Home Depot and saw a row of Belta faucets, I'd be immediately suspicious of it.

[@alexovercast3359]

Lmao Belta. I shouldn’t be laughing this hard 💀

[@deusexaethera]

I remember the lawsuit. I said back then that if they were forced to change their name, they should change it to Winux.

[@xwtek3505]

I disagree. The name is designed specifically for an older user that grew up on Windows XP or older. (Yes, that means such an user will get confused with windows 8 or newer) Any change at all, good or bad, as a potential intuitive behavior. So, they wanted for a free OS with Windows XP or 7-like interface. And that name is perfect. I can operate Linux, however. Hell, I even use Sway, which is even more distant than Windows Shell. So, I know I'm not the target audience.

[@burgersquid]

@@xwtek3505 >The name is designed specifically for an older user that grew up on Windows XP or older. I'm not sure how that would have figured into the naming, since Lindows came out at about the same time as Windows XP.

[@nodak81]

Are "unaware consumers" really part of Linux's target audience? Nobody looks at Linux distros except for people that are sick and tired of Microsoft.

[@RicardoCanedoMX]

I remember buying a copy of Linspire at Micro Center when I was just a kid in the mid 2000’s.

[@kab43]

you look like Hispanic Brodie Robertson

[@vaultdweller2287]

this comment is owned by the Linux community edit: this is licensed under GPLv3

[@OrdinaryDoommarine]

Hi Linux

[@Doodle_Animates0]

ha, i use lindows

[@forgettablePyromaniac]

Open-Source comment.

[@ImNamo_]

​@@Doodle_Animates0 I use arch btw

[@arzumify]

Hippity Hoppity, this comment is my property

[@JoCaTen]

Gotta love old OSes, they had a character of their own and differed from each other compared to today's. Like most things to be honest...

[@Anaerin]

Just as a point, every browser's "User Agent" string starts with "Mozilla" since Netscape 1.0, as that was the name of their engine, and they all keep it in for backwards compatibility.

[@tomaspena56]

I am from Argentina, in 2004 I bought a Gfast PC in a supermarket, it came with the famous "Linspire OS" which I never used, when I got home I installed Windows XP but I still have the Linspire disk that came with that PC 💗

[@LastofAvari]

8:25 "Oh! We've got a fatal error. Look at that!" It's not an MJD video without things going wrong :)

[@leepshin]

Yeah what the "actual" fuk is someone supposed to do if they're not sure what they're doing?

[@BlueTech_music]

This gonna be a banger (happy New Year’s Eve!)

[@mraero006]

Happy New Year's Eve :)

[@BlueTech_music]

@@mraero006 to you aswell

[@martynasdelrtuvas4489]

Happy new Year

[@theloststarbounder]

Happy new year to you and boikisser as well. OwO

[@BlueTech_music]

@@theloststarbounder :3

[@Kent_Lowell]

A new video upload to start the year, since it's January 1st in my time zone (UTC+08:00)

[@meow.5219]

same

[@fuseegelee]

Happy new year! I have to wait another 12 hours…

[@Mihirsoft]

​@fuseegelee same!

[@redball4funnys]

I have to wait for 2 hours from now.

[@CaptainSouthbird]

Heh, perfect example of why being nostalgic and covering an old OS can be interesting and informative... but also shows exactly how rough and generally useless they become over time.

[@oojimmyflip]

Windows 7 is still as good today as it ever was.

[@simonlathwell]

I managed to get copies of Lindows 2, 3 & 4 to try out back in the day. I installed them on a spare system and gave up on all of them. To me it was a terrible OS with version 2 having WINE that would not work correctly, and then versions 3 & 4 without WINE, but downloaded it and installed it from another source, but still had the same problems. The price and subscription was crazy as you could just buy Windows and use free software, why pay for a subscription for access to an app store where most of the software was free. To me they just wanted money for nothing really as how many would use the app store all the time for software, and people would find a way around it like piracy.

[@Aeduo]

I could kiiiiinda see where they were coming from, at a time when there wouldn't be as much venture capital or corporate funding for a desktop linux OS and they would've wanted something "professionally" developed. It's just a matter of what that money you paid went in to that or if it was just some entrepreneur making most of it. Redhat and them were already a better linux desktop option at the time. Then came stuff like Ubuntu and Fedora which just made this thing completely irrelevant. Nowadays we're kinda falling back in to the same problems though. The Linux desktop got a lot of development in the early-mid 2000s and in to the 2010s for a bit but it's largely been superseded by enterprise efforts around the linux software ecosystem, and the desktop is just kinda on life support. Just enough to basically have a UI to manage all that enterprise infrastructure through and do some web and email. Most of what's out there is volunteer or work funded with a relative trickle.

[@SidcupRC]

Linux desktop development is very active. Check out the release cycles for the major ones like KDE, Gnome, etc.

[@Aeduo]

@@SidcupRC kde I'd say is the one pulling the most weight. Gnome is basically what I described though. It's just an austerity work desktop and nothing else. Just trying to be a Mac.

[@hrstwn]

​@@Aeduo Development is very active these days though?? You got Redhat contributing a lot to Flatpak and Wayland while Canonical is doing Snap stuff on their own, Valve helping with Proton and stuff. Everything is active.

[@SidcupRC]

@Aeduo I'd much rather use Gnome than 'Mac' or Windows 11 *shudder*

[@cyphaborg6598]

Any insurance will find a way to not do what you're paying them for. That's the only insurance you have.

[@KitKatCat11]

He recorded this on the 28th, this just shows how hard editing and publishing is!

[@iodreamify]

I love watching old Wine shenanigans depending on how the stars were aligned that moment. Thank you for the unexpected new years entertainment.

[@OneHitWonder383]

It's not surprising that Lindows uses the root account. The default for Windows was always full and complete admin access to your system.

[@Chris-cf2kp]

It's like the liminal, Backrooms, 'Says we have Windows at home, Windows at home:' version of Windows

[@repomansez]

turning on the virtual desktop thingy in wine could help make half life actually run

[@eggplantredrage6195]

Seeing this fall to run windows apps gives me flashbacks to when i started using linux wine didn't ran crap back then wine have come a long way

[@sukidable]

god, I remember trying to use wine back in 2007.... on a mac....

[@Doniroux]

This gives so many painful memories of being an early Linux gamer just trying to play Counter-Strike..

[@GoonyMclinux]

Counter strike was native.

[@Doniroux]

@@GoonyMclinux Not in the early 2000's :)

[@YoungMrBlue]

@@Donirouxwasn’t until 2023 it became native right?

[@No_True_Scotsman]

​@@GoonyMclinuxnot until recently

[@stevethepocket]

Being marketed as capable of replacing Windows is not something a sane Linux distro would do even nowadays. All it would take is one Windows program not working and the average user would ragequit and take the computer back to Walmart.

[@Mageman17]

Doesn't stop Linux fanboys and some of the tech "journalists" at places like Zdnet from recommending Linux every time a Windows problem happens. And no, they don't provide further help after that, like what distro to choose even. They just drop the word and walk away, feeling like they did got paid for saying it.

[@No_True_Scotsman]

​@@Mageman17 Strangely, it's easier to install a Windows program on Linux, than a Linux program

[@levonandonian7613]

Happy New Year Everybody!

[@cyphaborg6598]

Happy New Year

[@myleft9397]

Another Lindows video!? Nice. Happy New Year.

[@thomasneilthompson1828]

Ok here's a funny story about my experience with lindows so back In the year 2001 I bought my very first PC not knowing anything about computers at the time I went to Fry's electronics and bought a PC that I thought had windows xp on it but it had lindows instead it was so confusing I couldn't even figure out how to set it up so I returned it and my uncle helped me buy a windows xp PC from best buy

[@drygnfyre]

Linspire was my introduction into Linux. It was the distro I ever used. It wasn't bad, but I quickly moved onto Ubuntu.

[@Dudus366]

I waited for you to cover this! Happy New Year!

[@WindowsSurfaceOffical]

Happy new year Michael MJD

[@KevinVeroneau]

That wouldn't have had been the most pleasant experience for Windows users back then trying to run their everyday programs. In the 2000s, I always tended to dual-boot Linux with Windows for the purposes of running Windows and DOS software still. Once I got a better PC, and was able to run QEMU better, I began to run all my DOS programs in QEMU... then DOSBox was eventually created, and now that is usually my go-to for anything DOS related. My most recent laptop still dual-boots, but between a Gaming focused Linux, and my usual productive system. How times have changed.

[@rigues]

I worked at a Linux magazine in Brazil (Revista do Linux) at the time, and I remember Lindows very well. It made boisterous, unsubstantiated claims, was unpolished and had a very confusing pricing structure. And charging for access to a "store" full of free software? That did not sit well with the community.

[@ryans1972]

To me back then the Click'N'Run was revolutionary vs downloading installers in Windows. Just find the program you want from Click'N'Run and click and it installed. I think Android developers noticed the Click'N'Run and gave them ideas on how the Play Store should work. I did not use Apple at the time and maybe they had something similar?

[@ParanoidDharmas]

They should have named it "Bindows XL Professional" 😂

[@Brett-w9t]

Happy new years Michael! Thanks for the vid

[@gamervictor6761]

Happy New Year MJD! Hope it will be full of amazing content as always!

[@240p_is_enough]

that Wine X icon looks very familiar 😂

[@aadthefrench]

RIP Linspire/Lindows

[@adamsfusion]

It's funny you're surprised by it using root by default, because at the time in the early 00's, _so were we_ :D As to the reason, it was to mimic how in Windows XP you can do literally anything on the default account. At the time, it was still the norm for COTS distributions to come with giant tomes to read through, and Lindows didn't want to be that. The easiest way to match the experience and not have to twiddle with all sorts of permissions was to just default as root.

[@lvl90dru1d]

7:55 press any key to REBOO

[@retzerR]

REBOO!!!!

[@v-14415]

@@retzerR AHH!!

[@wagnerramosmidichannelabso514]

​@@retzerRAaaaach!

[@davidcave5426]

I remember having it back in the day. I was actually impressed with the idea and execution. I knew it had its rough edges but for a beginner Linux system, it worked pretty well. And they really did a nice job with the first app store.

[@AnDrewwy]

a lawsuit made by Microsoft because another product having a Simular name to "Windows" is just really stupid honestly- Great video though Michael! :D

[@vardekpetrovic9716]

buttons and scrollbars in old kde were gorgeous!

[@luis-ranma]

I like how Wine uses the Windows 95 interface.

[@arunkhan4951]

Lindows was not alone in adopting a subscription model. We can question the $99 pricing. During that era, other distros had a similar strategy -- subscription for updates. Mandrake, SuSE, Caldera, etc. But they were all sub $50/year. Recall most people had dial-up internet (56Kbps) in those days. There were a few companies that sold CD (later DVDs) of Slackware, Debian, etc.

[@arx9781]

the first video i watch to start off the year.. happy new year mjd !

[@LulaLula-cd4cj]

Babe wake up, new MJD video just dropped Happy New Year Michael!

[@natanteam]

I used to have a speaker set like that back in 2000, here in Brazil. Pretty good sound!

[@adey88splace]

Oh this video brought back memories. The minute that os starting giving me a hassle out it went. You have a lot of patience. Thank you.

[@timetoplayvidya]

Hopefully people know that Wine/Proton has come leaps and bounds past this since 2018. But yeah, it was incredibly flaky, back then.

[@masonce98]

I love the old 2000s Linux versions

[@ekner]

I remember Lindows working on about the third try installing it, on my $300 Duron 1300 in 2003.

[@JPs-q1o]

Microsoft was granted the Windows trademark on dubious grounds. "The USPTO ultimately approved Microsoft's trademark application with no analysis or explanation for it's reversal" Translation: some trucks full of money turned up at certain USPTO bureaucrat's homes!

[@mindaugasstankus5943]

Just few "brown" envelopes ended in higher-ups with decision making powers... But would be more interesting to know, how many of them (or very close associates) sat or still siting in very comfy corporate business board or head of department chairs and ofc it have nothing to do with decisions they made in the past...job opportunities fell into lap totally from nowhere.

[@NecroPhil85]

This video sums up my first experience with Linux back in the day, not Lindows but in general. Stopped using it out of frustration and it wasn't that easy to look up resources that could help you. Linux came a long way, making it more user-friendly than ever and a legit alternative to Windows.

[@kuromiLayfe]

pretty sure most of the issues is due to running on the internal gpu, the OS just can’t utilize that slow of VRAM to display anything properly especially in those days

[@Aeduo]

14:12 oh wow they were really going for the apple website look. Also big green buttons that we now associate so much with malware.

[@kjrehberg]

It was one of the first, if not the first, Linux distribution with an official app store which came out YEARS before Apple's App Store. Inclusion of WINE was unprecedented for a commercial Linux distribution, too. The use of the root account for regular usage is still very controversial (and still very wrong).

[@johnvanwinkle4351]

Thanks for the flashback! I loved this OS when it came out and that is one of my favorites!

[@leylandlynxvlog]

The Office 97 logos and RealPlayer in the click-n-run are so nostalgic.

[@Skytigerawo]

Cool video! (Happy new year!!)

[@ironhead65]

I've not thought about this in so many years!

[@JFDSmit-rm6tw]

10:35 wasn't Mozilla based on Netscape? I seem to recall Firefox being the successor to Navigator?

[@OGParzoval]

Actually used Lindows as a daily driver for over a year. It wasn’t half bad.

[@davebilson]

I remember Lindows and Xandros, both Windows alternatives. After the Microsoft Windows fiasco the name was changed to Linspire.

[@madfinntech]

I remember reading about Lindows back then and wondering where it went and thought it never came out. Well, should have known Microsoft had something to do with it and forced them change the name.

[@Aeduo]

I remember reading about it and thinking it kinda a neat idea. Nowadays I know better that it was just a bunch of existing software slapped together. A copy of redhat linux would've cost less and included everything on the discs including wine. It's convenient that this comes preconfigured, but with that convenience seems to come quirkyness.

[@michaellangwaller]

I remember getting a copy of Lindows in one of my computer magazines. It was so buggy that it kept crashing.

[@ShawnBarnes]

Had a Lindows computer. The Walmart PC - AMD Duron 1.1 GHz, 128MB RAM, 20GB HDD. That PC ran circles around an Intel Celeron 2.5GHz system both of them running XP or Vista. Wow, that was years ago.

[@georgeh6856]

I suspect a lot of Lindows customers were not happy when their Windows programs had problems. Wine was very rudimentary back then. Lindows should not have made claims that it could run most if any Windows programs very well.

[@UltraZelda64]

Back in those days, as a Windows user since 1997 starting with Windows 95 and just starting to learn about Linux, Linspire was an interesting distro. But I think Xandros nailed the experience more than anyone else for a Windows user at the time. Still, in the end, I never really used either full-time and I think it was like a year or two later that I finally settled on a distro after a couple years of learning and distro hopping.

[@ebridgewater]

5:00 Smooth.

[@thinboizz]

Lindows XP 💀 Happy New Years MJD

[@mikechappell4156]

I really liked that old KDE taskbar.

[@midwestweirdo666]

I was suspicious when I didn't see "but everything went wrong." It's nice to see that nothing went wrong because nothing worked in the first place.

[@TuxPeng]

13:00 It didn't include AbiWord? That's probably what I would have been using back then.

[@jbloodwo]

I do believe it did.

[@prohubbeta]

Happy new year man

[@emiliomarquez2163]

6:18 where can I find that wall paper?! It looks amazing

[@salty_popcorn_]

its a windows 3.0 wallpaper called CHESS. note that is a 640x480 bmp file so it might be a little stretchy on modern resolutions

[@WilliamShinal]

I have a copy of Lindows 4.0, and I used it on my old laptop when XP was ringing its bell and 98 didn't quite know what to do.

[@wintutorials2282]

Happy new year!!!!

[@packerfan10]

Happy New Year!

[@oliverrozario]

Happy new year!

[@brq034]

I remember Lindows ridiculously running as root and Click 'N Run (a shopping front-end for synaptic) and the ridiculous membership fee they charged for it. That said, I liked the desktop polish (for the time) and its legal support for codecs you didn't have to go hunt down if you were a new Linux user. I'm glad we have Zorin now.

[@shrapness]

thanks for this amazing content

[@jedi-mic]

Is this OS not available anymore? Is there any updates for it?

[@JoacoTech]

Happy New Year

[@jonathansvendsen257]

Happy new year

[@arnoldsmith5754]

i still have a copy of Lindows bought with a desktop computer back then

[@survil321]

Porkbun sponsored? That's super cool!

[@tinfoil_hatsociety4866]

not sure if you know. The linux distro t2sde has a wii u port that is kinda functioning from their description. It might be fun for you

[@m__rocka]

Since this uses KDE 3 it has better UI/UX than all "modern" desktop environments LOL

[@megadjc192]

Early linux was such a pain. Also, directX emulation on early wine was basically nonexistent and/or barely functioning on the best of days. Also, you could try running the glxinfo command to see if you had 3D acceleration even available on that system.

[@Lampe2020]

10:41 Ungoogled Chromium's UserAgent string also starts with "Mozilla/5.0", I think all browser's UA strings do. Exactly the same as that all browsers report to JS that they're Netscape.

[@FubarMike]

Back in the day I always wondered why every time I'd see a Microtel PC it was running a sketchy clearly pirated version of Windows XP Pro

[@GGigabiteM]

I remember hearing about Lindows back then, and I thought it was just a stupid cash grab. Literally all they did is scrape together open source software and enriched themselves by charging money for it. They had the same spirit as the Shareware CD companies of the 90s that went around to BBS and early websites to scrape together software and sell it retail to make a quick dollar. At least those companies did a long term service of archiving software, sometimes they're a great source to find lost software. Lindows on the other hand, not so much. Other distributions had GUI front ends on their package managers and they didn't charge $99 a year for the privilege to use them. Most of the long time Linux users knew about WINE and how in no way was it fit to be running Windows applications to the compatibility level that Lindows advertised it as. You could expect the same buggy mess on any other Linux distro at the time.

[@zellevmusic232]

windows just goes "fine..how much?", after us legal system says "NUH UH."