Here’s the thing…IF it could do what it claims, it would be a game changer.
It tries to claim it’s able to be a replacement for Windows, on Linux. It can run Windows native software. It does what Windows 11 does.
And that’s the problem. Nobody wants Windows 11. Windows 10 installs are GROWING while Windows 11 are actually shrinking. People are uninstalling Windows 11, to install Windows 10. And you’re going to mimic Winfows 11??? Ok. Bad move right out of the gate.
But lets see what it can do. Can it really run all Windows software and completely eliminate the need for microsoft?
In a word…No. It’s just Wine. Same Wine you can do on any other machine. With the same limitations. Nothing special here.
This is just a Windows 11 theme, which is hidden behind a $35 paywall. Yes the basic version is free, but if you came here, you came for the Windows. Part of the Windows apperance is hidden behind a liscense key fee.
So it’s trying to be something everyone hates to begin with. Claims it can do something uniquely useful, but fails. Then has the gall to charge you money for the experience.
That’s like making fake plastic dog shit, still having to use little baggies to clean it up, NOT getting to spend time with a dog afterwards, and then charging you money for the pleasure of cleaning up fake shit.
Voroxpete@sh.itjust.works 5 months ago
If you’re trying to figure out who this is for, the answer is “My clients.”
We deploy systems that have to run as servers, but need a UI because the people maintaining them are brain dead idiots. Windows Server isn’t an option because each system sells at a fairly low price point; adding on the cost of a server license would kill our margins. So we need an OS that runs like Linux, but looks like Windows.
Now you might be thinking “Just use KDE? It’s got a start menu, everything is still in basically the same places, and the only software anyone runs is a web browser.” And you would be vastly underestimating the degree to which moving any component of the UI even the slightest bit causes the average user to shit their pants in terror and freeze up like a deer in the headlights. You’ll point to the start menu and they move the mouse towards it like you just instructed them to defuse a bomb. Eyes closed, they’ll instinctively lean back from the screen in sheer terror as they click.
These Windows alikes are useless for any Linux user, but incredibly helpful for people like me who have to turn Windows users into Linux users.
MentalEdge@sopuli.xyz 5 months ago
I feel this so much it hurts.
Some people are TERRIFIED of devices.
They look at the UI like it’s the cockpit of a fighter plane, with a thousand buttons, some of which make things explode.
Unless they know exactly what to do, they won’t even try anything.
Nevermind that UIs are usually designed to allow a user to figure them out by just prodding at everything and seeing what it does.
Voroxpete@sh.itjust.works 5 months ago
I remember once seeing an explanation of how us tech people magically know what to do with any program that was like “We don’t. We just look for something that seems vaguely familiar and try clicking it.” Three bars in a hamburger shape? That’s a menu. Oh, look, a cog, that always means settings, what we want is probably a setting. Etc.
rImITywR@lemmy.world 5 months ago
It is just KDE though. Its just a plasma skin. But what you get by installing Wubuntu instead of a proper distro, and then applying a skin, is supporting a developer with a history of bad security practices and poor behavior. Not to mention the potential copyright issues. This whole project will probably die when Microsoft realises that someone is using their name and trademarks to sell a competing project.
Voroxpete@sh.itjust.works 5 months ago
Perfectly valid. I’m not endorsing the product, just explaining the use case.
sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works 5 months ago
Yeah, just install Mint or something with that skin installed.
Alphane_Moon@lemmy.world 5 months ago
If you don’t mind me asking, what sort servers/clients do you work with?
Voroxpete@sh.itjust.works 5 months ago
I don’t mind you asking the question, but the answer is “No comment.”
deadcade@lemmy.deadca.de 5 months ago
While it might seem interesting for your usecase, please be careful which specific distro you use, especially when it comes to “windows-like” distros. Wubuntu (previously LinuxFX) has terrible security for your payment info, and the developers have made a ton of questionable decisions.
homesweethomeMrL@lemmy.world 5 months ago
Yeah, mimicking Windows being the first. The second is “pay $35 to ‘unlock the benefits’” is skeezy as hail.
Voroxpete@sh.itjust.works 5 months ago
Good to know. As I said in another comment, I’m not endorsing the product, just explaining the use case.
homesweethomeMrL@lemmy.world 5 months ago
Oh man, I feel that pain. But here’s where I’m at: after so many decades of really trying, really trying to get them to learn what a file system is and how computers, y’know, work, I’m done.
Obviously I don’t do that work for pay, but when I did I went with the assumption that people were just ignorant, not stupid. Now I think they’re just incurious - which is a kind of stupidity. And since the vast majority of their lives are now controlled, monitored, or involve these systems they can’t be bothered to learn - yeah, sucks to be them.
Lem453@lemmy.ca 5 months ago
Lemmy needs a best comment section like reddit had
sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works 5 months ago
Be the change you want to see in the world:
!bestoflemmy@lemmy.world
AlligatorBlizzard@sh.itjust.works 5 months ago
Ooh, I’m a brain dead idiot, are your clients hiring?
Mac@mander.xyz 5 months ago
I love how to you everyone who is not a Linux enthusiast is a braindead idiot. Very nice. 👌
AbidanYre@lemmy.world 5 months ago
I would argue that those people you’re describing shouldn’t be in charge of computers that are accessible from the Internet.
Voroxpete@sh.itjust.works 5 months ago
They’re not.