Years ago I got my parents to switch from internet explorer to firefox by putting IE’s icon over firefox…this has the same vibes. If you have someone technologically illiterate in your life who pretty much only uses the browser…yeah this idea could work.
I did the exact same thing. IceWM with XP skin, Firefox with an extension that changed the name in the title bar to internet explorer + a IE theme. Then Thunderbird with an outlook theme. For years they used it like this and no longer did I have to clean out viruses or remove IEs additional toolbars that plagued that era.
Occasionally I would run some updates and that was it.
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.
Cursed sibling of uwuntu
*of the blessed sibling
Stockholm Syndrome is real.
Lamb: “F&ck me, you’ve gone full Stockholm … Scrabble?”
that fucking coat he wears
People have been theming Linux to look like Windows for decades. The problem is, theming it doesn’t overcome the main sticking point, which is that Linux doesn’t run the software many people use for work. I use Linux for my main OS, but then I use Ableton Live, Capture One, the Affinity suite, Adobe Acrobat, Fusion 360, Visual Studio (for legacy .NET) and many people depend on other Adobe software and other professional software, none of which runs well on Linux. So I end up running both Linux and Windows. Theming just isn’t the main issue here.
Ableton + every VST I’ve tried works great in WINE. Can’t comment on the other stuff, although I think Fusion360 is on Linux. I know Autodesk ports some of their software to be natively available on Linux, like Maya. Not sure if Fusion360 is a part of that, though.
VS Code is on Linux. Probably not what you’re looking for when looking for a .NET IDE, though. Microsoft did make .NET core open source and available on Linux, though, along with the Mono project, which was originally a reverse engineering of .NET, so .NET development is possible on Linux, but I get why you use Windows for it, especially for legacy stuff.
IIRC Adobe software only has problems running due to the DRM they include. If someone perhaps found a way to run the software without the DRM, it could potentially work.
Thanks for the advice. I haven’t tried Ableton with Wine, but I’ll have to give it a go. I’ll be very happy if that works.
As for the .NET IDE, I can do most things in Linux quite happily using JetBrains Rider and VS Code. There are just a couple of problematic legacy .NET 4 projects with dependencies on old libraries that are only available in Windows, and some old T4 templates that will only run in Visual Studio. We’re on the way to retiring those but not quite there yet.
Note: installing some VSTs can be a tad janky, namely ones requiring Native Access and Serum in my experience, although it’s still possible to get them working. Native Access doesn’t work fully correctly, so manual downloads and installs of those plugins are necessary, and Serum requires a DLL override, but IDR which one.
I haven’t tried every VST, but I’ve tried a lot of them.
It’s a little frustrating that Ableton must have a Linux build of Live, since the Push 3 runs Linux, but they don’t release a Linux version we can install. Not that it would fix those plugin issues. When I have a bit of time I’ll see how far I get with it.
Bitwig has a native Linux version. Similar workflow to Ableton, but IMO better. It was my preferred DAW when I was still using proprietary software.
Zrythm tries to be an open source equiv to both Ableton and Bitwig. You might like it or you might not. Either way, Ableton should still work fine on WINE, and it has in my experience.
The Windows VSTs are the real sticker here. If using a native Linux DAW, you will need to use yabridge, Carla, or similar to bridge the Windows plugins to a Linux host using WINE. When using a DAW through WINE, you don’t need to use a bridge.
Thanks! I hadn’t heard of Zrythm. Good to know someone’s doing that; I’ll check it out. And I did try Bitwig but didn’t really have time to get into it during the trial period. Maybe I can install it on another machine and have another go.
If it doesn’t contain a Windows Activation message with a link which leads to a kernel panic, I’m not interested…
But does it lead to a kernel panic?:-?
I also wanted to point out the obvious Linux references, but the people I’d want to pra-uuh help with this replacement OS would probably be none the wiser now that I think about it…
“Dogs and cats sleeping together!”
They do, and they are super cute. This thing, instead…
But why KDE? Even LXDE/Qt would suffice to emulate Windows 11’ taskbar.
Uwubuntu
damn, this is like cancer with hypertumor, instead of destroying and overtaking the parent tumor, they coexisted in a much nastier state.
