Hoping to succeed in a difficult task, a software start-up plans to sell a version of Linux designed to run popular Windows programs.
Lindows.com, a 20-person San Diego company led by former MP3.com chief executive Michael Robertson, plans to sell a preview edition of the software for US$99 this quarter, with version 1.0 coming in early 2002.
The software is based on years of labor devoted to the Wine project, an open-source effort to mimic the commands that Windows programs use. Lindows adds proprietary software with improvements such as making fonts appear better or software install more easily, Robertson said in an interview.