A
Linux company started by Joseph Cheek who incidentally worked for both
Linuxcare and
Microsoft in the past.
The
distribution was widely rumored to be
vaporware for a long time but is currently available both for
download and in a
box. It's a very
pretty distribution with a
focus on taking the
scary factor out of
Linux. The
default install looks very much like
Windows XP even down to the
Teletubbies-like
background and the style of the
icons. Even the
structure of the
desktop is very similar to the
Windows paradigm with a
Network Browser replacing the more familiar
Network Neighborhood icon. The
environment itself is
KDE which lends itself well to building a very
Windows-like
desktop.
Even the company's web site looks a lot like the Microsoft site. There was quite a bit of speculation about potential lawsuits because the initial name for the distribution was Redmond Linux. The name change eliminated the most obvious suit fodder especially given the heat that Lindows got.
Most folks in the open source/geek community have been very critical of Lycoris for any number of reasons. Some people feel that turning Linux into a virtual Windows is a bad idea while others have been turned off by the degree of hand holding involved in the installation of this distribution. Opinions aside the first release is pretty buggy and more difficult to install than the press releases hinted at.