There were no parties in New York, like the elaborate fetes staged last year for Microsoft's Windows XP. Nor did its top executive, in the style of Apple CEO Steve Jobs, don his black turtleneck and jeans to introduce it to the world. In general, the advent of LindowsOS 3.0 was roundly ignored by the masses.

But the computer world is watching. And that includes Microsoft, which sued Lindows last year for attempting to "confuse" Windows users into buying a cheap, alternative operating system.

It also includes discount computer retailers such as Walmart.com, which is selling Lindows-loaded 800 MHz computers for $199 without a monitor. And TigerDirect.com, where a Lindows system with a 1.3 GHz processor goes for $229.

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Lindows pros and cons

That Microsoft, with its 93 percent dominance of the desktop market, would even challenge Lindows, a San Diego upstart, is a testament to the fear it has spawned.

Linux – known more accurately as GNU/Linux – is a free operating system developed by legions of geeky developers across the world. Unlike Microsoft and Macintosh operating systems, its source code is open for tweaking and improvement by anyone.

But until recently, the various "flavors" of Linux – including RedHat, Mandrake and Suse – have been hard for novices to correctly install on their home and business computers.

Updating parts of the operating system often required harrowing journeys to remote Web sites in search of particular downloads. And configuring Linux machines to interact with other operating systems on a home network could be downright scary.

Those were the reasons that CEO Michael Robertson started Lindows last year after selling MP3.com to Vivendi Universal for $370 million. If Linux could be as easy to install and operate as Windows, he reasoned, it could lead to a new market for ultra-cheap, almost disposable computers.

"You can save money by changing the oil in your car yourself," says Mr. Robertson. "But most people don't want to do it. It was the same way with Linux."

True geeks have bristled at the Lindows concept.

It's a dumbed-down version of Linux, they say. Quite accurately, they point out that nearly all the programs included in the Lindows 3.0 release (a $119 download at Lindows.com; $129 for the boxed CD set), can be found for free on the Net.

But to Mr. Robertson, that's just the point. He believes computer users will pay for a free operating system – if everything they need is at one easy-to-use Web site.

"Until now, Linux has been too messy, too disorganized to be usable by just an average computing person," he says. "The big deal with Lindows 3.0 is that it is, finally, Linux for everyone."

To that end, Lindows 3.0 makes important strides in several arenas. The desktop look and feel was already being upgraded by other Linux projects. With the KDE and Gnome user interfaces, the Linux desktop was gradually turning user-friendly. Point-and-click, the desktop icons, the Start button and program access had matured into packages similar to the Macintosh and Microsoft products.

"Any user of a Microsoft OS will find Lindows very familiar," Mr. Robertson says.

Where Mr. Robertson's creation shines is in the installation and maintenance of the operating system. Like other Linux distributions, Lindows 3.0 can be used on older computers, although at least 128 megabytes of RAM and a Pentium-class processor are advised.

Setting it up takes less than 10 minutes. Lindows can coexist on a Windows-based machine and run some Windows-based programs, including Office 2000.

For $99 a year, users get access to the Lindows.com Click-N-Run Warehouse of 1,600 computer programs, including games, productivity suites and utilities. The installation of the Web-based programs creates desktop icons just like Windows.

And the OS can find and install drivers for most common hardware components, including modems, Ethernet cards and graphics boards. The networking components allow users to deftly find and set up printing or file-sharing on a network with Windows machines.

The basic Lindows 3.0 installation includes the usual Internet features expected in today's computers, such as AOL Instant Messenger, or AIM, and the Netscape 7.0 browser. There are not many game titles available, and the Lindows system will not run most high-end Windows-based games.

Early on, Mr. Robertson made a much bigger deal about running Microsoft programs within Lindows than he does now.

That's because, he says, he was worried that people would shy away from Lindows if it couldn't open and manipulate Microsoft Word (.doc), Excel (.xls) and PowerPoint (.ppt) files. But Lindows users can handle such tasks by using Sun's StarOffice 6.0 and OpenOffice.org productivity suites, available through Click-N-Run.

"It turns out that the Linux-based programs are there," Mr. Robertson says. "And if you have to pay $450 for Microsoft Office to run on Lindows, I haven't saved you much money, have I?"

In fact, as he guided development of Lindows 3.0, Mr. Robertson says he concluded that all Linux needs to succeed is a little respect.

"We've got to educate people that there is an alternative and it is doable," he says. "This really is a practical and realistic decision."

Linux-based desktop computers, Mr. Robertson predicts, will soon be given away by Internet service providers, banks and other businesses interested in promoting online access.

"We're predicting that computers are going to be free," he says. "It's getting to be like toasters and microwaves. If they break, you just buy a new one. Nobody repairs them anymore."

E-mail dbedell@dallasnews.com