LOW Project - Linux Over Windows

[Axis]

Hey everyone!
First things first, I looked and looked and wasn't sure where to post about this so I decided that here was the best place. If a mod could think of a place it would be better suited be my guest to move it!

The idea of LOW project is to use a combination of programs to make a windows installation that integrates virtualbox overtop of windows to allow people to use both their windows and linux applications on the same machine but still use their linux primarily.

I understand that there are plenty of tutorials and what not to do "seamless integration" but this is a little different. We want to create an alternate windows installation that is minimalistic so that linux can run overtop with little performance drop.

This would be useful for users who..

Need to use a windows program not supported by wine
Have hardware compatibility issues with linux (Wireless is my circumstance)


I have made a wiki for the project located here. [link] (http://lowproject.wetpaint.com/)

I was curious to see what the ubuntu community thought of the project and also to see if anyone was interested! To see what we need visit the members page on the wiki.

Thanks for taking the time to read all of my inane babble! :)
Axis

[cardinals_fan]

We want to create an alternate windows installation that is minimalistic so that linux can run overtop with little performance drop.

Microsoft does not take kindly to modification/redistribution of Windows. This is probably illegal, and you will probably be sued if you succeed at it.

Or did I misunderstand you...?

[saulgoode]

If one considers (as I do) GNU/Linux to be more stable, to be more secure, to present a smaller memory footprint, and to require fewer resources, it would be vastly preferable to virtualize Windows on top of a GNU/Linux platform.

[david_lynch]

Nah, I'll pass. building on a foundation that starts with microsoft isn't my idea of fun.

What would be really cool, though, is to do it the other way around. Have linux as the primary OS, then fire up a virtualbox ******* session, to solve the problem of those pesky odd *******-only programs that you may need to run from time to time. Then shut ******* down when you're done with whatever app it was, so it's not taking up any resources.

[Bölvaður]

There have been made stripped down versions of windows, such as tinyxp... which is illegal.
Normal users will not notice the performance drop any way so I'd say: Never mind the bloatness.

[Greyed]

If one considers (as I do) GNU/Linux to be more stable, to be more secure, to present a smaller memory footprint, and to require fewer resources, it would be vastly preferable to virtualize Windows on top of a GNU/Linux platform.

However if one is a gamer then the reverse is clearly true. :P

[Axis]

There is an application called Nlite that allows you to modify your own windows installation. I know many people who use this application and I am 99% sure its legal. The overall idea would be to release a configuration for the application but you had to apply it to your own windows CD. However I would like to find some sort of a way to make this part more automated so as not to intimidate users.

As to virtualize windows over linux. I would rather not because I don't want to use windows, thats why I'm trying to find an alternative by putting windows underneath linux.
I don't want a secure windows, I want linux as I would normally use it but cannot due to hardware restrictions (this would also solve software restrictions I belive)

Thanks for your replies. I hope you guys understand what it is that I'm trying to do a bit better now.