iMagic OS: Commercial Linux Distro Gone Wrong

[Rob Williams]

From our front-page news:

The term "commercial Linux distribution" might sound a little odd at first, given that Linux is well-known for being a completely free operating system, but I do feel that in some cases, a commercial offering can be a good thing. In fact, it was a commercial distribution that helped me find my way to Linux in the first place, when I picked up Caldera OpenLinux 2.4 sometime in 2000.

Back then, I purchased a boxed copy of Linux for a reason. I appreciated the the fact that I received a manual (or in the case of Caldera, I think it was a book), and also premium support, should it have been needed. Today though, certain Linux distros are so evolved, that in most cases, free versions are superior to any commercial product. Take Ubuntu for example. It's free, but its community is huge, so if you ever run into an issue, you are sure to receive an answer to your question fairly quickly.

I digress though, because this post isn't about a solid commercial product, but rather a lackluster one. "iMagic OS" is a distro based on Ubuntu, that is customized in such a way to become more at-home with those who are either familiar with OS X, or Windows. Sadly, this is not difficult to pull off, since the distro appears to use a slightly customized version of KDE for Windows' users, and GNOME with a dock for OS X users.

Another issue is the price, of $80 for the Pro version, which is truly ridiculous given it's not even a boxed product. The second issue comes when you add something to your cart. Once you do that, you have to promise them that you'll install the OS on no more than three computers. Seriously? How about someone downloads Ubuntu instead and installs it on as many PCs as they like? I'm keen on that idea, personally.

For the most part, this distro is the result of taking Ubuntu and customizing it... something that many, many people have done before (which is why there seem to be a hundred variants of Ubuntu available). The biggest features of iMagic seem to be features that are available on any other distro, and though the developers claim to include proprietary software, like "magicOffice", it appears from the screenshots that it's simply a customized version of OpenOffice. I could be wrong though, but after looking through the site, I'm doubtful.

The moral of the story? Don't fall for cheap commercial Linux offerings. If you want to go the retail route, look for OpenSUSE or even Ubuntu. At least there, you'll see premium support, nice packaging, and an OS that's known to be rock-stable.

It has a license agreement that will make you blush. Not once but twice, it mentions explicitly that you are can only install iMagic OS in no more than 3 computers. You have to agree in these terms (here & here) in order to purchase this OS. According to its Wikipedia entry, "It features a registration system that when violated, prevents installation of the OS, as well as new software and withdraws updates and support."

<table border="0" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td>Source: LinuxHaxor</td> <td>
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[Rob Williams]

I should add a few more thoughts to this. I'm not totally against creating a commercial Linux distro if it has a reason to be commercial. iMagic OS is nothing more than Ubuntu highly customized, and where it's concerned, many other people are already doing that, and for free. $80 is truly ridiculous in every regard. For that kind of money, people should be able to expect a LOT more than a "pretty" face, such as custom software and superb support, neither that I'm doubtful iMagic OS can offer.

Take a look at Linux Mint for example, a distro I've recently begun testing out. It's gorgeous, and the hardware support was fantastic. It's also based on Ubuntu, but it's free, looks fantastic and actually adds custom software/features to make it feel like a unique OS. That's how a distro should be.

http://linuxmint.com/

 

[magicFreak]

disgust

$80 is truly ridiculous in every regard. For that kind of money, people should be able to expect a LOT more than a "pretty" face, such as custom software and superb support, neither that I'm doubtful iMagic OS can offer.

Crossover Pro & Games Full with support is a $70 Product, you moron.

magicOffice is created 100% by iMagic OS.

I received top notch support, I am sure others have also, they helped me get wifi drivers right, and went out of their way to provide free upgrades. I had 4 PCs, but they let me have it anyways.

Plus it has magicOnline, a superb product for installing software & drivers and download media & templates.

Take a look at Linux Mint for example, a distro I've recently begun testing out. It's gorgeous, and the hardware support was fantastic. It's also based on Ubuntu, but it's free, looks fantastic and actually adds custom software/features to make it feel like a unique OS. That's how a distro should be.

http://linuxmint.com/

Gorgeous eh... a flat upside down Gnome desktop is an aquired taste.... hardware support, I must admit is nice.

 

[Rob Williams]

Hi magicFreak:

Thanks for taking the time to sign up, and for your comments. Before I give any response, however, I need to mention that I'm completely aware that you are the CEO of iMagic OS, and not a regular customer as you're claiming to be. If you want to call me out or call me names, so be it, but please don't do it from behind a mask.

"Crossover Pro & Games Full with support is a $70 Product, you moron."

That's a good point. As a counterpoint though, I'll mention that it's not immediately noticeable that iMagic OS includes Crossover Linux. I've only seen one mention of it on the website, and it was a brief one.

"magicOffice is created 100% by iMagic OS."

That's fine, and that's the idea I garnered from the website. However, there is not a single screenshot of this on the website that I could find, which seems a bit odd given it's a major feature. The claims I made were based on the fact that the only office-type application I could see was in a screenshot of OpenOffice.org's Writer.

"Plus it has magicOnline, a superb product for installing software & drivers and download media & templates."

All distros have this, so I'm not sure it should be a selling point. There are literally dozens of solid software-handlers available, so I fail to understand why magicOnline is better than the rest of them. From the only screenshot I could find of the software, it looks as though it's just an HTML page with URLs to click-to-install. That doesn't seem very innovative to me.

"Gorgeous eh... a flat upside down Gnome desktop is an acquired taste.... hardware support, I must admit is nice."

There's more to it than that... it's just well-designed and the aesthetic properties are eye-pleasing. I'm not a fan of GNOME, but I'm a huge fan of sleek, professional and clean-looking designs.

All of that aside, the conclusions I came to were based on what I found at the website. If you want to show people why iMagic OS is so great, then the website should include a lot more information and updated screenshots to prove it. A video of the OS in action would be great also, given that the only way for people to see how it looks is to purchase it.

Here is a great example of what a Linux website should contain. This is a free distro, yet the website is one of the most robust out there, and it also includes a wiki that exhaustively explains what the distro is, what makes it special, and why people should use it. At the very least, the iMagic OS website should contain similar information in greater detail than what's there now.

 

[thorpe]

Hi magicFreak:

Thanks for taking the time to sign up, and for your comments. Before I give any response, however, I need to mention that I'm completely aware that you are the CEO of iMagic OS, and not a regular customer as you're claiming to be. If you want to call me out or call me names, so be it, but please don't do it from behind a mask.

"Crossover Pro & Games Full with support is a $70 Product, you moron."

That's a good point. As a counterpoint though, I'll mention that it's not immediately noticeable that iMagic OS includes Crossover Linux. I've only seen one mention of it on the website, and it was a brief one.

I have tried this os and have done a review on it. I also contacted Jeremy at codeweavers to verify the licenses for Crossover Office Professional and Crossover Games, and he verified they are legal.
That alone is 70.00 value. So technically your only paying 9.99 for it

"magicOffice is created 100% by iMagic OS.
That's fine, and that's the idea I garnered from the website. However, there is not a single screenshot of this on the website that I could find, which seems a bit odd given it's a major feature. The claims I made were based on the fact that the only office-type application I could see was in a screenshot of OpenOffice.org's Writer.

ImagicOffice is a fairly recent product, when I got my copy of ImagicOS for evaluation for my review it wasn't even finished; I then later received a free update via magiconline (iMagicOS version of Software Installer/Updater)
I still like OpenOffice 3.0.1 better, but as a second choice I would use iMagicOffice.

"Plus it has magicOnline, a superb product for installing software & drivers and download media & templates."

All distros have this, so I'm not sure it should be a selling point. There are literally dozens of solid software-handlers available, so I fail to understand why magicOnline is better than the rest of them. From the only screenshot I could find of the software, it looks as though it's just an HTML page with URLs to click-to-install. That doesn't seem very innovative to me.

The main thing that makes it significantly better in my opinion is the ability to not only get up to date software, drivers, but also Version upgrades. You wouldn't have to install a new version, is has the capability to upgrade your version to the next version without loss of data; kinda like a rolling release.

"Gorgeous eh... a flat upside down Gnome desktop is an acquired taste.... hardware support, I must admit is nice."

There's more to it than that... it's just well-designed and the aesthetic properties are eye-pleasing. I'm not a fan of GNOME, but I'm a huge fan of sleek, professional and clean-looking designs.

Im a KDE 3.x fan, I agree with his point as I didnt care much for gnome and I don't like KDE 4 at this current time, maybe in the future it get better.

All of that aside, the conclusions I came to were based on what I found at the website. If you want to show people why iMagic OS is so great, then the website should include a lot more information and updated screenshots to prove it. A video of the OS in action would be great also, given that the only way for people to see how it looks is to purchase it.

Thats a good suggestion, a video showing a walk thru of the os! That would certainly help me from a consumer's point of view decide whether or not to buy it. However; there was quite an abundance of information on the website including screensnapshots of the OS that were accurate at the time I did my review.

Here is a great example of what a Linux website should contain. This is a free distro, yet the website is one of the most robust out there, and it also includes a wiki that exhaustively explains what the distro is, what makes it special, and why people should use it. At the very least, the iMagic OS website should contain similar information in greater detail than what's there now.

I have to ask one thing: Did you really try iMagicOS ? Honestly?
The reason I ask, if you did: you would realize that alot of your negative statements are not true. As a reviewer myself; I try to be objective and most importantly use the software before making any statements so that the public gets an honest objective overview of the software. Now I am not saying all your facts had no merit, but quite a few did.

Roger Thorpe

 

[Rob Williams]

Hi Roger:

As I mentioned above, I based all of my assumptions off their website, and after exhausting what information I found there, I figured I wasn't going to gain anything by contacting them. The fact is, the website is completely lacking of information, which really can't be ignored. If people are expected to pay $80 for a distro rather than go download one for free, they should be able to find out why. It's not just the information that's lacking... it's the screenshots. If magicOffice and magicOnline are such impressive features, we should be able to see that via screenshot or video. People can't be expected to take a leap of faith and pay the $80 in hopes that it's worth it.

When I first took a look at the site, it looked to me like a fly-by-night distro. One that was put together to make a quick buck. I've been in contact with Carlos, the CEO of iMagic OS, and I can now see that I was completely mistaken. However, I still don't blame myself, given the website didn't do anyone any favors.

 

[magicFreak]

Hi Roger:

As I mentioned above, I based all of my assumptions off their website, and after exhausting what information I found there, I figured I wasn't going to gain anything by contacting them. The fact is, the website is completely lacking of information, which really can't be ignored. If people are expected to pay $80 for a distro rather than go download one for free, they should be able to find out why. It's not just the information that's lacking... it's the screenshots. If magicOffice and magicOnline are such impressive features, we should be able to see that via screenshot or video. People can't be expected to take a leap of faith and pay the $80 in hopes that it's worth it.

When I first took a look at the site, it looked to me like a fly-by-night distro. One that was put together to make a quick buck. I've been in contact with Carlos, the CEO of iMagic OS, and I can now see that I was completely mistaken. However, I still don't blame myself, given the website didn't do anyone any favors.

We have completely redone the why imagic os page into a full blown mini site to help users more easily make their decision.

Take a look, see if it helps.

 

[Merlin]

I'm not impressed one bit and you wont get my 80 bucks

You may find some clown to buy it

 

[moon111]

As someone who hasn't followed or looked into Linux, I checked out the two sites, giving them both equal time. Sabayon's site looks very professional. IMagic looks like someone was studying a HTML book while they put it together. The Microsoft Compatible link at IMagic really interested me. There's a few applications I use that hold me back from the decision to try Linux at all. However, the security link on IMagic's site didn't sell well with me at all. It was like being told we don't need law enforcement because we live in a small town. I turned sceptical. Later I realized that http://imagicos.com/thenew/ wasn't the main page. (Did I google to find it?) Anyways, once I found the main site, there was a better layout. But things still just didn't seem polished and didn't make me feel confident.

If IMagic is worth $80, I'm sorry I just didn't get it. The only benefit appeared to be a 3rd party application. It sells for $69.99??? ... so why IMagic isn't promoting that I don't know. Sell IMagic for $50, but offer to bundle them together for $80. Now it's SAVE $40 when you order them together.

 

[Rob Williams]

I've posted a follow-up to this, so rather than starting a new thread, I'll just include it here.

If you're a regular reader of our news, you're probably well-aware that I like to rant about different things from time to time. It could be anything... DRM, failed game sequels, digital music, DTV transition, you name it. Once in a while though, I'll receive a bit of flack for whatever I ranted about, and one perfect example of this was with regards to last week's posting, "iMagic OS: Commercial Linux Distro Gone Wrong". After posting, I received a rather straight-forward e-mail from Carlos La Borde, the CEO of iMagic OS. I'll tackle some points here.

In the e-mail, Carlos stressed to me that iMagic OS isn't "lackluster", nor is their support non-existent. He noted that his team goes the extra mile where support is concerned, and that thousands of man-hours have been poured into the distro. I don't doubt this, but as I mentioned to Carlos, my assumptions were all based on what I saw on their website. The fact is, the information was lacking, and given that there were no screenshots available for showing off some of the distro's major features, I figured I had all of the information I needed to prepare a posting.

After discussing that issue, Carlos had the website's "Why?" page updated, this time including a lot more of what people should expect to see when perusing a distro site (commercial or not). This would include a good deal of information about the product, and screenshots to show off the major (and unique) features. One shot in particular I wanted to see was for magicOffice, since as a touted feature, it made no sense that a screenshot wasn't made available. I might understand the reasoning behind that now.

As mentioned on the software page, magicOffice was created "from scratch". As far as I'm concerned, to build something from scratch would be like baking something from scratch. It would be pounding flour into dough to make a pie crust, rather than buying a pie shell at the market. The screenshot of magicWriter seen here though, shows off that it wasn't built from scratch, but rather implements the completely free TinyMCE WYSIWYG editor. It's unique to see TinyMCE used in a non-web application, but that doesn't suddenly make it "from scratch".

That issue aside, Carlos also clarified to me that the distro costs $80 for a reason. It includes Codeweaver's Crossover Office, which is something I overlooked the first time around. Since that product on its own costs $70, it makes a bit more sense as to why the distro itself isn't cheap. But, with that feature tacked on, this distro is not for most Linux enthusiasts, but rather those who come from Windows and want something a little more familiar.

Have my opinions of iMagic OS changed at all? Some have, and some haven't. After reviewing the information here, and doing your own investigating, you can come to your own conclusions. The fact that Carlos posted in our forums posing as a customer doesn't help their credibility either, but as I mentioned, you guys can come to your own conclusions. Carlos is welcome to continue posting in our forums and answer any questions anyone may have, or to further give reasons as to what makes iMagic OS special.
​

 

[magicFreak]

I've posted a follow-up to this, so rather than starting a new thread, I'll just include it here.

If you're a regular reader of our news, you're probably well-aware that I like to rant about different things from time to time. It could be anything... DRM, failed game sequels, digital music, DTV transition, you name it. Once in a while though, I'll receive a bit of flack for whatever I ranted about, and one perfect example of this was with regards to last week's posting, "iMagic OS: Commercial Linux Distro Gone Wrong". After posting, I received a rather straight-forward e-mail from Carlos La Borde, the CEO of iMagic OS. I'll tackle some points here.

In the e-mail, Carlos stressed to me that iMagic OS isn't "lackluster", nor is their support non-existent. He noted that his team goes the extra mile where support is concerned, and that thousands of man-hours have been poured into the distro. I don't doubt this, but as I mentioned to Carlos, my assumptions were all based on what I saw on their website. The fact is, the information was lacking, and given that there were no screenshots available for showing off some of the distro's major features, I figured I had all of the information I needed to prepare a posting.

After discussing that issue, Carlos had the website's "Why?" page updated, this time including a lot more of what people should expect to see when perusing a distro site (commercial or not). This would include a good deal of information about the product, and screenshots to show off the major (and unique) features. One shot in particular I wanted to see was for magicOffice, since as a touted feature, it made no sense that a screenshot wasn't made available. I might understand the reasoning behind that now.

As mentioned on the software page, magicOffice was created "from scratch". As far as I'm concerned, to build something from scratch would be like baking something from scratch. It would be pounding flour into dough to make a pie crust, rather than buying a pie shell at the market. The screenshot of magicWriter seen here though, shows off that it wasn't built from scratch, but rather implements the completely free TinyMCE WYSIWYG editor. It's unique to see TinyMCE used in a non-web application, but that doesn't suddenly make it "from scratch".

That issue aside, Carlos also clarified to me that the distro costs $80 for a reason. It includes Codeweaver's Crossover Office, which is something I overlooked the first time around. Since that product on its own costs $70, it makes a bit more sense as to why the distro itself isn't cheap. But, with that feature tacked on, this distro is not for most Linux enthusiasts, but rather those who come from Windows and want something a little more familiar.

Have my opinions of iMagic OS changed at all? Some have, and some haven't. After reviewing the information here, and doing your own investigating, you can come to your own conclusions. The fact that Carlos posted in our forums posing as a customer doesn't help their credibility either, but as I mentioned, you guys can come to your own conclusions. Carlos is welcome to continue posting in our forums and answer any questions anyone may have, or to further give reasons as to what makes iMagic OS special.
​

I think that was a much better view, at least it was well informed.

 

[frank]

were are the source for this distro??? it is braking the GPL!!

 

[Rob Williams]

I am not familiar enough with these licences to comment, so I won't state much. It's true though, the source code should be made available. I believe I saw it mentioned somewhere that the source code is made available to customers who purchase it. Is that the case for other commercial distros as well, or is it made available even without a purchase?

 

[frank]

RED HAT has the source codes available, that is how centos gets it

 

[Rob Williams]

That's true, but Red Hat is at the top of the chain, whereas iMagic OS gets its sources from Ubuntu/Debian. Perhaps since it's a "fork", it doesn't require the sources to be made available, or is that untrue as well? Either way, sources would be nice, but I'm really not sure who would be interested in them.

 

[frank]

jajaja no one is going to be interested i guess, not even in the distro itself

yes they still have to provide the source ubuntu has the source and is a debian derivative, and many others distrinutions as well do have the source available

 

[justsomebody]

http://www.joejoe.org/forum/index.php?showtopic=17470&st=20&start=20

Doesn't seem to have a team at all - lol.

 

[Rob Williams]

I'm confident it's just Carlos running this distro... I've seen no proof of others who contribute. Aside from that, it doesn't take more than one person to design what makes iMagic OS "unique".