Comment by cosmic_cheese

I remember Lindows, but I think their problem had more to do with their branding and marketing and the fact that it was sold commercially than it did with its UI resembling Windows, and all of those mistakes are trivial to avoid.

That said, even if the UI looking the same is an issue, it’s not that difficult to come up with a look and feel that is legally distinct but spiritually aligned and functionally identical… random amateurs posting msstyle themes for XP/Vista/7 on DeviantArt did that numerous times.