ReactOS(reactos.org) |
I double-click the word, and get "If you have tenacity, you are very determined and do not give up easily."
Screenshots of ReactOS (it BSODs too!): http://neosmart.net/gallery/album/view/os/ROS/
I'm surprised not to see mention of this though in the comments here: ReactOS is now "dead" as it is being rewritten to use the wine project as the actual codebase. The aforementioned slowness in development is the primary cause. The new project is codename ARWINSS: http://www.reactos.org/wiki/Arwinss
If it ever does get out of Alpha and is viable than Microsoft will likely stop at nothing to bury it with lawsuits. They'd have to because it would be a free version of their core product that, by definition, wouldn't be susceptible to all the viruses and malware that Windows is.
So the bottom line is it could have a lot of useful applications but you really couldn't have enough faith in its future to use it for those applications.
Wouldn't this huge time and effort be spent on something we need but don't have? And yes, charge me for using it. I study medicine, but I won't work as a doctor for free.
http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/open-source-misses-the-point.h...
Yes, that is my opinion alone, but I do hold it strongly.
In the time spent fiddling with it, you could have just purchased and XBox and been done with it.
Basically, these guys decided they legally wanted windows, but they didn't want to pay for it.</snark>
It's a cool idea, but, I'm not exactly sure on a) the legality of it and b) the usefulness of it.
You're right that there's no point in chasing the most recent Windows version.
But why would that be better, or even preferable, over Wine on top of a Unix-like OS with current programs to run sde by side with your legacy app?
It's they project, their motivation, but I can't share it or understand why not devote these resources to make Wine better (or a better Wine, BTW). It's pretty obvious they are fairly bright guys.
I have to agree with the Unix zealot (I am probably one myself - Unix is a local maximum in the OS space, as eloquently illustrated by the failure of, for instance, Plan 9): of all OS concepts (and with so many exciting ones - like Plan 9) there are to be reinterpreted/reimplemented, why Windows?
Well, I suppose eventually Firefox el. al. will drop XP support, but that day will hopefully be far in the future.
Just imagine how many patents Microsoft will be compelled to use against this project if it ever becomes a perceived threat.
I am sure all MS's EULAs prohibit you from running Microsoft software on anything other than Windows.
Okay, look into 'free software' and the phenomenon known as 'GNU'.
fwiw: working as a professional (in any field) does not make you a scumbag. but justifying personal material gain by belittling professionals who volunteer their time and skill for free, is obnoxious at best and the very scum of this earth at worst.
While we're at it, you should also read this: http://www.google.com/search?q=complement+vs+compliment
Nowhere in the EULA for Microsoft Office (their most profitable product) do I find text requiring you to run it on Microsoft Windows. I read it top-to-bottom, then searched for "Windows" (which never occurs) and then "operating system" (which occurs only to warn you that they use your operating system to get to the Internet).
And ReactOS does make Wine better as they share some code:
"ReactOS works with the WINE project to share as much programming effort as possible. ReactOS depends on Wine mainly for user mode DLLs. Where appropriate, patches to Wine are also submitted by the development team, and patch contributors are often directed to Wine if it is felt that the patches would benefit them." <http://www.reactos.org/wiki/WINE>;
I remember having read about the ReactOS/Wine cooperation, but I completely forgot about it while making my comment.
Still, it's not the kernel side of the driver that requires a bare OS, but the hardware side that requires the OS not to interfere. The foreign kernel can be emulated. A Windows-like OS can help you use hardware that has no drivers for other OSs but I never had this issue, nor know anyone who needs to run legacy hardware that can't also run a legacy OS.
From http://www.winehq.org/site/acknowledgement: "Wine is at the heart of ReactOS' Win32 support. Initial work improved Wine's portability by cleaning things up so MinGW could compile it. From there, a considerable amount of effort was spent improving Wine's shell32 infrastructure and various controls. The ReactOS team is also responsible for the regedit and task manager utilities." More details are in http://www.reactos.org/wiki/WINE
And those are their resources. I respect their decision, even if I cannot agree with their taste for OSs ;-)
If you rely on legacy hardware, it's a given you will prefer to rely on legacy software too for the whole stack.
It's not like someone will run air-traffic or medical equipment on an OS different from the one the machine was certified for.