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ReactOS, a 17-year quest for an open-source Windows, has a new release candidate

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Re: ReactOS, a 17-year quest for an open-source Windows, has a new release candidate

#101

Post by pjmlp »

SwellJoe wrote: post #31

I've always been strangely fascinated by this project. I don't understand it. I appreciate the technical skill involved, and the amount of effort expended. But, I can't imagine working on it. From my perspective, Windows is an inferior system to any UNIX-based system on almost every front. It has a very strong application ecosystem, but technically it's unpleasant to work on (for me). So, given that, if there's somet…

- Written for thread based applications, not processes

- Asynchronous IO architecture only matched by Solaris

- Object based architecture

- OO ABI (more so with WinRT), besides the C one

- Allows C++ in kernel space

- Components as interoperability between applications

- User space driver model, specially nice for graphics drivers

- Pursues the mainframe ideas of safer languages for system and application's programming

- Powershell is closer to Xerox PARC REPLs than any UNIX shell, except for Mac OS X.

And what brought me back, after 10 years mostly in UNIX land, culture of using graphic based tools instead of a PDP-11 experience and desire to try new approaches to OS architecture.

Re: ReactOS, a 17-year quest for an open-source Windows, has a new release candidate

#102

Post by pjmlp »

userbinator wrote: post #34
SwellJoe wrote: post #31

I've always been strangely fascinated by this project. I don't understand it. I appreciate the technical skill involved, and the amount of effort expended. But, I can't imagine working on it. From my perspective, Windows is an inferior system to any UNIX-based system on almost every front. It has a very strong application ecosystem, but technically it's unpleasant to work on (for me). So, given that, if there's somet…

IMHO the nixes have a far superior CLI, but Windows' GUI is (at least pre-Metro, i.e. Win32 desktop) superior to the many disjoint alternatives that the Linux/BSD/OS X/Solaris/etc. world has. Instead of Qt, Gtk, and all the others, Windows just has Win32 and all apps have basically identical look-and-feel (except for those that go out of their way to reinvent the standard GUI elements, but in my experience this is mu…

Only if you ignore Powershell.

You can orchestrate scripts in FP style, similar to the REPLs in Xerox PARC workstations, access any .NET, DLL or COM API as if it was part of Powershell, manipulate data without parsing it all the time, interact with running applications via Windows APIs....

Re: ReactOS, a 17-year quest for an open-source Windows, has a new release candidate

#103

Post by [deleted] »

donatj wrote: post #73
sho_hn wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Instead of Qt, Gtk, and all the others, Windows just has Win32 No, Windows has Qt, Gtk and all the others, too. Virtually any regular user Windows install has 2-5 Qt apps on it. And Windows has been infamous for apps reinventing standard UI elements with skinned monstrosities.

It's been about 5 years since I was a regular Windows user, but I can't think of a single Qt app I used on a regular basis. Care to name some examples?

[deleted]

Re: ReactOS, a 17-year quest for an open-source Windows, has a new release candidate

#104

Post by pjmlp »

cozzyd wrote: post #79
donatj wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's been about 5 years since I was a regular Windows user, but I can't think of a single Qt app I used on a regular basis. Care to name some examples?

Skype might be the most popular.

Skype was written in Delphi originally.

Re: ReactOS, a 17-year quest for an open-source Windows, has a new release candidate

#105

Post by ant6n »

ferrari8608 wrote: post #75
ant6n wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How about an operating system that doesn't execute native code directly anymore. No Segfaults. All programs live in the same VM space.

Isn't that kind of what Android does?

Well, if the JVM was the basic layer of the operating system, then yes. But really it's some form of Linux, there's a lot of native code running, system calls, user and kernel mode etc. Apps can use native code too.

Re: ReactOS, a 17-year quest for an open-source Windows, has a new release candidate

#106

Post by kayamon »

orionblastar wrote: post #40
jamesu wrote: post #3

ReactOS may be impressive from a technical standpoint, but judging from the release candidate its still got a long way to go in terms of stability. While I was able to install it after puzzling over the correct hardware options, it still hanged during installing drivers at boot.

ReactOS runs best in a virtual machine. Running it on bare iron is risky. Driver support is limited and they are still working on it. For example they just added Wifi support and printing support. I donated to their Indiegogo campaign to get the community edition developed, that campaign allowed them to hire developers to get to the 0.40 mile stone.

Isn't one of the goals behind ReactOS that you can "simply" use the large existing base of Windows drivers on it?

Re: ReactOS, a 17-year quest for an open-source Windows, has a new release candidate

#107

Post by zo1 »

ant6n wrote: post #4

At this point, I wonder whether it wouldn't be easier to bundle linux and wine together.

Wine is a mess, to be honest. It's amazing in that it gets Windows applications to work on Linux. The first time I tried that, I was amazed and so very very grateful as I made a full switch to Linux one day without looking back (too-much).

But from a usability perspective, it seems to still be a "second-class" citizen in the Linux world for lack of a better way to phrase it.

Some applications create a separate set of "windows" folders, so interoperability between them is a pain. Click and drag support, just doesn't work properly. The folder structure thing seems to be really jarring for me, as I figured it would be as easy to use as Cygwin's folders on Windows, but somehow isn't.

Any who, it's not a perfect or exhaustive criticism, but Wine is still not a good "drop-in" replacement, even if it does amazing things.

Re: ReactOS, a 17-year quest for an open-source Windows, has a new release candidate

#108

Post by eloisant »

ikurei wrote: post #98
SwellJoe wrote: post #31

I've always been strangely fascinated by this project. I don't understand it. I appreciate the technical skill involved, and the amount of effort expended. But, I can't imagine working on it. From my perspective, Windows is an inferior system to any UNIX-based system on almost every front. It has a very strong application ecosystem, but technically it's unpleasant to work on (for me). So, given that, if there's somet…

> if there's something I want an OS to do that Linux can't do, I would be motivated to work on making Linux able to do that thing so I could do that thing on an Open Source OS I enjoy using, rather than work on replicating Windows so I could do that thing on an open source OS I don't enjoy using. That's a great ethos, but it's not that Windows can do something Linux can't. If you want to play a game/use a CAD made on…

If you want to run Windows applications on an Open Source OS, the Wine approach is much more realistic. It's also nicer because for everything that Linux can already do, you don't have to mimic Windows.

Anyway, desktop applications are not that relevant today, and most of those that are (like web browsers, developer tools) are cross-platform anyway.

Re: ReactOS, a 17-year quest for an open-source Windows, has a new release candidate

#109

Post by tracker1 »

SwellJoe wrote: post #31

I've always been strangely fascinated by this project. I don't understand it. I appreciate the technical skill involved, and the amount of effort expended. But, I can't imagine working on it. From my perspective, Windows is an inferior system to any UNIX-based system on almost every front. It has a very strong application ecosystem, but technically it's unpleasant to work on (for me). So, given that, if there's somet…

Windows can run an executable with a GUI interface compiled for 32-bit Windows over 20 years ago...

Though it's far from perfect, Windows has a better binary compatibility record than ANY other OS for far longer periods of time. There is something to be said for that. It's only recently (for 64-bit windows) that DOS support (ntvdm) has been unavailable.

Re: ReactOS, a 17-year quest for an open-source Windows, has a new release candidate

#110

Post by rilut »

donatj wrote: post #73
sho_hn wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Instead of Qt, Gtk, and all the others, Windows just has Win32 No, Windows has Qt, Gtk and all the others, too. Virtually any regular user Windows install has 2-5 Qt apps on it. And Windows has been infamous for apps reinventing standard UI elements with skinned monstrosities.

It's been about 5 years since I was a regular Windows user, but I can't think of a single Qt app I used on a regular basis. Care to name some examples?

Not a common app, but GOG Galaxy is built on Qt
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