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ReactOS

reactos.org

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Re: ReactOS

#41

Post by jacobush »

pizza234 wrote: post #21
jamesu wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Every time I’ve tried it, it falls apart within minutes of using it. You’d think after 20 years of development it might be somewhat stable but I guess not.

IMO, the is a monumental underestimation of the man-hours put into make Windows as compatible as it is, even ignoring the fact that Microsoft's engineers are/were highly skilled. I like the ReactOS idea, but I think it will take decades to be compatible enough - and I'm even talking about enough. If the objective was to run obsolete software, I personally had to distribute resources, I'd just do assign them to Wine.…

But I'm not disappointed in ReactOS because it's not fully compatible. I'm disappointed because it's not stable.

(Or was, last time I tried a couple of years ago.)

I think they should go for rock solid stable first. Then people could build on it. It's perfect for embedded, Point-of-Sale etc where the vendor want to keep their codebase untouched but hop off the Microsoft bandwagon.

Re: ReactOS

#42

Post by holtkam2 »

This looks cool, how can I get involved helping with this project? I'm a full stack web app developer but I've never worked on an OS before (I'm self-taught). I don't really know where to start.

Re: ReactOS

#43

Post by croes »

ocdtrekkie wrote: post #20
2bitencryption wrote: post #9

I just realized - what does the Google vs Oracle ruling mean for ReactOS, and also Wine?

The lack of commercial purpose of ReactOS (and Wine) and it's primary goal of interoperability, plus the fact that it doesn't really damage the value of the original Windows platform, means it's probably a very easy case of fair use. Android isn't fair use, is a massive commercial endeavour, and has obliterated the value of mobile Java, while breaking interoperability with Java. Oracle winning the case will not be ki…

Oracle will enforce a ruling in their favor globally, but fair use doesn't exist globally. Also it will make API patentable, and that's a very bad thing. Just think of OpenOffice und MySQL vs. LibreOffice and MariaDB. Oracle killed Java and now they still want money. Next step compatibility to the JVM is a copyright violation.

Re: ReactOS

#44

Post by unishark »

Jaruzel wrote: post #19

I'm saddened a little bit to see stuff like theming has been built. I was hoping that ReactOS would stick with the Windows 2000 look and feel. I also think that with the limited resources they have, the project team would be better focusing on improving compatibility, over shiny desktop effects. That said... I firmly believe there is a place for ReactOS. Eventually, XP will fail to run on new hardware, and when that…

I think virtual machines are the best way to keep old software around. I have one for 32 bit stuff that's over 15 years old and making something of a comeback.

Personally I'd be more interested in ReactOS as a way to run current software without microsoft, as I think they have really started behaving unacceptably with windows 10.

Re: ReactOS

#45

Post by croes »

ocdtrekkie wrote: post #34
zerocrates wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you really think there'd still be a place for mobile Java now in the absence of Android? Seems pretty unlikely to me.

The state of the market today isn't the point: It obliterated mobile Java when Google infringed. Your question actually reinforces Oracle's claim that they were irreparably harmed by Google's infringement; there's no way to undo what has been done, and substantial damage compensation is necessary. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_use#U.S._fair_use_factors is a really good read for the basic understanding of how fai…

You don't need fair use for something that isn't copyright worthy like an API. It's like claiming you copied a book if the chapter headlines are identical.

Re: ReactOS

#46

Post by postalrat »

ocdtrekkie wrote: post #34
zerocrates wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you really think there'd still be a place for mobile Java now in the absence of Android? Seems pretty unlikely to me.

The state of the market today isn't the point: It obliterated mobile Java when Google infringed. Your question actually reinforces Oracle's claim that they were irreparably harmed by Google's infringement; there's no way to undo what has been done, and substantial damage compensation is necessary. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_use#U.S._fair_use_factors is a really good read for the basic understanding of how fai…

Like you said fair use applies to copyrights. The question in the google case is if the API can actually be copywritten.

Assuming google did a perfect cleanroom implementation of parts of Java and they lose this case then it can be assumed that cleanroom implementations offer no protection against copyright claims.

A lot of non-commercial projects get shot down by companies for copyright infringements. Being non-commercial won't protect you either.

Re: ReactOS

#47

Post by croes »

kemonocode wrote: post #15
kube-system wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It doesn't mean anything yet because it hasn't been decided :) But it seems that an Oracle win would mean you couldn't implement any interfaces compatible with another piece of software without a license.

In practice I don't see too many companies going full on litigious towards small players or end users- especially not Microsoft as many of their moves as of late hinge on interoperability. But it'd be certainly a worry as it'd be very much weaponized when it comes to big companies against each other, which of course will affect the end user one way or another.

You just don't read about it if small players are involved. They don't have the media attention and the money, they just vanish.

Re: ReactOS

#48

Post by rnd0 »

holtkam2 wrote: post #42

This looks cool, how can I get involved helping with this project? I'm a full stack web app developer but I've never worked on an OS before (I'm self-taught). I don't really know where to start.

My suggestion would be to download the build environment[1], read how to build it[2], try it out in a virtual machine (eg virtualbox) and then work with their jira[3].

[1]https://reactos.org/wiki/Build_Environment

[2]https://reactos.org/wiki/Building_ReactOS

[3]https://reactos.org/wiki/File_Bugs

Re: ReactOS

#49

Post by koolba »

croes wrote: post #43
ocdtrekkie wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The lack of commercial purpose of ReactOS (and Wine) and it's primary goal of interoperability, plus the fact that it doesn't really damage the value of the original Windows platform, means it's probably a very easy case of fair use. Android isn't fair use, is a massive commercial endeavour, and has obliterated the value of mobile Java, while breaking interoperability with Java. Oracle winning the case will not be ki…

Oracle will enforce a ruling in their favor globally, but fair use doesn't exist globally. Also it will make API patentable, and that's a very bad thing. Just think of OpenOffice und MySQL vs. LibreOffice and MariaDB. Oracle killed Java and now they still want money. Next step compatibility to the JVM is a copyright violation.

> Also it will make API patentable

That's not true though the reality is even worse. Patents have a limited term of 20 years.

If they win this case it is based on copyright law which has significantly longer terms. Currently that's valid until 70 years after the death of the content creator.

Re: ReactOS

#50

Post by rnd0 »

IncRnd wrote: post #33
pizza234 wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

IMO, the is a monumental underestimation of the man-hours put into make Windows as compatible as it is, even ignoring the fact that Microsoft's engineers are/were highly skilled. I like the ReactOS idea, but I think it will take decades to be compatible enough - and I'm even talking about enough. If the objective was to run obsolete software, I personally had to distribute resources, I'd just do assign them to Wine.…

> I like the ReactOS idea, but I think it will take decades to be compatible enough - and I'm even talking about enough. It has been under development for decades. That is more than twice the time it took to develop Windows 95. I've tried ReactOS a few times over the years, and it has never worked for me. I know of two specific examples of ReactOS code that as of a couple years ago were identical with Windows code. T…

>I know of two specific examples of ReactOS code that as of a couple years ago were identical with Windows code.

Cool; if they're specific then you ought to be able to cite them for the rest of us.

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