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ReactOS 0.3.16 released

reactos.org

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Re: ReactOS 0.3.16 released

#41

Post by techdragon »

cookiecaper wrote: post #37
copx wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If ReactOS every became a thing (i.e. more than a hobby exercise) Microsoft would sue them off the planet. I am sure Microsoft has countless patents covering Windows technology.

Yep. Microsoft allows WINE and ReactOS to proceed unchallenged because they're aware of the Streisand Effect. If it ever became a legitimate threat to Windows' dominance, they'd be lawyered out of existence lickety-split.

ReactOS has spent a LOT of time and effort remaining in the clear legally. It would be a hell of a lawsuit but after the dust settled, it would be in favour of ReactOS barring a freakish reversal of precedent. They have taken the same approach as Pheonix Technologies used back when they cloned the IBM BIOS and sparked the dawn of the Wintel/IBM Compatible era http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoenix_Technologies#Cloning_th...

Re: ReactOS 0.3.16 released

#42

Post by graylights »

ChikkaChiChi wrote: post #36

This has always been an admirable project; I just fear that the world has moved on. A competitive kernel alternative to Windows seemed like a necessity 6 years ago. Today, everyone I know who would be interested in ReactOS is OS agnostic and can exist without any one operating system in particular.

I disagree, the future of windows is why ReactOS is important. For the same reason DosBox is important, to run legacy apps.

10 years from now, how are you going to run those XP apps that aren't compatible with even windows 7, let alone three more cycles of ugprades.

Re: ReactOS 0.3.16 released

#43

Post by ahomescu1 »

coreymgilmore wrote: post #23

Very cool project. You see new Linux distros but this if the first I've heard of someone "forking" off of a Windows system. Potential in the Windows 8 world -> very high.

It's not really a fork in the development sense (they didn't start from Windows code, they completely rewrote it), unless I'm missing something and they did fork GPL/BSD code. They are sharing a lot of libraries with Wine though.

Re: ReactOS 0.3.16 released

#44

Post by tokiwarthoot »

For the people that said things like

"I'd pitch in if their Kickstarter wasn't so blatantly what I didn't want. Cloud services? Come on" "I can't get behind that cloud services idea."

You guys have a really short vision.

The idea of thorium is 2 things: -Making cloud services applications is really not difficult at all. The thing you need is a working os with working network services. The idea is that Thorium would help ReactOS mature as 90% of the hard work, would benefit ReactOS also. -If Thorium becomes reality, the ReactOS people could start providing cloud services. This means steady income. If thorium were to get big enough, they could conceivably keep on going without even needing donations.

Thorium is an excellent idea. Thorium is what ReactOS needs. If the kickstarter gets funded, apparently it won't which is a shame, but if it does, those 120k are easily converted into 240k in some months, by selling cloud services to more people.

Look a little farther than your noses.

Re: ReactOS 0.3.16 released

#45

Post by TillE »

graylights wrote: post #42
ChikkaChiChi wrote: post #36

This has always been an admirable project; I just fear that the world has moved on. A competitive kernel alternative to Windows seemed like a necessity 6 years ago. Today, everyone I know who would be interested in ReactOS is OS agnostic and can exist without any one operating system in particular.

I disagree, the future of windows is why ReactOS is important. For the same reason DosBox is important, to run legacy apps. 10 years from now, how are you going to run those XP apps that aren't compatible with even windows 7, let alone three more cycles of ugprades.

That's what Wine is for; ReactOS borrows a ton of their code. I do wish there were more progress with Wine on Windows for 16-bit apps at least.

Wine can't run Windows device drivers, but that's a pretty narrow use case.

Re: ReactOS 0.3.16 released

#46

Post by cookiecaper »

techdragon wrote: post #41
cookiecaper wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yep. Microsoft allows WINE and ReactOS to proceed unchallenged because they're aware of the Streisand Effect. If it ever became a legitimate threat to Windows' dominance, they'd be lawyered out of existence lickety-split.

ReactOS has spent a LOT of time and effort remaining in the clear legally. It would be a hell of a lawsuit but after the dust settled, it would be in favour of ReactOS barring a freakish reversal of precedent. They have taken the same approach as Pheonix Technologies used back when they cloned the IBM BIOS and sparked the dawn of the Wintel/IBM Compatible era http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoenix_Technologies#Cloning_…

I'm a WINE contributor so I'm aware of their meticulous legal requirements. It doesn't mean that MS won't go nuclear in the courts. ReactOS or CodeWeavers are small enough that they could easily be killed with litigation alone, regardless of outcome. After years fighting one premise, MS will be ready to go again on another premise, until the little companies that create these products throw in the towel.

Re: ReactOS 0.3.16 released

#47

Post by ersii »

techdragon wrote: post #41
cookiecaper wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yep. Microsoft allows WINE and ReactOS to proceed unchallenged because they're aware of the Streisand Effect. If it ever became a legitimate threat to Windows' dominance, they'd be lawyered out of existence lickety-split.

ReactOS has spent a LOT of time and effort remaining in the clear legally. It would be a hell of a lawsuit but after the dust settled, it would be in favour of ReactOS barring a freakish reversal of precedent. They have taken the same approach as Pheonix Technologies used back when they cloned the IBM BIOS and sparked the dawn of the Wintel/IBM Compatible era http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoenix_Technologies#Cloning_…

Isn't that a real danger in itself though? I mean, "a hell of a lawsuit" can bring plenty of people down in economic despair - regardless of how it would end, litigation could continue for years.

Re: ReactOS 0.3.16 released

#48

Post by e12e »

MichaelGG wrote: post #34
e12e wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It was my understanding that the licensing for windows on "cloud" workloads was actually pretty cheap and straightforward after the introduction of hyper-v -- isn't one licence per cpu socket -- run as many copies/vms as you want? Now for SQL server things can get more expensive... Not to mention the difference in cost of having any licensing vs having no licensing.

Standard gives you two licensed virtual Windows OSes per two-sockets. Datacenter provides unlimited. SQL Server's pricing is starting to follow Oracle, despite mocking Oracle's model before. SQL Server has different prices for different types of CPUs.

Ah, yes. I was thinking of Datacenter licensing.

Re: ReactOS 0.3.16 released

#50

Post by pizza234 »

zokier wrote: post #29
pizza234 wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I love the idea of ReactOS, but my guess is that, in the current conditions, either it will get nowhere, or it will take an extremely long time to get anywhere significant (that is, not a niche product). I've followed all the newsletters and it feels like the development it's always a somewhat working rewrite on top of a somewhat working rewrite on top of a somewhat working rewrite. The way to go, while it appears sm…

> I'd really like a free Windows XP in virtual environments. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Virtual_PC#Windows_XP_M... "Windows XP Mode is available free of charge to users of Windows 7 Professional, Enterprise, and Ultimate"

I understand this "offer" from Microsoft, or maybe "strategy", but that's not a replacement for an ideally stable ReactOS.

As somebody else pointed out, security is a primary concern.

Once Windows XP support is phased out, the product is gone.

Installing it is going to be a serious security risk, unless very specific cases, e.g. machines disconnected from internet.

Of course, that's not the only reason; Microsoft will stop selling licenses, then what about installing it in VMs on a Linux host?

An O/S is part of an ecosystem. Once it's phased out, if it's closed source, it's dead unless it's taken over by a third party (see O/S 2).

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