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On 14/02/14 22:49, Simon Avery wrote: > On 14 February 2014 22:43, Adrian Midgley <amidgley@xxxxxxxxx > <mailto:amidgley@xxxxxxxxx>> wrote: > > How about move all desktops to Linux... > > > As an aside, I stumbled across this today; http://www.reactos.org/ > > An independant attempt to make an OS that is like Windows in every way, > but isn't. > > Oh, I understand why you would want to inherit the huge software base by > being binary compatible for windows executables, but... Why not just use > windows if that's your aim? > > And I can't help thinking they'll get so far along this track until > Microsoft quietly say, "You can't do that, you know." and throw a few > dozen legal reasons in front of Reactos and the whole project will go > down the pan. > > Or am I just grumpy and pessimistic because of the weather? Can't believe you haven't come across it already - it's an ongoing project that's been going for years. I keep an instance in a VM and upgrade it every now and then, just to see how it's coming along. You're kind of missing the point: they're not trying to make a Windows-like OS, they ARE making a binary-compatible system for Windows apps. Think of it as like using FreeDOS to boot a machine that doesn't run Windows and install a firmware or BIOS flash that only runs on Microsoft systems. I'm sure you've probably already come across situations like that yourself - flashing older Adaptec HBAs just can't be done on Linux. All you Linux fans really want this project to succeed - it's final goal is to achieve full API/ABI compatibility with current Windows tech so you could migrate any stubborn, irreplaceable or business critical Windows applications to a ReactOS instance and skip out on licensing costs, which would be great. Sadly, they are a very, very long way from achieving that - they're currently only at the NT4 level! Incidentally, they are heavily dependent on Wine, from whom they crib a lot of their work. Whilst MS would probably rather the project leads went away, they are completely and rightly unconcerned. The project is clean-room reverse engineered so any legal challenge is hugely unlikely. What's more, they've been doing it in free view for about 10 years without a peep out of MS, so it's probably well and truly in the clear. Regards -- The Mailing List for the Devon & Cornwall LUG http://mailman.dclug.org.uk/listinfo/list FAQ: http://www.dcglug.org.uk/listfaq