ReactOS 0.4.9 Is Entirely Self-Hosting, Fixes FastFAT Crashes (appuals.com) 200
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Appuals: ReactOS, the "free Windows clone" operating system, has pushed out ReactOS 0.4.9 just recently, which brings a whole slew of improvements. With this latest 0.4.9 version, ReactOS has become entirely self-hosting without any issues, which means ReactOS can fully build itself from within itself, it does not require any third-party operating system to compile ReactOS. Self-hosting was built into older ReactOS versions, but it came with a myriad of issues -- the system would become too stressed under memory usage and storage I/O loads. This was due to a flawed NT-compliant kernel.
Additional improvements in ReactOS 0.4.9 include overall stability and performance enhancements. The hardware abstraction layer and the FastFAT drivers received significant attention, and FastFAT should no longer eat through the cache so fast it causes system crashes due to resource leakage. FastFAT has also been rewritten to trigger a "chkdsk" repair on dirty / corrupt volumes during boot detections. Some other quality improvements are the addition of a built-in zipfldr extension -- ReactOS can now natively unpackage zipped archives, without the need of a third-party tool like WinZip. The changelog can be viewed here.
Additional improvements in ReactOS 0.4.9 include overall stability and performance enhancements. The hardware abstraction layer and the FastFAT drivers received significant attention, and FastFAT should no longer eat through the cache so fast it causes system crashes due to resource leakage. FastFAT has also been rewritten to trigger a "chkdsk" repair on dirty / corrupt volumes during boot detections. Some other quality improvements are the addition of a built-in zipfldr extension -- ReactOS can now natively unpackage zipped archives, without the need of a third-party tool like WinZip. The changelog can be viewed here.
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I don't think Microsoft would have much to stand on. If ReactOS happened to run the DX12 drivers just by the fact it has been reversed engineered to be compatible.
Being at ReactOS is still a Hobby OS. I doubt there will be too much Microsoft rage, unless it starts digging into its market share.
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I don't think Microsoft would have much to stand on.
If you remember the Oracle v Google suit. APIs are copyrightable. So yeah, being a compatible API, even via reverse engineering and clean room, can be brought into court as copyright infringement.
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If you remember the Oracle v Google suit. APIs are copyrightable.
In the US. US law doesn't apply to Russia, and Russians are supportive of ReactOS.
No idea what EU courts would say. In none of these places what the law actual say actually matters: in the US, despite the law explicitly allowing compatibility purposes, there's that insane "precedent" system where whims of a judge overwrite what's written; in Russia the law doesn't apply to any projects backed by the president; even in the EU courts are unpredictable.
Yawn..... (Score:1)
Is it actually useful?
Re: Yawn..... (Score:1)
In Soviet Windows, the computer programs you.
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Linux and BSD were hobbyist curiosities for basement dwelling neckbeards until giant corporations Google and Apple put Android and iOS into every phone.
Re:This is my everyday OS (Score:5, Insightful)
My corporate PTB gave me the choice of a Windows install or a Linux one. I took the plunge and am not tempted to go back.
The only area which causes me some grief is interfacing with the Skype For Business infrastructure at work. Other then that, clear sailing.
IMO - unless you're a hardcore Windows gamer (the latest greatest stuff, not things that WINE can take care of) Linux is a solid desktop choice for even the most mildly technical adept user.
Min
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Similar boat. Pidgin-sipe does let me interact with Skype 4 Business, but the microphone volume management and had to rebuild to get the right codecs, so it's far from baked to get to same quality, but it is serviceable.
Also pidgin UI isn't quite as well geared as Skype 4 Business gui for doing 'buddy-less' communication, and selecting audio device is clunkier...
But everything else is effortless and smooth and no 'fudging about with source code' or stuff like that (unless I want to) outside of trying to ge
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Granted, I only use it for the chat functionality, but Pidgin has the "pidgin-sipe" plugin which shows up as "Office Communicator" in the account setup. Works fine. (The hint for me was that I saw that our installation supports SIP, so even a normal soft phone might work... )
Again, I don't call with it, so it might not be enough for you
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...took the plunge and am not tempted to go back.
Welcome to Microsoft Windows!
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Actually, in my experience newer games, especially if not AAA-titles from big studios, play lovely with Linux and more often than not even have a (more or less) official Linux port due to the spread of game development tools like Unity that make cross-development easy.
My biggest issue is still the lack of drivers for gaming hardware, it's still far from a given that you find working drivers for multi-button mice and programmable keyboards, let alone flight sticks/pedals or head tracking devices.
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IMO - unless you're a hardcore Windows gamer
Not at all. Your corporate PTB gave you the choice of Linux, that is incredibly rare. Your biggest problem is Skype for business? That's cute. I can only conclude your corporation isn't anywhere nearly as heavily windows shopped as most.
On the other hand my corporate laptop is managed centrally through Office365, I literally change my domain password through an MS account, I edit documents in realtime with multiple people via Sharepoint, a feature that only Office has, Skype for business... that's very 2015
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Not trying to be "That Guy" although I will point out your language was a tad attacky, particularly the use of the "that's cute" diminutive. Anyways, in case if's useful to other people who are attempting to change corporate cultures:
CentrifyDC will allow Linux desktops to communicate with a MS-centric administrative plane, in an almost seamless manner.
I find that unless I trip over a particularly bad document, LibreOffice handles 99% of my Excel/Word issues. For things like Visio, crossover office is eas
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Didn't mean to come across as attacky to you, but rather the notion that it is as easy as your post made out.
I fully agree that in the core function open tools work well. I myself use and recommend LibreOffice and I have in the past 5 years not had a single compatibility issue with MS Office documents. But that isn't why my corporation keeps MS Office around.
A lot of places run and are sold on "ecosystems". MS Office on its own I see as no better than Libre Office. However MS Office combined with Sharepoint
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Odd you should say that. I have the opposite experience.
On the odd occasions I have had to use Windows since switching to Linux in 1996 I have had to resort to installing cygwin or using VMs to be able to get any work done.
Luckily MS now includes the Linux Subsystem for Windows in Win 10 so this is less of a pain. And besides most software I use is open source stuff that runs fine on Mac, Windows, and Linux now a days. You know, GIMP, KiCad, Inkscape, Firefox, Chrome, Atom, VS code, etc, etc.
As for Wine, as
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We tried that, but there's too much bullshit with trying to use it as a regular desktop. Everyone ended up running Windows VMs just to get work done. So we went back to native installs for the desktops. All the servers are Linux or BSD though, only a fucking idiot uses windows servers.
Or somebody who needs to run MS Exchange, Remote Desktop Services and Active Directory, to name but a few systems that absolutely require Windows Servers. Any company of more than 100 users will likely have need of these services. I much prefer Linux as an operating system, but to call Windows Server admins 'fucking idiots' is just trolling.
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Any company of more than 100 users will likely have need of these services
Less true now then 5 years ago. As much as I may have emotional issues with it, MS O365 is becoming widespread and removes a number of use cases for needing on-prem windows servers for the reasons listed above.
Definitely viable for a company ~100 users. Arguable for larger firms.
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Any company of more than 100 users will likely have need of these services
Less true now then 5 years ago. As much as I may have emotional issues with it, MS O365 is becoming widespread and removes a number of use cases for needing on-prem windows servers for the reasons listed above.
Definitely viable for a company ~100 users. Arguable for larger firms.
I agree that O365 is often pushing out on-premise Exchange deployments nowadays, but when you use O365 still you're still using a Windows Server, you just don't host or have much control over it anymore.
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Remote Desktop Services I'll give you, but Samba 4 has Active Directory Domain Controller Support, and you can use something like EGroupware to replace Exchange.
Really the only places linux has issues is remote administration and configuration of an end user workstation, inability to assign domain users to local groups, and improper management of core components. Like NetworkManager being a complete mess for configuring anything more complicated than WPA-PSK, or in some weird cases Wifi in general, DNS resolvers constantly being replaced and being non-functional out of the box, remote graphical desktops not being functional at all, and development policies / culture declaring that any end user should be able to override the will of the device's owner, aka the system administrator's. In short, I have more issues dealing with linux as a end user workstation than a server. It's manageable if you're using it as a personal workstation, but completely a non-starter if you need to manage 100s or 1000s of workstations running it.
While I agree there are viable alternatives to Active Directory and Exchange, I wouldn't want to try pitching those alternatives to a director of a company with 5000 users, especially when they already have those systems in place.
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Good point. Perhaps some enterprising corporation on the scale of Google or Apple will put together a ReactOS-like (and, dare I dream, ReactOS-compatible) operating system for the masses!
Re:This is my everyday OS (Score:5, Insightful)
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What silly logic. When someone says "using" with regards to an OS they are talking about direct usage. Not that some rack of servers that you only interact with through a high-level application happens runs to the OS. When I go tomGoogle.com I'm using their web application being served up not the underlying OS.
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So I assume you don't own a modern TV? Pretty much all of those have been running Linux for a decade plus. No wired or wireless router? Almost all of those run Linux. Ditto for most non-iPhone smartphones. Actually, pretty much any electronics that have more "brains" than your average microwave probably runs Linux - including many higher-end microwaves.
When you can get a fully functional computer-on-a-chip with as much operating system as you want for ~$5, custom-built electronics start looking a lot le
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Let's be real here. Linux is a cost decision.
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You have obviously had NO contact with embedded Windows - only the terminally corrupt or terminally stupid would touch that with a disinfected barge pole.
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There are plenty of embedded operating systems other than Linux and Windows. VxWorks and QNX and the most well known.
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And your point being this makes Linux... ?
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I started using linux as my exclusive desktop since 2003. It was good enough for that at that time and only has gotten better. What are you talking about?
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Speaking of that, why is setting an IP address in linux so shitty anymore? Ifconfig was taken away for "reasons" so I figured why not try the provided GUI? Well now I have options for a gateway and a default route. Are those two things not the same? Anyhow no DHCP here so I set a static address. Ok I can ping the gateway but DNS is still looking at 127.0.0.1 for some reason. Try running traceroute but it requires root now, what the fuck? Play with the settings a few times and finally reboot, but not before
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It's Linux and systemd. There are dozen different ways to do the simplest damn thing.
Should I use systemd-networkd? Or NetworkManager? Or netctl? Or ConnMan? Or perhaps do it brute force and run dhcpcd or 'ip addr' (for static setup) in my rc.local?
traceroute isn't even installed by default on many popular distros. I guess it's no longer considered a vital debugging tool.
Just a note. If you don't have DHCP or presumably IPv6 autoconfiguration then you're in a bit of a unusual situation compared to most desk
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Well routing wasn't working with my gateway filled in so I added a default route that still didn't work. Hell I've seen distros that don't even include traceroute anymore.
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Thanks for the tips kind sir. I must be really old because I never recalled traceroute needing root access. I just checked and traceroute runs fine as a normal user in Slackware 14.2 and pretty much every *BSD.
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You are looking in the wrong place.
It was too much for Poettering to handle.
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protip: ifconfig eth0 192.168.1.10/24 does the same thing with less typing
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Eventually, this can be used for software preservation. Real Win9x doesn't run well on modern hardware - or at all if we move to EFI-only. We're so far from that, you might as well just use Wine for now - but there's a lot of code sharing between the two projects.
Perfect, now the viruses can... (Score:1)
<sarcasm>... compile themselves right into the OS! What a wonderful invention. NOBODY will ever abuse this functionality! EVAR!</sarcasm>
Re:Perfect, now the viruses can... (Score:4, Insightful)
You might want to avoid reading the article, so you don't realize just how silly that sounds now that you can't take the comment back anymore...
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How does this prevent a script to populate itself to load into the Linux kernel source on recompile.
"Pushed out?" (Score:1)
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Does "pushed a release to its source code repository and download server" make more sense?
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You can't see the alpha in the summary? Big changes to a file system driver? Memory issues due to caching? Can finally host itself?
I'm interested in the project, but daily use is a ways away.
Getting to a point of push upgrades might never happen. And is, if you think about it, antithetical to the project itself.
Compatible not compliant (Score:1)
I am not sure where the phrase "due to a flawed NT-compliant kernel" came from but the words compliant and conformant are used with computer software to denote adherence to an open standard which includes a formal testing program. The proper word is compatible.
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It came from the original article.
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Compliant, as an complies with the design documentation.
This is why you are not a programmer.
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Since windows is completely lacking any kind of design, specification or testing, we are on safe ground here!
It's time for the merge! (Score:2, Flamebait)
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Elon Musk is too busy on Twitter calling people that damage his ego "pedophiles" to do anything useful.
He deleted those tweets, which means everything’s okay - we can all safely pretend he’s not that fragile.
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All text just to indirectly call Musk an idiot?
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You forgot the last option Microsoft embraces it and helps them make it a stable yet neutered operating system with enough features missing that no one is really interested and then Microsoft uses it like tool for live booting discs instead of a full operating system. Followed by a media campaign on how they support open source.
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Version 1 (Score:3)
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I'm pretty sure that happens about the same time the red guy downstairs opens the ice skating rink.
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Still will be released faster than GNU Hurd.
I want to like ReactOS, but... (Score:2)
I want to like ReactOS, but the desktop environment needs to be replaced with something modern and Aero-like.
Maybe Stardock will do the trick.
Re:Why? (Score:4, Insightful)
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Yeah, but chances are the place where I work is hosting your servers, but since you don't care I will switch them off for you :-)
Jokes aside, what I was trying to ask (and clearly not achieving) is that is there ANY production environment which would allow this ope
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Try me, I write code for a living. I have probably been doing it longer than you have been breathing. If there is a problem with communication here it's your inability to explain, not my inability to understand.
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Grow up a bit child, and then come back and actually have a discussion.
Here's why. (Score:5, Insightful)
I just don't see the point, I was hoping someone would explain why all the time and effort has been spent to build something that is not wanted, and not needed.
I think I can help.
The problem with your statement here is the "is not wanted and is not needed" part. This software is wanted and is needed.
Sure, you can buy a copy of Windows and run Windows software. You are correct - that need is fulfilled perfectly well.
By one vendor, and one vendor only. That is the important bit.
As a mental exercise, let's say that Microsoft does something completely odious in their next Windows 10 patch. All your personal data is collected and stored at Microsoft and sold to the highest bidder. Advertising everywhere. (Yes yes I know, people already feel this is happening. Bear with me.)
What now?
You're a small dev company writing an application. You have to write it for Windows because that's 90% of the market share, pretty much. You have years into development and it has to be for Windows because you don't have the resources to run it anywhere else. And now suddenly Microsoft is doing this terrible thing, and you don't want to be a part of it.
You could release your application on a ReactOS image. You get all the Windows functionality, and none of the "locked in to one vendor-ness" of Windows.
So long story short, choice is good. There is a metric ton of legacy code and applications that depend entirely on Windows, and having a single point of failure for all of it is untenable. This is why projects like ReactOS and WINE are valuable.
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So long story short, choice is good. There is a metric ton of legacy code and applications that depend entirely on Windows, and having a single point of failure for all of it is untenable. This is why projects like ReactOS and WINE are valuable.
And then Microsoft sues them?
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If you are dependent on closed source for your infrastructure, the day will surely come when you are totally up the creek without a paddle.
You don't know anything about the software you are completely dependent on, except that you are not allowed to know what a pile of shite it is beneath the surface. And all your support depends on people who are required to sign contracts forbidding them to tell the truth about the product you have been sold.
If t
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I just don't see the point, I was hoping someone would explain why all the time and effort has been spent to build something that is not wanted, and not needed.
I want it, and I need it. Your mind is obviously too small to see a bigger part of the world than outside your little cocoon.
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You need it for what exactly? Something that a quick firing up of a virtual machine would not suffice?
I think you may want it, but you really don't need it. I think you are perhaps the person stuck in the cocoon.
Just because someone wants to write it does not mean it should be written, this project is a waste of good resources.
Please explain in full sentences, because you keep saying "I WANNA" with no substantiation.
Imagine what these talented develope
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So you are actively contributing to the project?
Why would I? I don't actively contribute to everything I want or need.
You need it for what exactly? Something that a quick firing up of a virtual machine would not suffice? I think you may want it, but you really don't need it. I think you are perhaps the person stuck in the cocoon.
I write cross-platform open-source code, and having a no-license windows OS to test on beats having no OS at all. If I were writing that code for money I'd have no problem paying for a windows license, but I am giving my product away for free, hence I see no reason to spend money to give it away for free.
You're in the minority of the dev space (those that use windows exclusively). You need to break out of your little shell and see that W
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There are many reasons for it to exist, but I think a fundamental argument for it's existence is the developers wanted to make it. If a creator makes something because they want to that is mostly reason enough. Is the time they spend doing other activities also a waste of development time? If they read a good book or even a bad book are they sinning against society by not working on this theoretical ground breaking new piece of software you posit? Are all of use hanging out on slashdot wasting time that cou
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There are so many open source libraries under not just open source but also proprietary applications and I find it hard to believe that your company runs none, remember Java is GNU GPL.
That being said there doesn't need to be a legitimate need for something all it needs is enough interest to stay alive. I have been watching this project for years and would love to see it become stable just because I find it interesting and I have even considered contributing to it. I would like to put it on some old hardwar
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Also our systems do NOT depend on open source software AT ALL. [...] But then I work for really real companies, writing software that actually changes the world, not some shit hole company in the ass end of nowhere that has to rely on open source software because you can't afford the license fees.
You say that as if companies that actually change the world cannot possibly be using open-source software. You're just ignoring Google, FaceBook, Amazon, Wikipedia, etc. And if yours is not in that list, is it really changing the world?
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Is it EVER allowed in a production environment, I know for sure it would not be allowed even close to a server where I work.
I doubt the waitresses at Hooter's really care.
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Definitely going to change if that's the case. Although we would have to BUY hooters, since we own our own server rooms and data centers, I will mention it in the next team meeting, but I think these sort of decisions are above my pay grade.
What's annoying me about all these responses is that they are all actually insults, and not very good ones. No one is actually answering the question.
And what's annoying me more, is that we don't actually have hooters here.
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at's annoying me about all these responses is that they are all actually insults, and not very good ones. No one is actually answering the question.
That tends to happen when the question is stupid and non-productive.
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Re:Why? (Score:5, Insightful)
I doubt the time of these hobbyists would have saved at least a dozen children. Just like the resources and effort to make a single Lamborghini cannot be directly used to create 10 honda accords, despite the price tag suggesting that would be the case given a simplistic interpretation of 'value'.
The critical assessment could also have applied to Linux in 1993, this silly unusable Unix-wannabe, what's the point, we have several Unix vendors alreday? Linus himself said "I’m doing a (free) operating system (just a hobby, won’t be big and professional like gnu) for 386(486) AT clones". It's hard for me to picture this scenario for ReactOS of course, but it is a good thing that sort of assessment didn't discourage free software back then...
Also value in preservation, if not practical direct use. In this marvelous age where we have created the ability to have perfect preservation in terms of digital data, we do a lot to make it still unlikely to run old software. Efforts like FreeDOS and ReactOS improve chances of preserving experience of 'dead' platform/platform revisions.
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I was being conservative, they probably could have saved a couple thousand each, writing software takes time, lots of time. Time is money and resources etc. if they had just helped out at a soup kitchen or grown vegetables their effort would have had more impact than what they are doing now. But I do see what you are saying, if you don't at least try, you won't achieve anything. Also you won't fail, but that's not the point.
Re:Why? (Score:5, Insightful)
Time is money and resources etc
Software development time is far from a fungible thing. If I redirected some of my time to, say, going to synthesize vaccines, well I'd produce less software but I'd probably produce no vaccines in my attempt. Economy is our best approximation for equating value of different things, but at the end of the day there are differences that don't work.
Sure, volunteer as you can, this is a worthy and honorable thing t odo. However you can't volunteer all the time. Even as you attempt to volunteer to feed the hungry, you may be turned away because they have enough volunteers. Produce vegetables, sure, that no one will want because there are already plenty of vegetables supplied. Raise chickens and do more harm than good as you end up giving people salmonella. It's frequently not so trivial to convert 'guy thinking and pressing keys on a keyboard' to 'saving children'.
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What I don't seem to be getting across (and getting a lot of flame for) is that I don't see the point in recreating an operating system that already exists. Linux was a scaled down version of Unix, it's adding value. It's new, a variation, but different. This is...? What's the point of doing it other than...? What's the fucking point? I can understand if the developers are doing it to expand th
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What I don't seem to be getting across (and getting a lot of flame for) is that I don't see the point in recreating an operating system that already exists.
Maybe you like it that there is a single Windows supplier and that this gives them the power to hold the world to ransom since so much depends on it. But others don't and are doing something about it.
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In this marvelous age where we have created the ability to have perfect preservation in terms of digital data, we do a lot to make it still unlikely to run old software.
This is where I see potential value in ReactOS. Let's say you have some old piece of software that you need to run, and Microsoft broke compatibility when they transitioned from Windows XP to Windows Vista. Unfortunately, the vendor isn't around anymore and doesn't offer an update, but you need that software to run.
One option is to ditch that software, and hope that you can find something similar that runs on new versions of Windows. Maybe no such software exists. Or maybe you find something and now yo
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You are a prime example of someone with a 7-digit UID - too stupid and brainless.
Why? Because they can, and you obviously can NOT.
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Wine. ReactOS and Wine can share code, and until recently did so. Because the user space APIs and structures are all the same.
Wine intercepts the kernel calls and redirects to a Linux call, translating and keeping track of things. ReactOS just implements the kernel directly.
There are proprietary builds of Wine that do a good job running Windows only software on Linux, if wine isn't good enough. If you have Windows you can take a ReactOS build of those wine dlls and debug them on Windows to compare with real
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what's the point?
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Entertainment?
What's the point in reading a book?
Entertainment?
What's the point in doing the crossword or the sudoku in the paper?
Entertainment?
What's the point jogging or running (if you're not going to compete at the Olympics)?
Entertainment or Achievement?
What's the point in reading interesting science articles if your not a researcher in the field?
Entertainment?
What's the point in sitting outside at night and watching the stars (unle
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Because they *can*
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