OSNews: http://www.osnews.com/story/18204/New_ReactOS_Newsletter Exploring the Future of Computing en-us Copyright 2001-2009, David Adams adam+nospam@osnews.com Sun, 08 Nov 2009 21:41:48 GMT http://www.osnews.com/images/osnews.gif OSNews.com http://www.osnews.com drivers, drivers, drivers... http://osnews.com/thread?253076 http://osnews.com/thread?253076 "Perhaps ironically, after the VMware Display Driver started working, VMware released a new one that fails. Well, not so much as fails as reduces the resolution to 320x240."

ReactOS is a nice effort, however when I decide to try an alternative OS (this, syllable, haiku or even solaris) I run into "hardware" problems. I acknowledge it won't even need to fully support QEmu or VMware, still it's a showstopper. Thu, 05 Jul 2007 07:29:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (sukru) Comments good to see the steps forward http://osnews.com/thread?253085 http://osnews.com/thread?253085 But it would be even better to see a real boost. I'm afraid they don't get enough support; maybe due to the lack of publicity of the goal, I don't know.

Go on doing good jobs and try to get more people please. Thu, 05 Jul 2007 08:29:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (vege) Comments Won't boot here http://osnews.com/thread?253090 http://osnews.com/thread?253090 I tried ReactOS on two computers here, the boot CD stops when loading the OS. I hope they will fix it. It only works in VMWare here. Thu, 05 Jul 2007 09:30:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Liquidator) Comments RE: Won't boot here http://osnews.com/thread?253105 http://osnews.com/thread?253105 Legally dead on arrival Thu, 05 Jul 2007 10:37:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (predictor) Comments RE: Won't boot here http://osnews.com/thread?253110 http://osnews.com/thread?253110 I experienced exactly the same on every system I tried my CD on. I even tried a 2nd CD just in case it was the media. Thu, 05 Jul 2007 10:58:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Laurence) Comments RE[2]: Won't boot here http://osnews.com/thread?253114 http://osnews.com/thread?253114 Do you feel you know something that noone else does?
If so, please quote. If not, please don't disturb the people putting real efforts in the project or just being interested. Thu, 05 Jul 2007 11:57:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (vege) Comments RE: Won't boot here http://osnews.com/thread?253123 http://osnews.com/thread?253123 That seems to be a growing trend in smaller alternative and hobby operating systems, their driver support for modern hardware has slowed down with the advancement of virtual machines. Thu, 05 Jul 2007 12:54:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (bsharitt) Comments RE[3]: Won't boot here http://osnews.com/thread?253124 http://osnews.com/thread?253124 I think that predictor is trying to say that Microsoft could make legal problems to ReactOS team, as soon as they get close to the first production quality release. I don't know if it makes sense or not.

It would be nice to have Win2k compatible that is supported and developed by someone.... Thu, 05 Jul 2007 13:02:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (trenchsol) Comments RE[4]: Won't boot here http://osnews.com/thread?253148 http://osnews.com/thread?253148 Well as long as Microsoft has the 90%+ marketshare they have I don't think they will do that for fear of anti-trust. If Microsoft's marketshare starts getting lower I'd say you can bet they would give both Linux and ReactOS legal problems.Edited 2007-07-05 15:08 Thu, 05 Jul 2007 15:07:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (sirhomer) Comments RE[2]: Won't boot here http://osnews.com/thread?253201 http://osnews.com/thread?253201 Not at all. If anything the problem is that hardware complexity is increasing, standards are only loosely followed by manufacturers and documentation is nearly impossible to find unless it's an Intel component.

If that wasn't bad enough, broken ACPI implementations are probably the cause of at least a quarter of everybodies problems alone. Thu, 05 Jul 2007 19:03:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Vanders) Comments RE[4]: Won't boot here http://osnews.com/thread?253232 http://osnews.com/thread?253232

"Do you feel you know something that noone else does?
If so, please quote. If not, please don't disturb the people putting real efforts in the project or just being interested."


(Assuming you are responding to "legally dead," a bit hard to determine around here).

Given the past problems with "audits", "NT source code leaks", plus all the FUD being spread by people claiming to be ReactOS *supporters*, plus the fact that Microsoft has raised the spectre of IP violations against Linux, it's not at all surprising that people expect ReactOS to run into legal issues when v1.0 finally arrives.

While I don't question any copyright violations (though the whole "audit" issue has even gotten me a bit concerned about that), there is still the question of patents. IANAL, etc., etc., but I'd find it truly amazing to think that someone could create a close of the Windows OS without violating at least *some* of Microsoft's IP (in the form of patents).

I'd love to see the project succeed, etc., etc., but like almost any reasonable person who is not rabidly anti-Microsoft, I suspect it will be extremely difficult to create a Windows clone that does not violate any patents Microsoft holds.

I could not possibly imagine any company like Dell pre-installing ReactOS on their systems. I cannot imagine any big firms standardizing on ReactOS. The risk is just too great.

ReactOS will probably do okay as long as it flies under the radar and gets adopted by anti-Microsoft types who absolutely must run Windows (though that seems like an oxymoronic attitude to me), but even if it *does* get finished, I can't imagine it would ever enjoy the popularity of, say, Linux.

In retrospect, it's a good thing that software patents are a relatively recent thing. Imagine what the world would be like right now if AT&T had been able to patent everything associated with UNIX (okay,so the patents would have expired by now, but still...). Thu, 05 Jul 2007 21:14:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (rhyde) Comments Not So Compatible http://osnews.com/thread?253242 http://osnews.com/thread?253242 i tried to replace the shell32.dll and explorer.exe from windows systems into reactos they wont load up. How would the clone be successfully made when u cant drop windows files and dll's and expect it to run fine instead of script errors. Thu, 05 Jul 2007 22:06:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (WyldStylist) Comments RE: Not So Compatible http://osnews.com/thread?253259 http://osnews.com/thread?253259 Ehm, replacing the system libraries and shell executables from one working system to ANY other (even on the same version) is a so wrong idea, that I wouldn't even know where to start explaining. Thu, 05 Jul 2007 23:33:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (shiny) Comments RE[5]: Won't boot here http://osnews.com/thread?253302 http://osnews.com/thread?253302 That's clear, of course. There is a certain risk, and the attack is predictable on arrival.

Still, I guess, they don't tend to invest many years of hard work just to get a legal suicide after all. There are many ways to cover themselves. I'm sure they have some lawyers to consult to, and the audit is also a part of covering.

Just as a note: Software patents are practically US-only. There is a big world outside that does not and probably will not accept patents for codes, algorhytms nor software methods.

As a summary, even though they surely will have some difficulties, they probably will have enough air to live on if they ever reach the release. Fri, 06 Jul 2007 07:20:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (vege) Comments RE[2]: Not So Compatible http://osnews.com/thread?253456 http://osnews.com/thread?253456 yeah yeah i know service packs and that stuff but they should aim for at least compatiblity with xp without sp's Fri, 06 Jul 2007 16:31:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (WyldStylist) Comments