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Vista is WinNT 6 and base largely on WinNT 5.2
DotNet v3 is "just" DotNet v2 plus WPF, WCF, WWF and WCS.
ReactOS originally aimed for WinNT 3.x back in 1996, then NT4 and moved on to NT5 (Win2k/XP/2k3) in 2004. In 2006, the ReactOS project aims NT5 & NT6 compatibility.
We have already some new Vista-"only" API fucntions in ReactOS. There are plans for DX 10; DX9 is already under development.
ReactOS roadmap: http://www.reactos.org/en/about_roadmap.html
Within a year or so, most corporations will have migrated to Windows Vista and .net 3.0
Make that 2-3 years.
and within a couple of years most Windows software will be written for Windows Vista only.
And make that 5-6 years.
Upgrading systems across a large company is a huge and costly project. And it's not really done unless there's really a need to, such as if an important application needs it.
When going from Win98 to WinXP there was huge benefits from doing that. WinXP->Vista just doesn't offer as much. Not that they won't upgrade, but I'm guessing most companies aren't in a hurry, and they'll be waiting for the first service pack before even considering.
Edited 2006-12-06 09:25
The problem with your statements dear McDuck, is that when Vista arrives, the 10 years+ of previous Windows compatible software won't disappear from the planet...
There will still be millions of copies of Office 95, 97, XP, 2000, 2003, and 2007 out there that people will be able to run on ReactOS.
There will still be Mozilla Browsers.
There will still be millions of copies of Quicken, and TurboTax and WordPerfect, and tons of other applications that will run.
And ReactOS will allow people like me to take an old computer that I don't have a Windows License for, load it up with an OS and gift it to someone. And NOT have to get complaints that they can't buy software for it.
ReactOS will be an incredible asset once it reaches 1.0 status. And if all the naysayers put their energy and time being detractors of ReactOS into supporting it and writing code... we'd probably have a 1.0 version by now.
I'm not a coder. So I send money when I can. And I tell people about it.
ReactOS is a GOOD thing, and the people working on it are amazing.
"There will still be millions of copies of Office 95, 97, XP, 2000, 2003, and 2007 out there that people will be able to run on ReactOS."
99.999% of which runs on legal copies of Windows which they got when they bought the computer. That's the problem with ReactOS - ppl who switch from Windows to another OS do so because they want something else than Windows, not because they save money. It's a sad fact that MS has this kind of market power, but it's been the way of things for 15+ years and will only get worse, unless Linux gains critical mass on the desktop (which is years away I think, if at all)






Member since:
2005-11-23
Sorry to say, i think ReactOS is too little, too late.
Within a year or so, most corporations will have migrated to Windows Vista and .net 3.0, and within a couple of years most Windows software will be written for Windows Vista only.
ReactOS's role might be to provide support for legacy software that is not updated/maintained, and won't run on Vista. I can't see ReactOS gaining .net 3.0 support anytime soon.
This ofc goes for Linux also. I cant see Wine getting 3.0 support anything soon either.
Sadly, Microsoft has software creators by the balls with Vista.
Edited 2006-12-06 07:02