The ReactOS project aims to be an open source Windows NT-compatible operating system which can run Windows applications and utilise Windows drivers. Obviously, this is quite a daunting task, and as such, progress has been relatively slow. As a result, project coordinator and kernel developer Aleksey Bragin has proposed a rather drastic solution.
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Member since:2006-08-15
Linux is a waste of time, people should just improve BSD
BSD is a waste of time, people should just improve Unix
Unix is a waste of time, people should just improve VMS
(Let me guess, you use some flavor of Linux and find developers volunteering there time for non-Linux related projects downright offensive right?)
No, I am not an extremist like that, I do support other projects other than Linux, I also use BSD, and Windows when I have to. I am open to use whatever software in order to get done with the work, I use the best tool for the job and am neutral when it comes to software.
I really wish the best for ReactOS, and I hope they succeed, I would love to see a free implementation of Windows, and I would love if they work closely with the Wine team, I know having a free implementation of Windows will benefit everyone, I am just saying that they have very big envisions and goals and not enough man power. There is nothing wrong with that, but I'm afraid that if that continues to be the case, by the time they reach to the 1.0 stage, with the current man power they have, it will take a lot of time for them and it will be too late already because Windows will be much more ahead.
I hope I'm wrong though, and I hope they get more man power and succeed with their project.
Sure, that would be great
. Edited 2010-01-18 18:29 UTC
Member since:2009-02-19
Member since:2006-11-24
I think you are way off the mark here. While you could argue for most things that double effort is wasted effort (to which I wouldn't light-heartedly sign up to re. your examples), all these projects you mentioned have actually produced some quality, usable code.
But with ReactOS, the waste really lies in that it has never gone anywhere - if I am not doing it great unjustice. I feel like having deja-vus for like a decade... everytime ReactOS gets a mention, I get the impression they got like 98% to go still. That's the difference, others may be wasteful, but they are getting somewhere nonetheless. Not that I care - just saying...
I accept I am doing ReactOS injustice if you were to tell me that actually, it will be as complete and usable as, say Ubuntu, within the next 2-3 years. Or else, yes, it is a waste of time that has been going on for a very long time. People can tinker with it, fine... only, maybe there comes the day where ReactOS news items are about as useful as Duke Nukem ones 
Member since:2007-09-06
Nuke'm for ever has yet to produce a playable alpha or beta yet. ReactOS current images are available for install, liveCD and prepackaged VMs.
My grief was really with the minimal thought one-liner suggesting that developers put there time elsewhere because the comment poster feels that the project is not moving ahead fast enough. It's a project I check up on about as frequently as the news articles about it hit the pages but I don't feel the personal justification to demand where developers spend there leisure time. Even if it's only increased the involved developer's understanding of win32 back end, that's a benefit.
It's much like the people who think that "Linux" (ignorantly meaning everything that happens to use the kernel) needs to be consolidated into a single master distribution before it will ever gain desktop retail success. They look at market share as if it somehow indicates more than the quality of one's marketing and sales teams. They assume that any distribution based on the kernel should be focusing on that one person's primary interest of retail measurements. As if the distributions and developers have some obligation owed to that one individual.
Official Apple statement on PRISM and privacy: "Regardless of the circumstances, our Legal team conducts an evaluation of each request and, only if appropriate, we retrieve and deliver the narrowest possible set of information to the authorities. In fact, from time to time when we see inconsistencies or inaccuracies in a request, we will refuse to fulfill it." This is basically Apple re-publishing their earlier statement in a more official manner. You either believe it, or you don't.
The open source Contiki operating system and its commercial Thingsquare distribution are making strides towards the connected home. According to a Computerworld article, a new LED light bulb manufacturer is putting small computers into their light bulbs. Each computer runs the Contiki OS, which gives each bulb an IP address and allows them to be controlled with a smartphone application. To connect the bulbs to the application, the bulbs use both Wi-Fi and the much lower power IEEE 802.15.4 mesh technology.
"Google asked the secretive Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court on Tuesday to ease long-standing gag orders over data requests it makes, arguing that the company has a constitutional right to speak about information it's forced to give the government. The legal filing, which cites the First Amendment's guarantee of free speech, is the latest move by the California-based tech giant to protect its reputation in the aftermath of news reports about sweeping National Security Agency surveillance of Internet traffic." Draining the ditch after the cow has drowned in it."I can't find one person who has been using the Nexus 7 for an extended period of time, and hasn't seen a massive downgrade in performance. Just what kind of downgrade are we talking here? I cannot pick up my Nexus 7 without experiencing problems like a lag of ten seconds, or more, just to rotate the display; touches refusing to acknowledged; stuttering notification panel actions; and unresponsive apps." Fully and utterly agreed. My Nexus 7 was blazing-fast and awesome for a few months, and at some point, it just started sucking. Just like that. I've tried loads of ROMs, and nothing helps.A new release of the hobby operating system MenuetOS! The release notes are a bit non-descript, but you'll have to take what you can get: "updates and improvements (picview, httpc, ehci, ...)"."The Internet is one of the most transformative technologies of our lifetimes. But for 2 out of every 3 people on earth, a fast, affordable Internet connection is still out of reach. And this is far from being a solved problem. There are many terrestrial challenges to Internet connectivity - jungles, archipelagos, mountains. There are also major cost challenges. Right now, for example, in most of the countries in the southern hemisphere, the cost of an Internet connection is more than a month's income. Solving these problems isn't simply a question of time: it requires looking at the problem of access from new angles. So today we're unveiling our latest moonshot from Google[x]: balloon-powered Internet access." Insane.
"MineAssemble is a tiny bootable Minecraft clone written partly in x86 assembly. I made it first and foremost because a university assignment required me to implement a game in assembly for a computer systems course. Because I had never implemented anything more complex than a 'Hello World' bootloader before, I decided I wanted to learn about writing my own kernel code at the same time. Note that the goal of this project was not to write highly efficient hand-optimized assembly code, but rather to have fun and write code that balances readability and speed. This is primarily accomplished by proper commenting and consistent code structuring." Just cool.
Jon Rubinstein, former CEO of Palm: "Well, I'm not sure I would have sold the company to HP. That's for sure. Talk about a waste. Not that I had any choice because when you sell a company you don't get to decide that. Obviously, the board and shareholders decide that. If we had known they were just going to shut it down and never really give it a chance to flourish, what would have been the point of selling the company? I think the deal we had with Verizon really hurt us, but who knew that at the time? These things are all hindsight.""And so it is with Dell's Alienware X51 R2, a small form factor gaming PC in console digs. It's shaped similar to Microsoft's Xbox 360 Slim, and though it's slightly larger than either a 360 or PlayStation 3, the X51 R2 would be right at home in a living room setting nestled next to a large screen TV. Indeed, it's adept at running Steam's Big Picture mode, and if your primary objective is to play games in the living room, go ahead and consider the X51 R2 a hybrid game console." This is obviously not the only machine like this - still, these are very valid console alternatives even for those that don't like being hunched over with a cramped WASD-claw. Also, PC gamers among us: could you get away with the $699 model for gaming?
From Bloomberg: "Microsoft, the world's largest software company, provides intelligence agencies with information about bugs in its popular software before it publicly releases a fix, according to two people familiar with the process. That information can be used to protect government computers and to access the computers of terrorists or military foes." The lid has officially been blown off.
Member since:
2007-09-06
ReactOS is a waste of time, people should just improve Linux/WINE
Linux is a waste of time, people should just improve BSD
BSD is a waste of time, people should just improve Unix
Unix is a waste of time, people should just improve VMS
(Let me guess, you use some flavor of Linux and find developers volunteering there time for non-Linux related projects downright offensive right?)
And, the reasons for a win32 native alternative are probably just as valid today as when they motivated the starting of the ReactOS project. It'd be nice to be able to buy an OS from someone other than Microsoft just because one has to run some win32 app.