[PLUG] WPA - was WipeInfo Equivalent

someone plug_0 at robinson-west.com
Sat Dec 30 21:46:07 UTC 2006


> Eh, good luck to them, but they are not a realistic option in any 
> regard.  They run a *very limited* set of actual Windows applications, 
> none of which are productivity based.  It's just not even a 
> consideration.  What does ReactOS have over Ubuntu?

Ubuntu uses proprietary enhancements that are likely to disappear
or otherwise not be carried forward into the next release.  ReactOS
doesn't use any proprietary code.

What productivity application that require Windows anything are you
referring to?  

For 20 programmers, ReactOS is doing well supporting some Windows
software.  Instead of saying it isn't an option, why don't you go to
http://www.reactos.org/ and join the development effort?  There is
plenty of participation for Linux to develop further.  Someone tries to
make a GPL'ed OS that is 100% compatible with Windows XP and 2000, there
is practically none.  Why is that?  There is potential, plenty of it.
2009 for a stable release time line is worrisome, but it's
understandable with only 20 programmers that it will take that long.  XP
came out in 2002, so that's only 7 years to come out with an
alternative.  Maybe more people will care about ReactOS when it gets
further along, but that is just the problem with projects.  They often
don't get off the ground because people despair when their support is
needed most.

Porting of software to Linux and FreeBSD from Windows isn't something
that is happening very often.  ReactOS is a project that is an effort 
to work around this problem.  I think they are doing pretty well
considering that all 20 of these programmers have to support themselves
via work outside the ReactOS project.

How many years went into developing XP?  At least 2 years went into it
and probably 4+.  Granted, ReactOS has been developing for 10 years.
How long does reverse engineering take when you are trying to make 
sure that you are doing so legally and you only have a limited number 
of programmers?  Never mind that there are limited resources.

The idea of a an OSS OS that you can go to from Windows where you won't
have to retrain makes a lot of sense.  With a future plan to give
ReactOS the ability to run Linux software, people can migrate from
ReactOS over.  ReactOS is trying to do one thing Microsoft has
abandoned, make the NT platform efficient.  Microsoft doesn't keep it's
application and OS people from unduly influencing each other.  There are
apparently going to be a ton of inconsistencies in Vista.  Vista has a
virgin network stack and probably more fresh code.  Security wise, this
is a disaster.  Microsoft is saying that Vista is the most secure system
they have ever developed already.  I bet the day of the official release
that someone will crack it.

   Michael C. Robinson




More information about the PLUG mailing list