New SkyOS 5.0 Screenshots Released

Hexydes writes "After 3 months of waiting, the first round of screenshots showing off the new GUI for SkyOS 5.0 have been released. The three screenshots show various features of the new GUI, including the new WindUI theme, new Viewer window, and various window effects such as curves, shadows, and transparency. In addition to the new GUI, SkyOS 5.0 will have other additions, such as more support for hardware (just to name one, an ATI driver to go alongside the NVidia driver), speed and stability improvements, anti-aliased text, and Bochs support."

Comments

So why should I use SkyOS, and not GNU/Linux?

[Skuggan]

It looks just like all other spinoffs where someone begins to write a cool GUI, and then it becomes a not so cool OS.

What am I missing if I run GNU/Linux, GNU/BSD or GNU/Cygwin/Windows?

If it's only the GUI I guess it can be implemented in XFree...

(GNU above is only to keep RMS happy...)

Re:So why should I use SkyOS, and not GNU/Linux?

[cgenman]

Actually, there really isn't a great reason to use Sky OS over Linux or BSD... and that's not the point. Sky OS is one of many smaller projects whose primary purpose is to satisfy the hobby needs of the creator... Kind of like where Linux was when Linus decided his schoolwork was too boring.

There are many other examples out there. Contiki, Triangle Os, and many others.

There are also Open Source, commercial, and potentially useful hobbyist systems out there. However, if you are looking for the most comprehensive, useful desktop suite, look elsewhere. All of these Os's are unique and well-intentioned, but very few are actually practical.

Practicality is not the point. Curiosity is the point. What would a different implementation look like? What if all the graphics subsystems were contained in the kernel? How would a real-time OS feel to the user? These questions can't be answered by just releasing a new X theme, and there aren't very many people curious enough to find out.

These people are true geeks... Software for software's sake. Kudos to you all.

Shadows don't look right

[sakyamuni]

It looks like the shadow code needs some more work. Windows with rounded corners have that same square shadows as windows whose corners are not rounded.

Take one of the screenshots from the front page, for example. Look at the lower-right corner of the window with the clock, at the top of the screen. Doesn't look right.

Re:So what's the license on SkyOS, anyway?

[hattmoward]

Didn't see anything either, /and/ I didn't see any links to source. Is this proprietary software or not?

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

;)

Re:So what's the license on SkyOS, anyway?

[sakyamuni]

There's some discussion of licensing in the project's forums. The sentiment appears to be "open source bad".

Also, in this thread, the project's author states in a message dated January 2002 that, "for now", SkyOS is freeware.

Meanwhile, allegations of GPL violations are already arising.

Re:So what's the license on SkyOS, anyway?

[msuzio]

Wow. I can't believe the absolutely *ignorant* comments on those forums. And I do mean *ignorant*, because the assertions made don't make any sense to me from any bit of knowledge I have at my disposal.

"Look at what happened to Linux"
Umm... yeah. Linux is in a sad state indeed.

"There's lots of closed-source OS's out there, like Microsoft Windows and Mac OS!"
Well, duh. I think perhaps those are successful because they have large teams and large corporate forces behind them... how do you match those? Open-source is one way... one person doing development all by himself seems pretty well doomed to failure.

I don't know. Sounds like a bad horse to bet anything on. Looks pretty, I'd even use it if it were open-source (or at least not being accused of GPL violations). But I suspect this isn't going to go anywhere unless and until the project opens up in some fashion. Linus tinkered with Linux on his own for quite a while, but I doubt it would have gone anywhere if he had never GPL'ed it. He himself has often said it was the pivotal decision he made in the development...

Re:Look, ma, I can write an OS!!!

[n1ywb]

A guy in my graduating class wrote a simple protected mode ia32 OS called HalOS for his senior project. Took him a couple of months to get something together that booted and ran a few simple text mode apps.

There's no black magic involved in writing an OS. It's mostly about implementing documented standards. Although it can also be about implementing undocumented standards, thats a bitch. It's especially easy when you don't have things like backwards compatibility to worry about.

Of course, writing a GOOD OS is another ball of wax.

SkyOS is not a charity.

[jbn-o]

If anyone has any ATI contacts, call them up and ask them to support the project with some hardware and any documents they can provide.

Why would I want to help a non-free OS get support? Can't the SkyOS team spend money on the parts they need to build their business (after all, they charge money for their system)? Can't they learn what they want to know from the XFree86 source code? That source code is licensed under terms that allows proprietary derivatives (unlike the GNU General Public License which SkyOS might be infringing). I'm reminded of what RMS said he told developers a while back about non-free Unix source code--(paraphrasing) AT&T is not a charity, don't donate your effort.

Sometimes we can bypass all politics, lets see if someone out there can do it.

Sometimes people ignore real issues (like software freedom) to pretend they're irrelevant. Abiding by copyright law has serious consequences. If the SkyOS team is found liable for copyright infringement, they'll learn just how unwise it is to ignore politics.