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ReactOS Now Runs Abiword
martijn-s writes "Reactos will now run, amongst other programs, AbiWord, IrfanView and its own Explorer clone. Screenshot here. I keep getting amazed by the quality of the code that is coming out of this project..."
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While I'm no great fan of the copy-cat mentality parts of the FOSS community are infused with, I must admit I think ReactOS is a good idea. It's ok to clone a Windows interface when the underlying operating system is Windows, the whole "Let's make GNOME just like IE!" thing has always worked terribly because the underlying OS is not Windows and doesn't look or work anything like Windows. The NT generation of Windows (NT, 2000, XP, 2003) is a reasonable design for an operating system too, so if you're going to start somewhere...
That's my 2c. Coming up, a skateboarding rabbit. That's after a word from our sponsors.
You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
ReactOS is most definitely a good direction for these people. It provides them with what they wanted in the first place, and they can develop an environment that works according to the paradigm they find most suits them. Meanwhile, GNU/Linux can progress and turn back into some sort of POSIX system.
| As for the comment about IceWM, that merely changes the look, it doesn't change the OS. It's a little like saying "Why run GNU/Linux when you can run Cygwin and WindowBlinds?".
You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
The goal is to give lasting freedom to as many computer users as possible.
We can do this by:
a) making a better product and trying to get people to change their habbits
b) making the same product at a better price
c) both
MS and the MPAA are trying to block us off, so we have to try multiple avenues. We have GNU/Linux, GNU/Hurd, WINE, DotGNU+Mono, Reatos. People work on them because they're fun to work on, and the more the merrier.
The code we re-used from Wine certainly helps to speed up development. But we can't re-use everything and have to develop a lot of stuff ourselves. For example, Wine uses X11 primitives to do BitBlts (bitmap copying). Since ReactOS is not X11 based we had to write that stuff ourselves. Also, in Wine, everything is in userspace, while ReactOS follows the NT4 (and later) design where there is a split between userspace and kernelspace, with most of the work actually being done in kernelspace. Still, we try to co-develop as much stuff as possible with Wine. Ofcourse, since Wine has been around much longer and the number of Wine contributors is larger than the number of ReactOS contributors most of the shared code originates in Wine. Ge van Geldorp, ReactOS developer.
No, not at this moment anyway. We're concentrating more on getting the features in than on speed.
Your argument -- almost word for word -- was probably used over a two decades ago when RMS started the GNU project to build a Free UNIX. The exact same reasons why the GNU project was started apply to why the ReactOS project should exist.
Today we have Linux. Who knows what we'll have ten years from now if ReactOS can keep up the good work?
If it's for-profit but free, you're not the customer -- you're the product (e.g., the Slashdot Beta's "audience").
Spoken like somebody who doesn't remember programming in less than 16kb of memory.
Hint: speed and size are INVERSELY porportional. You can create fast code, or you can create small code- but small fast code requires Steve Gibson
SJW: a person who perceives an injustice, and while correcting it, commits a greater injustice.