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Ekush: A CherryOS For the Windows World?

Posted by timothy on from the ripping-out-the-label dept.

GvG writes "Yesterday, Ekush version 0.10 was released (binary only, no source). Ekush is a relatively new attempt at cloning Microsoft Windows. The ReactOS project has the goal of creating a GPLed OS that is compatible with Microsoft Windows applications and drivers. The release of Ekush caused some uproar in the ReactOS community, since it soon became apparent that Ekush was not much more than a repackaged version of ReactOS. Doing a simple string search for ReactOS on the Ekush binaries showed a number of hits. (Read on for more.)

GvG continues "Shortly after this was reported on the ReactOS mailing list, the Ekush website went down "for maintenance". Today they are back with a slightly altered set of binaries, which no longer contain the ASCII string "ReactOS". However, they forgot to search for Unicode strings... Ekush is not only violating the rights of ReactOS by deriving a product without releasing the modified source, they also derive code of (and are violating the rights of) Wine, FreeType and QEmu."

Larry Snyder adds "Additionally, at the time of this writing, their binary floppy diskette driver appears to be a near exact copy of the Windows 2k pro fdc.sys driver, with the copyright string and header changed."

8 of 348 comments (clear)

  1. Get the nooses ready boys... by DamienMcKenna · · Score: 4, Funny

    we's gonna get ourselves a GPL violator!

    Damien

    1. Re:Get the nooses ready boys... by blowdart · · Score: 5, Funny

      Imagine the confusion when this bunch get sued.

      "Hurrah" shouts slashdot "serves you right for breaking the gpl"

      by Microsoft lawyers

      "Boo" shouts slashdot, "they are stopped competition"

      cue explosions of heads all around.

  2. OK by News+for+nerds · · Score: 4, Funny

    Now we neeed a Cherry OS for Linux
    Oh wait...

  3. Bangladesh by Bill,+Shooter+of+Bul · · Score: 5, Funny

    The website mntions that its designed for the Bangladesh market. I went to college with a prince of Bangladesh. He screwed me over on our final project for physics. Didn't show up for the presentation, then claimed that he had done all of the work I presented. Unfortunate for him, he didn't relalise that I had been consulting the professor on a regular basis about the project. So it was obvious who was telling the truth. I'm not saying everyone there is corrupt. In fact, the only problem I had with the situation is that he didn't even offer me a bribe of any kind.

    --
    Well.. maybe. Or Maybe not. But Definitely not sort of.
    1. Re:Bangladesh by Hal_Porter · · Score: 5, Funny

      Well that's it then. Up until now I knew nothing about Bangladesh and cared less, but now you've posted that anecdote I hate everyone there.

      Nuke 'em I say.

      --
      echo -e 'global _start\n _start:\n mov eax, 2\n int 80h\n jmp _start' > a.asm; nasm a.asm -f elf; ld a.o -o a;
    2. Re:Bangladesh by SilveRo_kun · · Score: 5, Funny

      Bill, that was MY project, stop lying already >:(

      Prince Ekush of Bangladesh.

    3. Re:Bangladesh by mikeage · · Score: 4, Funny

      Never judge places you've never been to. That's what they do in Russia.

      --
      -- Is "Sig" copyrighted by www.sig.com?
  4. Front Page?!? by The+Cisco+Kid · · Score: 5, Funny

    ReactOS may well be cool, but *UGH* they really need to find someone that knows how to write HTML.

    I wondered why as I hovered over links the font size changed, cusing the entire page to flicker all over the place - then I found why:

    From their page source:

    meta name="GENERATOR" content="Microsoft FrontPage 5.0"

    Friends dont let Friends use MSFP