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GeNToo - Gentoo on the NT Kernel
Enjoi writes "GeNToo is a version of the Gentoo meta distribution based on the NT kernel, (virtually) completely free of any Win32 code. It provides a complete text-mode Gentoo environment, with all GNU tools, Perl, Python and the other usual suspects. In addition, it comes with with full NT hardware driver support." Aptly named GeNToo, is it a step towards bringing Windows closer to open source?
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I know its April Fools but come on its not a half bad idea.
Why clone Unix when I can clone Windows instead. http://www.reactos.org
Courtesy of Wikipedia:
"Traditionally, pranks are supposed to end by noon. Those done afterwards are supposed to bring bad luck to the perpetrator."
Gorkman
The page says it was updated 03/28/05. Maybe not an April Fools dealie?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/April_1%2C_2005 /. picks up on. There, now you can all go out and enjoy the day. Note: Definately read the article about Microsoft introducing World of Wordcraft, the first MMOWP.
Read that list and you won't need to hang out all day to see which ones
If you're on the "best" coast, you've still got 15 minutes left!
The screenshots leave much to be desired. Their bootlog.txt, likewise, looks hacked together from a standard NT boot and a CLI transcript. Plus, their Quick Install Reference mentions a "nt-isocreator.sh" script which is missing from the main page, pending a blessing from their lawyer friend.
Perhaps someone could check on #gentoo-nt on irc.freenode.net (also from the quick-install ref) to see what's up?
Assuming this is a joke, kudos to them for back-dating the page; I'm now curious.
Isn't what you are looking for called ReactOS?
With it, people would compile UNIX apps for OS/2, and they would just require a single DLL, not the entire craziness that Cygwin-compiled apps can be.
Technically, Cygwin is just a single DLL. All the extra craziness you see is an attempt to build a complete environment instead of just single tools. As a result, Cygwin ends up being something of an "OS shell inside an OS shell". But there are supposedly quite a few programs using only the DLL. In fact, you can install the DLL into the path, then use the command line utilities from CMD.exe.
The Windows people couldn't care less, and the UNIX people would rather swallow swords than use the NT kernel, especially with FreeBSD and Linux out there... Is this doable? Absolutely. Is it worthwhile? People's words to the contrary, there hasn't been a huge groundswell of support...
There are a couple of reasons why Unix support never materialized:
1. Microsoft pushed the Win32 API whenever possible. They knew it was crap (see: Barbarians at the Gates) because they had intentionally made it crap to lock in programs and prevent Win32 copycats such as WINE.
2. The Unix vendors who did embrace NT found that Microsoft was actually using as a way of killing them on the vine, and had no interest in actually following through on their promises. i.e. There used to MIPS and Alpha versions of Windows NT. Where are they now?
3. The smart Unix vendors (e.g. Sun) knew that the NT kernel was quite powerful and could potentially offer up real workstation competition once mature. As a result, they buried the NT kernel as best as they could. In Sun's case they penned an exclusive deal to port NT to the Sparc architecture. Too bad Microsoft didn't add a delivery date to the contract, because Sun happily sat on their exclusive contract while Microsoft stomped around angrily. While Sun didn't manage to keep Microsoft permanently out of the server arena, they did delay them until PC hardware managed to catch up to the Sparc architecture.
Of course, Gentoo is free from these political issues, so they're in something of a unique position to produce a *working* OS. If this goes anywhere, I do expect Microsoft's lawyers to start getting itchy, though...
Javascript + Nintendo DSi = DSiCade