ReactOS Presented To Russian President Putin

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

ReactOS Presented To Russian President Putin

Posted by Unknown on Monday August 6, 2012 @07:51PM from the putin-rears-his-reverse-engineered-head dept.

An anonymous reader writes "While President Putin was touring the area of Seliger Youth Forum, Marat Karatov demonstrated what can only be described as a fair amount of daring when he called out to the president and requested to present ReactOS to him. Putin agreed, and the project has now presented ReactOS to two successive Russian presidents. Putin responded to the presentation by stating he would think on it."

155 comments

Min score:

Reason:

Sort:

Yay? by tian2992 · 2012-08-06 19:57 · Score: 0

Seriously, a russian guy presenting a semi-obscure OS is news today, seems like a really slow news day for slashdot.
1. Re:Yay? by mwvdlee · 2012-08-06 20:08 · Score: 3, Funny
  
  It's funny how their site states that all *nix is old crap based on a [sic] 30 year old architecture, whereas ReactOS has been in Alpha state for 16 years and based on a 31 year old architecture.
  I guess the best way to deal with ReactOS is to simply IgnoreAndHopeItGoesAwayOS.
  p.s. Wine on old crappy *nix has better support for Windows.
  
  --
  Slashdot social media options: AIM, ICQ, Yahoo, Jabber and Mobile Text. Why no MySpace?
2. Re:Yay? by cheesybagel · 2012-08-06 20:47 · Score: 1
  
  This is UNIX vs VMS all over again.
3. Re:Yay? by clarkn0va · 2012-08-06 20:52 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  Typical first poster didn't read the article.
  
  Marat however pulled through, taking a bus approximately 2000 kilometers to make it in time...The project would like to thank...Marat for making the day long bus ride back to Seliger
  ReactOS is just a cover. The real story here is a bus that doesn't stop every hour so the driver can get out and smoke cigarettes.
  
  --
  I am literally 3000 tokens away from the chaotic crossbow --Stephen
4. Re:Yay? by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-06 20:53 · Score: 1
  
  IgnoreAndHopeItGoesAwayOS not yet implimented
5. Re:Yay? by gigaherz · 2012-08-06 21:04 · Score: 2, Insightful
  
  The "ignore and hope it goes away" mentality is why it has been in development for 16 years and the progress is so slow. The average Windows user doesn't even know what source code is, and the average Linux user seems to have some sort of hate for Microsoft and everything they do. Which means Windows users don't care, and Linux users hiss like a cat at the mention of the project. That leaves a very small amount of people interested in the project, out of which only a handful have the experience to get involved in the development.
  The idea of ReactOS is to be able to reuse the user software, but more importantly the drivers, since most of the consumer devices have Windows drivers that work properly and are supported by the companies that built the device. And do that while reimplementing as many of the system libraries as possible in open source code.
  I will admit that I AM biased towards the Windows side of the OS world, nowadays. Part of the reason is that for whatever reason all my attempts at using Unix-based/inspired OSes (that includes multiple flavours of Linux, and Mac OS X) since around the year 2000 have ended in a lot of frustration and me having to repartition my HDD and put the latest version of Windows at the moment back in the HDD. But even when things still appeared to work, I have never been able to agree with the ideas of the POSIX design. That means I am interested in the ReactOS project, and I wish they had more people and resources so they were able to advance faster, and I even donated some money for it, but unless a lot more people to the same, or some organization decides to invest in the project, it will continue to be only a "semi-obscure OS that most people just ignore or hope it goes away".
6. Re:Yay? by somersault · 2012-08-06 22:08 · Score: 2
  
  Nowadays you don't have to reformat your HDD all the time, just use VMs. I have a Windows XP VM and a Mint VM that I use with Windows 7 as the host.
  
  --
  which is totally what she said
7. Re:Yay? by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-06 22:22 · Score: 0
  
  This is Russia we're talking about - the driver likely just chain-smokes while driving.
8. Re:Yay? by sageres · 2012-08-06 22:58 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  Hey hey ,don't knock VMS! It was relatively simple. Case-in-point (stolen from http://andyxl.wordpress.com/2011/09/04/ancient-vms-vs-unix-joke/)
  A young scientist has an urgent job to finish, but disastrously the whole departmental network goes down apart from one ancient VAX. He hears there is an old-timer a few corridors away who still knows how to use the VAX, so he rushes down, bursts in, and insists that the old guy shows him what to do, because, you know, sorry, but this deadline is really important.
  “Calm down”, says the old guy, “what do you want to know ?”
  “Well, ok, for instance, how do I edit a file ?”
  ” You type EDIT FILENAME”
  “Right, fine, suppose I want to make a copy ?”
  “You say COPY FILENAME1 FILENAME2
  “Err, right, ok, now suppose I need to delete the file ?”
  “You say DELETE FILENAME”
  “Ah, right, right, err.. now what if I want to print it ?”
  “You type PRINT FILENAME”
  “But what if I just want to see it typed onscreen ?”
  “You say TYPE FILENAME”
  “What if I need to figure out what a command does ?”
  “You say HELP COMMANDNAME”
  “Ummm.. umm. suppose I want to create a new directory ?”
  “You use CREATE/DIRECTORY”
  “Ok, ok, but look – how the hell am I supposed to remember all that ?”
9. Re:Yay? by rvw · 2012-08-06 23:39 · Score: 1
  
  This is Russia we're talking about - the driver likely just chain-smokes while driving.
  More likely he was driving while drinking and chain smoking.
10. Re:Yay? by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-06 23:46 · Score: 0
  
  HISSSSSSSSSS!
11. Re:Yay? by gigaherz · 2012-08-06 23:47 · Score: 1
  
  Yes, it has changed since the early 2000s. I have given up on installing "alternative" OSes natively, and I also keep a bunch of VMs instead, with Windows 7 as the host. I rarely use them, but I have an old XP installation, an Xubuntu installation, an then some other VMs I created for fun, like old alpha of Haiku, or Windows 98 SE.
12. Re:Yay? by serviscope_minor · 2012-08-07 00:38 · Score: 1
  
  I have never been able to agree with the ideas of the POSIX design.
  What do you dislike about POSIX? A also assume from your post that you prefer the Win32. How do you prefer it?
  
  --
  SJW n. One who posts facts.
13. Re:Yay? by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-07 00:41 · Score: 0
  
  Um, are you being an idiot on purpose?
  Perhaps they have not updated the 30 year quote in a while. UNIX is over 40 years old now. UNIX is older than DOS (the 31 year old architecture you mention).
  ReactOS is based on NT anyway, which is only 20 years old.
  So, yes, UNIX architecture is 20 years older than the architecture ReactOS is based on. *cough* pervasive async I/O *cough*
  Any questions?
14. Re:Yay? by Bill,+Shooter+of+Bul · 2012-08-07 00:47 · Score: 3, Informative
  
  All of the reasons you state for the slow progress are true to some extent, but the reality is the project is really really difficult and they haven't done the best job. The win 32 api has been historically riddled with bugs, and is ever changing with every release of windows. Their target keeps shifting before they get close to their old target. Plus they actually froze the code for a year or two to make sure that their wasn't any actual windows code in their code base. I think Hurd will finish before they make it to beta. Heck Hakui went from nothing to a pretty decent beta with binary compatibility with BEOS 5 in less time, due to better documentation and a stable target.
  
  --
  Well.. maybe. Or Maybe not. But Definitely not sort of.
15. Re:Yay? by ilsaloving · 2012-08-07 00:51 · Score: 1
  
  *giggle* Thanks, now I'm imagining a bunch of bearded, birkenstock-wearing nerds rolling around on their backs, high on catnip and batting at string...
16. Re:Yay? by mwvdlee · 2012-08-07 00:54 · Score: 1
  
  I wasn't mentioning DOS, which is obviously a different architecture. I was referring to Windows 1, which DOES still have an impact on current Windows.. atleast as much as 40 year old Unix has an impact on current *nix.
  Besides, the point was that it's just idiotic to call an OS architecture bad just because it is older.
  Perhaps I should have made this point clearer; not all people seem to grasp the subtle concept of sarcasm.
  
  --
  Slashdot social media options: AIM, ICQ, Yahoo, Jabber and Mobile Text. Why no MySpace?
17. Re:Yay? by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-07 01:29 · Score: 0
  
  How is ReactOs in alpha state for 16 years? NT is 16 years old, and ReactOs has been in development a lot later. Also, how is it based on a 31 year old architecture? At one point, afaik, MIPS & DEC AXP ports were also planned. When, if ever, this is complete, if it just targets Windows7 for compatiblity, it'll be fine. They do need to figure out NTFS support though
18. Re:Yay? by DuckDodgers · 2012-08-07 01:32 · Score: 2
  
  As a Linux user, I don't hate the project at all. My fear is that as soon as ReactOS became a decent replacement for Windows XP or Windows Server 2003 and started to gain widespread use, Microsoft would hit the project with a mountain of lawsuits. I believe the same is true for the Wine project ( which I assume you also know, winehq.org ) - Microsoft ignores them because they're not successful.
  
  I had problems with Linux at home too. Recent versions have been getting successively easier to install properly and I've been getting incrementally better at diagnosing and fixing problems, and between the two gradual changes I've reached the point where it's my primary home operating system for several years. But I still maintain a windows partitions for games that won't run on Wine, or won't run well on Wine.
  
  I'm biased towards the free software side of the world. All of my industry job experience has been at companies too small to spend the time and money on a central proprietary software licensing system and someone skilled enough to manage it. So every time we replaced a motherboard, or set up a new device, or re-image the hard drive on a laptop that got whacked when a user downloaded a rootkit, or configure a virtual machine we either need to jump through hoops and send Microsoft yet another payment or else use pirated license codes. When I set up a Debian server install, there's no licensing hassle. When I reinstall, there's no licensing hassle. When half a dozen people have defunct XRDP connections to the server and I try to log in, I don't get prompted to purchase more Terminal Server Concurrent Access Licenses (I think that's what TS-CALS stands for, I don't even remember).
  
  Now, for someone not working in IT or maybe even working in IT at a company that can afford the 'correct' solution to these problems (a Microsoft certified somethingorother and a properly configured license management server) these issues never appear. The person buy the computer with Windows pre-installed, they click a few checkboxes to activate the license on a newly installed device, end of story. So I can see why those people view me and others like me and find my strong dislike for proprietary software as bizarre. But Microsoft licensing, and Crystal Reports licensing, and SPSS licensing, and Citrix licensing have combined to push me strongly into the Free Software Foundation supporter camp.
19. Re:Yay? by Stewie241 · 2012-08-07 01:36 · Score: 1
  
  This page http://www.reactos.org/en/about_history.html talks about the history of ReactOS. Notice how it starts with "ReactOS project since 1996". Granted, not all of this was under the name ReactOS, but it was the same people. The page states that "In February 1998, ReactOS began.".
  16 years is a reasonable number.
20. Re:Yay? by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-07 01:38 · Score: 0
  
  At this point, why don't they drop win32 altogether, adapt win64 and make the goal of their project to be a Windows 7 replacement? Support win32 only as a VM under Virtual PC or HyperV
21. Re:Yay? by X0563511 · 2012-08-07 01:41 · Score: 1
  
  You use CREATE/DIRECTORY
  What's intuitive about that, especially compared to all the others?
  
  --
  For large sets, this will be our guide even unto death, for the LORD will work for each type of data it is applied to...
22. Re:Yay? by X0563511 · 2012-08-07 01:44 · Score: 1
  
  Well, fortunately win32 will cease moving on them once XP finishes dying. Vista and up are not win32 based, so they can stop chasing the ball.
  
  --
  For large sets, this will be our guide even unto death, for the LORD will work for each type of data it is applied to...
23. Re:Yay? by X0563511 · 2012-08-07 01:45 · Score: 1
  
  Why are we all beared and wearing birkenstocks? I don't even know what a birkenstock looks like, nor am I blessed with a full beard.
  
  --
  For large sets, this will be our guide even unto death, for the LORD will work for each type of data it is applied to...
24. Re:Yay? by X0563511 · 2012-08-07 01:46 · Score: 1
  
  Smoking optional. There was probably an exhaust leak to cater to all your lung-destroying needs.
  
  --
  For large sets, this will be our guide even unto death, for the LORD will work for each type of data it is applied to...
25. Re:Yay? by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-07 01:56 · Score: 0
  
  Any idea what license is ReactOs under? Gpl2? 3?
26. Re:Yay? by Zontar+The+Mindless · 2012-08-07 02:23 · Score: 1
  
  Nowadays you don't have to reformat your HDD all the time, just use VMs. I have a Windows XP VM and a Windows 7 VM that I use with openSUSE Linux as the host.
  
  --
  Il n'y a pas de Planet B.
27. Re:Yay? by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-07 03:54 · Score: 0
  
  win32 is still the foundation for .net and the rest of the higher level runtimes..
28. Re:Yay? by ilsaloving · 2012-08-07 04:21 · Score: 1
  
  I never said you were. That's just the image that popped into my head. :)
  Who needs drugs when your mind comes up with so many odd notions that any hallucinations would seem normal. ;)
29. Re:Yay? by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-07 04:28 · Score: 0
  
  This project was written from ground up to avoid any MS code, so if released under GPL, MS can do squat. What this does is that if & when complete, it can be a basis for 'Windows distros' not just from random guys, but from the likes of Google, Adobe, Dell, HP, et al
30. Re:Yay? by hairyfeet · 2012-08-07 04:57 · Score: 1
  
  Actually I wish the OEMs would pull another "gang of nine" and get behind ReactOS because it could finally force competition in the X86 market. You see ReactOS is basically trying to solve two VERY big problems with having an OS other than Windows, 1.-The sucktastic Linux driver situation and 2.- The millions of mission critical little programs that will never be ported to anything else.
  Whether the community wishes to accept it or not these are bothe big problems in the X86 world. The amount of hardware for X86 is just insane, big names and small, cheap objects and specialized equipment costing tens to hundreds of thousands. Now before anybody says "But Linux has drivers!" sure you have SOME drivers, not ALL drivers. And how many of those SOME drivers are really good and stable, and how many are alpha quality buggy shit simply because the devs just don't have the time and/or access to the specialized hardware to make better?
  And then there is the software. Linux is fine if all you want to do is either surf the web like grandma, or be a programmer, anything else? You are SOL. 50 billions txt editors but where is the medical transcription software? Specialized office management software that can compete with quicken/quickbooks? Parts management, 50 thousand medical programs, more niches and notches of software than any geeker programmer in Linux can ever imagine has been written for Windows over the years which is why MSFT has to spend so much time on backwards compatibility.
  If you could fix these two problems then you could finally have competition in the X86 market. I'm sure some will say "Why should we care? ARM herpa derpa" and I'll tell you because Intel's Sandy/Ivy will drink ARM's milkshake while it cries like a little bitch, that's why. The IPC on even a midrange AMD stomps the dogshit out of ARM and frankly always will because ARM is designed for low power and when you've got heavy loads that need processing you don't give a shit about how little power it sips, you care about IPC. And with both Intel and AMD getting into the tablet phone space you frankly should care, because there are a hell of a lot of people that would like to run all those programs named above on a tablet that pops into a keyboard and becomes a laptop without the assraping prices we've seen in the past.
  So X86 still matters, its still a billion dollar business, and if reactOS could get some love maybe it would be a one company show.
  
  --
  ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
31. Re:Yay? by VortexCortex · 2012-08-07 05:29 · Score: 1
  
  The 32 in Win32 doesn't mean 32 bits. It only means NOT 16 BIT. You use Win32 on 64 bit systems.
32. Re:Yay? by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-07 05:43 · Score: 0
  
  Then what is win64?
33. Re:Yay? by wierd_w · 2012-08-07 05:45 · Score: 1
  
  Gpl v2.
  Nearly all code is C. C++ is frowned on in their codebase. Assembler only in places it is really, really needed.
  They aren't very interested in usermode apps for the OS. Their philosophy is that app makers should target windows instead of ROS, and therefor be useful test programs for improving ROS functionality. They are still fiddling with what's under the hood, and aren't interested in new paintjobs at the moment.
  This drives away most of the win32 developer crowd, because outside of redmond, there aren't many win32k kernel mode programmers.
34. Re:Yay? by DuckDodgers · 2012-08-07 06:01 · Score: 1
  
  I realize Microsoft can't get them on code copying or decompiling. But they can try to get them on software patents, copyright of APIs (even if it failed for Oracle when trying to sue Google, that does not mean it would fail for Microsoft), and probably other legal attacks we don't know.
  
  I would love to be wrong. I would love for Microsoft to be unable to bother WineHQ and ReactOS because they're completely free to do what they want under fair use terms. But Microsoft isn't going to let a multi-billion dollar source of revenue walk away without taking every possible step to block it.
35. Re:Yay? by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-07 06:08 · Score: 0
  
  Actually, if they get those 2 basic things right - device driver support and ability to run legacy Windows apps, they're off to the races. If they can make Reactos a Windows 7 like OS, and just support your legacy apps on either VirtualPC or HyperV, they can pretty much freeze the code - no need to chase Windows 8 or beyond. At that point, everybody - Google, Dell, HP, Adobe, Symantec, et al can spin their own distro & it will be pretty good. And not just that - the OS itself can be ported to other CPUs like MIPS, OpenRisc, et al, and apps that are open source can follow
36. Re:Yay? by jonadab · 2012-08-07 06:27 · Score: 1
  
  Just don't ask about navigating the directory hierarchy.
  
  --
  Cut that out, or I will ship you to Norilsk in a box.
37. Re:Yay? by jonadab · 2012-08-07 06:36 · Score: 2
  
  Believe me, that's not the problem.
  
  The problem is figuring out the syntax for the path to your new directory. It's been a while since I last worked on VMS, but IIRC paths looked something like FOO$BAR[BAZ.QUUX.NEENER]WIBBLE:WOBBLE.DIR;42
  
  Really. Although a directory might not have had the semicolon and version number, since directories, as best I can remember, were not versioned. Even for files you didn't have to specify the version if you just wanted the most recent one, which was frequently the case, especially when editing a file -- not specifying the version would result in a new version being automatically created when you saved your changes (the one feature of VMS that I would really like to have on Linux).
  
  --
  Cut that out, or I will ship you to Norilsk in a box.
38. Re:Yay? by jonadab · 2012-08-07 06:47 · Score: 1
  
  > The "ignore and hope it goes away" mentality is why it has been
  > in development for 16 years and the progress is so slow.
  
  Oh.
  
  I thought that was because there are a grand total of eleven people in the whole world who have more than a passing interest in the project. (This figure is an estimate. It could be off by as much as 20%.)
  
  The other seven billion of us (also an estimate) either like Windows well enough to want to use it, in which case we just use the version that comes pre-installed on every new computer, or else we don't like Windows well enough to want to use it, which sort of implies that we don't really want to use a third-party reimplementation of it either.
  
  --
  Cut that out, or I will ship you to Norilsk in a box.
39. Re:Yay? by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-07 06:53 · Score: 0
  
  Er, yes it does. Just because the processor is capable of running both 32 and 64-bit code and Windows implements 32-bit compatibility libraries in its 64-bit variant does not stop Win32 being 32-bit.
40. Re:Yay? by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-07 08:06 · Score: 0
  
  Vista and up are not win32 based...
  I'm not sure what you meant by that. Most post-XP operating systems still come in Win32-based editions. Even when Windows eventually goes purely 64-bit, the 32-bit WOW subsystem will support 32-bit applications, and knowing the MS penchant for backward compatibility, probably until shortly before heat death of the universe. Also, Win64 isn't all that different from Win32, at least for desktop and console applications, but drivers are a different story AIUI.
  - T
41. Re:Yay? by countach · 2012-08-07 10:56 · Score: 1
  
  Patents on Win32 (if there are any) are surely soon to expire. Copyright of APIs is a fail, as we've seen.
42. Re:Yay? by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-07 17:29 · Score: 0
  
  it's more like this http://ulybki.net/photos/2012_02/virtuoznyj_voditel_marshrutki_20120223110234.jpg
43. Re:Yay? by DuckDodgers · 2012-08-09 01:18 · Score: 1
  
  With respect to patents, the system is so screwed up that I'm confident Microsoft could dig up patents it's filed in the past 10 years and apply them to code they wrote 20 or 30 years ago.
  
  The judge in the Oracle vs. Google case was very careful to state that any decision made was specific to that case and not copyright in general. Plus the judge in the Oracle vs. Google case was an entry level federal judge, so any precedent his court decisions set is relatively easy to overturn on appeal. If for example a higher tier court or of course the US Supreme Court made the decision, it would almost impossible to have it reversed.
  
  Last but not least, Java has a quasi-open standard that anyone is free to implement (even if they have to pay Oracle a fucking fortune to get access to the test kit required to verify that a particular implementation of the Java Virtual Machine can legally use the 'Java' name), Microsoft's Win32 APIs do not have any similar open standard.
  
  I'm not trying to play Microsoft FUD-monkey. I just figure that if ReactOS ever became a drop-in replacement for Win32, Microsoft would stand to lose billions of dollars in revenue. That would give them every incentive in the world to pull out all the stops to shut it down.
As long as they don't criticize him by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-06 20:00 · Score: 4, Funny

Well, as long as they don't criticize Putin in any way, they should be fine. Otherwise their OS will be banned and they will be sentenced to 10-20 years in Siberian prison for patent infringement or minor tax fraud.
Just sayin'...
1. Re:As long as they don't criticize him by AuMatar · 2012-08-06 20:24 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  You mean accidentally commit suicide by swallowing rare radioactive isotopes.
  
  --
  I still have more fans than freaks. WTF is wrong with you people?
2. Re:As long as they don't criticize him by Dave+Emami · 2012-08-06 20:32 · Score: 1
  
  In post-Soviet Russia, operating system boots you!
  
  --
  
  "The Greens lynched a hacker in Chicago. Last month, but I think the body's still hanging from the old Water Tower."
3. Re:As long as they don't criticize him by rvw · 2012-08-06 23:41 · Score: 2
  
  In post-Soviet Russia, operating system boots you!
  
  In post-Soviet Russia, Putin boots you!
4. Re:As long as they don't criticize him by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-07 01:48 · Score: 0
  
  For the Russian version, they should praise Putin in the credits. Once he knows that the OS praises him, he'll make sure that a million Russian software engineers are put on the project. Next thing you know, the OS will be ready really soon
  Next thing they could do - reverse engineer & resume manufacturing DEC's AXP 21364. It will be a wonderful CPU given Russian climes
5. Re:As long as they don't criticize him by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-07 07:57 · Score: 0
  
  This was moderated funny, sadly enough it's actually insightful...
6. Re:As long as they don't criticize him by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-07 09:00 · Score: 0
  
  Software sovereignty of Russia. Like control over oil, control over interfaces.
2000km on a bus!? by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-06 20:01 · Score: 0

That has got to be a typo! :O
1. Re:2000km on a bus!? by __Paul__ · 2012-08-06 20:14 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  Not really. Russia is a very, very big country.
  Hell, I've seen some bus trips across Turkey into neighbouring countries that'll do 1600km in roughly two days or so. These would be rather short compared to what is probably required in some areas of Russia.
  
  --
  worldmobilenet.com -- World Prepaid Wireless Internet plans
2. Re:2000km on a bus!? by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-06 20:35 · Score: 0
  
  You must be from the US.
3. Re:2000km on a bus!? by complete+loony · 2012-08-06 20:49 · Score: 1
  
  Australia's pretty big too, we've (apparently) got a bus service from Broome to Perth that's about 2200km with almost nothing in between. We have longer roads, but no regular bus service that I could find.
  
  --
  09F91102 no, 455FE104 nope, F190A1E8 uh-uh, 7A5F8A09 that's not it, C87294CE no. Ah! 452F6E403CDF10714E41DFAA257D313F.
4. Re:2000km on a bus!? by macshit · 2012-08-06 20:55 · Score: 3, Interesting
  
  I once took a bus from Seattle to Pittsburgh, about 3500km.
  Sitting on a bus for three days, non-stop, was ... not so fun... :(
  [Very long-distance trains, by contrast, are actually quite fun, even in the U.S. and Canada where they're pretty slow; rail's great way to travel if you've got some time...]
  
  --
  We live, as we dream -- alone....
5. Re:2000km on a bus!? by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-06 22:01 · Score: 2, Funny
  
  Australia's pretty big too
  Uhm.. Russia goes all the way from Finland to Japan, or from Turkey to Alaska if you wish. It goes almost half circle around the north pole.
  To say that Australia is pretty big in that context is like saying that a koala is pretty big when talking about bears.
6. Re:2000km on a bus!? by DeSigna · 2012-08-06 22:18 · Score: 1
  
  To put that in context, Australia is roughly as big (slightly smaller) as the 48 contiguous US states.
7. Re:2000km on a bus!? by xaxa · 2012-08-06 22:32 · Score: 1
  
  That has got to be a typo! :O
  In Britain there's a bus service from Inverness to London, taking 12½ hours to travel 900km (the train takes 8 hours, driving a car about 9).
  I can't find a much longer journey even if leaving the country (which has at least a 30 minute break while going through the Channel Tunnel). London to Berlin is about 1100km, anything further than that requires a change. However, less-densely-populated continents could easily just change the driving crew.
8. Re:2000km on a bus!? by Jeeeb · 2012-08-06 22:49 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  Russia is about 2.2x the size of Australia. I think you've been fooled by map projections.
9. Re:2000km on a bus!? by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-06 23:01 · Score: 0
  
  "The two widest separated points in Russia are about 8000 km (5000 mi) apart"
  (google: "width of russia")
  "Australia's vital statistics
  The continent is 3 700 km from North to South and 4 000km from East to West. "
  (google: "width of australia" source: wiki answers)
  Australia isn't doing too badly, and we don't share borders with anyone - and there is 20 million people total. Big, unpopulated desert.
  (obviously russia is a big unpopulated tundra, but semantics also ;)
10. Re:2000km on a bus!? by benjfowler · 2012-08-06 23:14 · Score: 1
  
  Now that's what I would call the bus ride from hell.
11. Re:2000km on a bus!? by Fjandr · 2012-08-06 23:39 · Score: 1
  
  A 2000km bus trip in the US is easy, or are you hung up on the km vs mi difference? Heck, a trip of 4000km by bus isn't unusual in the US.
12. Re:2000km on a bus!? by InsectOverlord · 2012-08-07 00:22 · Score: 1
  
  Eurolines runs services from tip to tip of the continent, e.g. Southern Spain - Hamburg, 3000 km.
13. Re:2000km on a bus!? by PopeRatzo · 2012-08-07 00:36 · Score: 1
  
  Heck, a trip of 4000km by bus isn't unusual in the US.
  How far is that in leagues?
  
  --
  You are welcome on my lawn.
14. Re:2000km on a bus!? by JasterBobaMereel · 2012-08-07 00:39 · Score: 1
  
  Russia (Just Russia not the whole of what was the USSR) is the worlds largest country 6,323,482sq miles (USA is 3,537,455)
  The USSR was much larger, Kazakhstan one of the ex-Soviet states is the 9th Largest country ...
  But Russia only has half the population of the USA ... so they are very spread out ...
  Note From New York you can "only" go 4000 km in a straight line and not enter another country (or get to a coast), From Moscow you can go 6500 km inside Russia in a straight line and not enter another country or reach the sea ...
  
  --
  Puteulanus fenestra mortis
15. Re:2000km on a bus!? by X0563511 · 2012-08-07 01:52 · Score: 1
  
  Indeed. 2000km is about 1200 miles. Interestingly the trip from Atlanta, Georgia up to Maine is closer to 1800. That's not even the full N/S length of the continental US, and the E/W length is much longer!
  
  --
  For large sets, this will be our guide even unto death, for the LORD will work for each type of data it is applied to...
16. Re:2000km on a bus!? by Zontar+The+Mindless · 2012-08-07 02:34 · Score: 1
  
  Feliks Dzerzhinsky has something to tell you...
  
  --
  Il n'y a pas de Planet B.
17. Re:2000km on a bus!? by Fjandr · 2012-08-07 09:41 · Score: 1
  
  I don't know. I'm still working out the conversion to LoCs end-to-end.
*Slaps head* by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-06 20:01 · Score: 1

Why would anyone ever want to clone Windows?
1. Re:*Slaps head* by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-06 20:09 · Score: 2, Insightful
  
  Why would anyone ever want to clone Windows?
  Oh I don't know. How about using a lot of hardware that doesn't do jack shit under linux ?
  Especially audio hardware. Not your consumer oriented crap obviously. And video editor suits etc...
  And frankly having a windows clone is as good as having a dos clone.
  We can replay all those great pc games (that newer generations don't even know because all they get nowadays are shitty console ports of shitty games).
  More choice is good, and even better the day my windows programs will not be taken hostage by Microsoft.
  So go ReactOS developers, make the dream come true.
2. Re:*Slaps head* by c0lo · 2012-08-06 20:16 · Score: 1, Troll
  
  Why would anyone ever want to clone Windows?
  One can't release viruses in open-source if they are based on non-documented API-es... it wouldn't be compliant with DMCA.
  (grin)
  
  --
  Questions raise, answers kill. Raise questions to stay alive.
3. Re:*Slaps head* by jones_supa · 2012-08-06 21:03 · Score: 2
  
  Why couldn't you use a real Windows installation for those tasks?
4. Re:*Slaps head* by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-06 21:42 · Score: 0
  
  all they get nowadays are shitty console ports of shitty games
  How can a port be all you get? Do they throw away the original?
5. Re:*Slaps head* by ChunderDownunder · 2012-08-06 22:03 · Score: 2
  
  With the current Gnome Shell/Unity trauma, users find the familiar UI of ReactOS Explorer comforting? :)
6. Re:*Slaps head* by Blaskowicz · 2012-08-06 23:09 · Score: 2
  
  paying 100 euros for a restrictive license is a bit too much. tied to one computer, and over restrictions - remote use is forbidden unless you've strictly got one user running, for one thing. all so that I can play quake 2 and quake 3 based games, etc. again. or even play a doom source port, which does not even runs correctly under linux - a long time bug prevents from using soundfonts with the timidity synthesizer and the default midi is horrendous crap with missing instruments.
  I would like a working ReactOS, this would give a lot of the benefits of a linux Operating System, but with working games! and applications such as Ableton, etc. Really, in the end, the benefit of open source for the end user is it's like you have an unlimited, free pool of Windows Server Enterprise Edition licenses and secondary client access/terminal server licenses. or the fact that you can refurbish old computers. a pentium 3 is better and cheaper than a raspberry pi and runs well with a debian/ubuntu variant with the LXDE desktop ; ReactOS would be a fine alternative. though actually, an old PC (10 years and more) will take windows 7/8 as long as it has 768MB or more memory - if you're willing to either use a cracked version or buy a 100 euro license for a computer that's worth maybe 20 euros.
7. Re:*Slaps head* by LordLimecat · 2012-08-07 01:30 · Score: 1
  
  paying 100 euros for a restrictive license is a bit too much.
  So is using software whose goal is to emulate an EOL'd, 12 year old version of Windows, especially when said software has been in alpha for the last decade or so.
8. Re:*Slaps head* by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-07 14:47 · Score: 0
  
  The "goal" is keep up with microsoft without put all the shit inside and make it safer and better performing (it is not a 1 to 1 clone)
  First you can expect xp later come win 7.
  The beta is expected in one or two years but then it will not take long to finish.
9. Re:*Slaps head* by LordLimecat · 2012-08-07 16:17 · Score: 1
  
  I was possibly a bit harsh-- if you are one of the authors working on ReactOS, I have watched it from afar for a long time, and admire the work done-- getting as far as you have is impressive.
  The fact that I dont choose to use it wasnt meant to denigrate the work youve done.
A president thinking about an OS? by aglider · 2012-08-06 20:09 · Score: 2

Unbelievable!
Next step: a president taking decisions on programming patterns!
Yeah!

--
Sent as ripples into the electromagnetic field. No single photon has been harmed in the process.
1. Re:A president thinking about an OS? by game+kid · 2012-08-06 20:31 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  It would sure make negative ads more interesting. "How can he say he's creating manufacturing jobs if he can't even write a factory method!? This man is wrong for our country! You deserve a better President."
  
  --
  You can hold down the "B" button for continuous firing.
2. Re:A president thinking about an OS? by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-06 20:40 · Score: 1
  
  It would sure make negative ads more interesting. "How can he say he's creating manufacturing jobs if he can't even write a factory method!? This man is wrong for our country! You deserve a better President."
  He's a politician. He would only be experienced with the singleton and facade patterns.
3. Re:A president thinking about an OS? by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-07 03:40 · Score: 0
  
  President Putin personally fixed a last minute kernel bug in the hardware interrupt scheduling logic.
4. Re:A president thinking about an OS? by maxwell+demon · 2012-08-07 06:41 · Score: 1
  
  I'm pretty sure Putin also knows the command pattern quite well.
  
  --
  The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
So does this thing do really do Windows binaries? by GoodNewsJimDotCom · 2012-08-06 20:20 · Score: 1

You'd think you could do what Microsoft was too dumb to try and make a sandbox mode where .exe can't touch things it can't. The easiest way would be to restrict things from getting outside it's install directory, and to make a fresh registry for every application. A lot of .exes wouldn't work, but if they were trusted, you could turn off sandbox. And the future of .exe development would involve working in a single directory.

Am I naive to think the problem is so easy to solve? The problem being rampant viruses on Windows. Viruses you get from running an untrusted .exe. Viruses you get from buffer overflows. Viruses you get from 0 day problems. Microsoft keeps complaining that they can't compete on the online world, but maybe it is because they don't realize the beginning is a secure OS that is safe to run on the Internet.

--
God spoke to me
One enough? by neo12 · 2012-08-06 20:31 · Score: 1

Isn't one Win*OS enough to cause misery and pain? Why do we need these clones?
1. Re:One enough? by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-06 20:48 · Score: 0
  
  It is open-source. As a developer I would be very happy to step through all the code when facing a hard to explain crash or deadlock. All we get is the call stack.
2. Re:One enough? by Rogerborg · 2012-08-06 22:16 · Score: 1
  
  Isn't one Win*OS enough to cause misery and pain? Why do we need these clones?
  Games and stuff.
  Really, that's all that I still use Windows for. I hope the ReactOS guys realise that.
  
  --
  If you were blocking sigs, you wouldn't have to read this.
Well thats cool by Phrogman · 2012-08-06 20:32 · Score: 4, Insightful

I am quite happy someone wants to clone Windows to the point where a user can't tell that MS Windows has been replaced by ReactOS. Sort of like a Folger's commercial from way back when.
If they ever complete the project and get a viable version of it, then they have produced a version of Windows that can be run by anyone anywhere without violating Microsoft's copyright etc. It might piss of MS but it would mean and end to them pointing out how popular software piracy is based on the number of illegal copies of MS Windows there are out there, particularly in the third world.
It would also open the door to fixing a lot of the problems that MS ignored, and perhaps they are doing this as they develop it for that matter.
I can't see more free software hurting in any way at any rate, and this lets people capitalize on all the useful software they may currently rely on without having to change or learn new things. User's don't seem to like learning new things unless they are trivial to absorb.

--
"The first time I got drunk, I got married. The second time I bought a chimpanzee, after that I stayed sober" Arian Seid
1. Re:Well thats cool by eugene2k · 2012-08-06 20:53 · Score: 0
  
  Rather than cloning that pile of garbage it'd be better to throw your resources into working on a more elegantly designed OS. What with the html5 and web-apps supposedly being the future.
  
  --
  Apple has "Mac vs PC", Microsoft has "Laptop Hunters", Linux has recession
2. Re:Well thats cool by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-06 21:00 · Score: 3, Funny
  
  Elegantly designed and HTML5? I don't think that's possible ...
3. Re:Well thats cool by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-06 21:15 · Score: 0
  
  Maybe microsoft can be persuaded to do a full-code audit and remove crap that isn't need. Even better, perhaps they could be convinced to do a ground-up rewrite.
4. Re:Well thats cool by Phrogman · 2012-08-07 00:11 · Score: 1
  
  The problem isn't the "pile of garbage" - which I agree is a fair description of MS Windows in earlier incarnations - its the user base and their reliance on all of the software which is MS Windows based. This would free people from relying on Microsoft over time.
  Now, is it better to switch to new tools under a more reliable OS, of course it is. Realistically though, most users - particularly business users - are not going to take the plunge and switch from using software they understand to something new that may or may not suit their needs. Arguably this might mean they ignore ReactOS if its ever completed as well.
  Microsoft has a stranglehold on the majority of computer users, because its all they know. They rely on MS Office, and other business programs to meet their needs. Where those programs are cross platform then the possibility of switching exists perhaps, but seldom will you find a user who has *all* of their key programs being cross platform and who perceives a need to switch.
  Personally speaking, I switched to an iMac desktop 5 years ago and haven't regretted the decision yet. I do all my actual computing on the Mac side, and use Bootcamp to boot to Win7 to play games (which is all I think Windows is really useful for). Other people will of course differ. I have tried to use Linux on many occasions as my desktop but prefer OS/X after extensive use. On the server side I prefer Linux to all other OSes I have tried.
  
  --
  "The first time I got drunk, I got married. The second time I bought a chimpanzee, after that I stayed sober" Arian Seid
5. Re:Well thats cool by epyT-R · 2012-08-07 04:11 · Score: 1
  
  web apps are ass.. they are antithetical to user empowerment.
Impress a dictator day by allcoolnameswheretak · 2012-08-06 20:47 · Score: 4, Insightful

I don't think that cozying up to a "president" that is in full swing of turning his country into a plutocrat dictatorship and police state while eliminating all opposition is the kind of publicity you want.
1. Re:Impress a dictator day by skeletal · 2012-08-06 21:21 · Score: 2
  
  This Seliger camp is organized by the ruling party of Russia, so all the kids who go there get some good brainwashing about the greatness of russia and what a good ruler Putin is. There they learn how to fight against western imperialists and such good things.
2. Re:Impress a dictator day by sourcerror · 2012-08-06 21:45 · Score: 2
  
  That's exactly the kind of president that will stand up against the bourgeois imperialist Microsoft.
3. Re:Impress a dictator day by sourcerror · 2012-08-06 21:51 · Score: 1
  
  A few illustrations of my point:
  http://www.technollama.co.uk/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/open_source_communism.jpg
  http://www.theregister.co.uk/2000/07/31/ms_ballmer_linux_is_communism/
  http://designora.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/communist-android.jpg
  http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-NCirDFWL4Q4/TdPQtYogiSI/AAAAAAAAAVs/4bVHzsijPO0/s400/73194-1.png
4. Re:Impress a dictator day by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-06 22:27 · Score: 1
  
  Beats being in his way and vanishing.
5. Re:Impress a dictator day by humanrev · 2012-08-06 23:30 · Score: 1
  
  Meh. If you can't beat 'em, join 'em. These guys showed their leader an operating system that can run a lot of Windows software without any worry about backdoor access to the yanks. That's at least a way of ensuring you stay in the good books.
  
  --
  Most people on Slashdot are fucking idiots.
6. Re:Impress a dictator day by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-07 00:47 · Score: 0
  
  I don't know that the problem is his aggrandizement, or even the plutocracy: some say it's the kleptocracy, and some I have spoken with point-out that this may, indeed, be what Putin is attempting to eliminate. Russia is in dire straights, nobody can get anything done, few want to do business with it (and when powerhouses like the U.S. employ most with small ones, this means that you want more than super-conglomerates to be able to invest, arrive, stay, and feel good about it): far easier if you just have to go through one guy, but probably not something he as a sinle force can accomplish, and bad for Russia after he eventually dies (leaving behind a powerful apparatus).
  
  But if you want to see his thinking, note he's supporting traditional organizations, hosting international ones, the Russian orthodox church and Byzantinism: Russia's countryside is medieval, its cities are aborting, drugging, and drinking themselves to death: seems like an Augustus-like move to start supporting morals again when it's already too late (or probably so).
  
  But I don't know. It's quite complex, messy, and we can't get all the info. I hope to visit Russia some day, maybe learn the language: I hear that for an English speaker it rivals classic Greek due to a combination of cases and the number of irregular verbs: sounds like a fun challenge.
7. Re:Impress a dictator day by lister+king+of+smeg · 2012-08-07 05:53 · Score: 1
  
  it is when what you want is funding.
  
  --
  ---Saying gnome 3 is better than windows 8 not so much a compliment as it is damning with light praise.
8. Re:Impress a dictator day by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-07 08:57 · Score: 0
  
  Putting a bit cash on the table would be nice. Digital Sovereignty matters.
Re:So does this thing do really do Windows binarie by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-06 20:59 · Score: 1

ReactOS isn't just about running .exe's. If that's all you want to do, then WINE is probably what you want (my understanding is that ReactOS and WINE share code to some extent). ReactOS is also able to handle Windows drivers, which WINE cannot handle, allowing for a more complete emulation of Windows.
That said, there's no reason why you couldn't do AppArmor-style security (which is what it sounds like you are describing) on top of something like ReactOS. In fact, there's multiple third-party applications that do it for Windows.
Deja vu? by EETech1 · 2012-08-06 21:30 · Score: 1, Informative

Wasn't this from about a year and a half ago, or did it happen again?
It should show up in related stories, but that'd be asking too much.
1. Re:Deja vu? by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-06 21:51 · Score: 1
  
  It was last September, but Putin was not president then (he was prime minister). As the summary says, this makes two Russian presidents in a row; the previous one was Medvedev. And, by golly, the link to the Medvedev story is in the summary.
2. Re:Deja vu? by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-07 03:59 · Score: 0
  
  Actually, iirc, Medvedev is/was the leader who'd be more interested in such things than Putin
Independence for Russia by Kupfernigk · 2012-08-06 21:34 · Score: 4, Insightful

So that Russians can use Windows programs, of which there are very many, without using an American OS. I imagine that what he told Putin was "if this gets completed Russia can be sure that Windows programs can be run in secure environments with no risk of them reporting back to the US, and you don't have to pay Microsoft anything for it."
It's funny how a lot of people who seem to be American do not seem to get that for a large part of the world the USA is a threat as well as a promise. It's the butt headed attitude that the Roman Empire got into - we are the bringers of civilisation, everybody must love us. Only it turned out that the Goths didn't want it.

--
From scarped cliff or quarried stone she cries "A thousand types are gone, I care for nothing, no not one."
1. Re:Independence for Russia by bmo · 2012-08-06 22:25 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  "if this gets completed Russia can be sure that Windows programs can be run in secure environments"
  Trying to make a bug-compatible Windows clone is secure? You wind up implementing the same design decisions that Microsoft did that makes Windows an unsecure pile. Don't forget that Windows is a *consumer oriented* operating system and the design compromises show it.
  It's funny how a lot of people who seem to be American do not seem to get that for a large part of the world the USA is a threat as well as a promise
  If you want an OS that is truly international and not dependent on any one country, you want Linux or *BSD or even Plan9 if you don't want to roll your own. It would be cool if the Russians picked up Plan 9 and ran with it. It's got some really good ideas. Besides that, It's easier to write an OS from scratch than to reverse-engineer Windows. It's not like Russia is lacking in the people with that skillset.
  Finally, trying to untie yourself from Microsoft and the US by reverse engineering Windows is self-defeating, isn't it? You remain wedded to whatever design Microsoft comes up in the future and chase that forever.
  --
  BMO
2. Re:Independence for Russia by sageres · 2012-08-06 23:03 · Score: 2
  
  I can't believe folks don't remember the Russian Operating System effort. Oh well, that was three years ago:
  http://linux.slashdot.org/story/09/01/23/1450224/russia-to-develop-a-national-operating-system
3. Re:Independence for Russia by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-07 02:17 · Score: 0
  
  Plan 9? That would be tied to Lucent - how's that any better? I believe that there was a Russian BSD distro - TrueBSD, iirc. Linux too - I'm sure there are Russian distros
  However, why would they be chasing a moving target? They can make Windows 7 their target, and stick with it. Why bother targeting Windows 8 or 9? If MS is having trouble moving users from XP, imagine how it'll be moving users from Windows 7 to 9? And if ReactOs happens to be available at that time & fully functional, not only will people flock to it, but companies like Google would start doing ReactOs based distros
4. Re:Independence for Russia by davydagger · 2012-08-07 05:51 · Score: 1
  
  why not linux, its far more stable, better suported, etc...
  
  great international team on various projects.
  
  many other countries did this with linux.
5. Re:Independence for Russia by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-07 08:56 · Score: 0
  
  The question is why doesn't Russia dump a few ten thousand millions on the project?
  Doesn't Russia appreciate Windows sovereignty?
6. Re:Independence for Russia by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-07 15:03 · Score: 0
  
  Linux has so many bugs everywhere that a normal non super geek will get crasy getting it running smoothly.
cue pouting by Ginger+Unicorn · 2012-08-06 21:58 · Score: 2

Putin responded to the presentation by stating he would think on it.
Awwwwwww, that always means no!

--
(1.21 gigawatts) / (88 miles per hour) = 30 757 874 newtons
1. Re:cue pouting by tftp · 2012-08-07 03:53 · Score: 1
  
  ReactOS is a non-solution. You are still locked into using non-free Windows software. If you are concerned about backdoors, they may well be inside MS Office and inside Photoshop and inside every other program. Or how about rootkits that can patch a system DLL? Is ReactOS protected from such things if the latest Windows is not?
  The correct solution would be to move to Linux because the OS is available in source, and majority of the software that is needed to run the government is also available in open source. There are also security additions (SELinux etc.) that allow you to further configure rights of applications.
  But if you need non-free software for Windows, for example, you can always run it in a VM that runs with a host-only network connection. As long as you have the shared files set up correctly you can work in a VM with the same ease as you would do on the host. On top of that, backup/restore of a VM is as easy as copying a file.
Wine by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-06 22:00 · Score: 0

I hope the government of Russia decides to fund Wine (which ReactOS is built on).
1. Re:Wine by sageres · 2012-08-06 23:05 · Score: 2
  
  Russian government already thought about it, and after long consultation with the industry techs and the government officials, instead of funding Wine they decided to fund Vodka.
2. Re:Wine by InsectOverlord · 2012-08-07 02:01 · Score: 1
  
  The vodka project doesn't look like it should require a lot of financial resources though.
ARWINSS by slacka · 2012-08-06 22:29 · Score: 4, Informative

For anyone that wants to try ReactOS out, I highly recommend the ARWINSS fork, which is a new Win32 subsystem for ReactOS that reuses as much Wine code as possible. The ARWINSS architecture implements APIs exposed via USER32 and GDI32 libraries and is based upon Wine source-code. In my testing the stability and compatibility was much better then the official release. You can find it here:
http://www.reactos.org/wiki/Arwinss
1. Re:ARWINSS by devent · 2012-08-07 00:44 · Score: 1
  
  It's just bafflest me that anyone would actually want to use a Windows re-implementation. It's just like you choose the worst of both worlds, bad architecture, more bugs and all viruses.
  Do you really want an architecture, that is not POSIX, not a Unix, with the drivers letter-soup, where you can't just open a file in multiple applications, that does not offer a package manager, with the worst file manager ever (the explorer).
  Why not just use Linux and Wine, so you have the best of two worlds? POSIX, Unix architecture and Windows applications.
  
  --
  http://www.mueller-public.de - My site http://www.anr-institute.com/ - Advanced Natural Research Institute
2. Re:ARWINSS by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-07 01:13 · Score: 0
  
  Windows-only drivers. That's basically the whole reason, and if it doesn't apply to you, then of course *n*x+wine is a better choice.
3. Re:ARWINSS by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-07 02:41 · Score: 0
  
  Actually you are right, you are quite baffled.
  I an a huge Unix fan (and running Linus as main and only desktop OS since 1998), but Windows Explorer is the best file manager ever created for the masses, and largely because of the Windows Explorer (95 and later) Windows has the market share it has.
  Think about it.
4. Re:ARWINSS by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-07 03:57 · Score: 0
  
  POSIX codified common Unix APIs and if that's all you care about, just install any one of FreeBSD, Linux or Mac OS X as they're somewhere between 99% and 100% compliant. None of them are currently considered "Unix". If you want Unix, install Solaris 11 and weep.
  Also, your presumptions about Windows with regard to the alleged absense of file sharing and a package manager are ignorant and false. Your opinion on any given file manager is irrelevant, if you don't want to use explorer then don't use explorer.
  Meanwhile, for those interested in OS design ReactOS (and Minix, Plan9, Coyotos, etc.) has a purpose. NT was built from scratch to be a portable, object-oriented hybrid kernel (or the inaccurate "modified microkernel" as MSFT likes to call it) with support for multiple different APIs (which used to include POSIX) through user-mode servers. The architecture was far more advanced then that of other operating systems at the time it was written, at least until MSFT decided to integrate various I/O subsystems and drivers into the kernel.
  For application developers, ReactOS can provide an alternative test bed since binaries produced with mingw under Linux which work with Wine don't necessarily work under Windows (although with the advent of WinRT, this role could become obsolete). With win32 disappearing on ARM, it could serve a purpose in that space pending a port to ARM (given the FLOSS nature and the separation between kernel, executive and HAL, I, for one, consider this feasible).
5. Re:ARWINSS by Jorl17 · 2012-08-07 06:44 · Score: 1
  
  You know that you can have a POSIX subsystem in the Windows architecture, right? I'm no fan of how Windows is made, but I see a place in the world for this wonderful project. A FLOSS reimplementation of something is always well-received.
  
  --
  Have you heard about SoylentNews?
6. Re:ARWINSS by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-07 07:54 · Score: 0
  
  Do you really want an architecture... ...that does not offer a package manager
  the last time I tried react it did have a repository of sorts.
7. Re:ARWINSS by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-07 08:32 · Score: 0
  
  Out of curiosity, what do you think pkgmgr.exe that ships with Windows does?
Clones by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-06 23:12 · Score: 0

I'm surprised Zynga haven't cloned it yet...
The Patrician by TiberSeptm · 2012-08-06 23:18 · Score: 1

Whenever I hear or read a news story about Putin I always end up being reminded of Lord Vetinari, Patrician of Ankh-Morpork.
Missed the point by Kupfernigk · 2012-08-06 23:24 · Score: 2

No, you don't. I can see you've never worked in a resource-constrained country.
There are a lot of extant programs that don't have *NIX versions and for which the source code isn't available. Let's take Office 2000...please. Let's assume that I am the Russian Government and I have cracked copies of, I don't know, older Photoshop, Office, you name it.
Now someone gives me an OS that runs all those programs but to which I have the source code. Which is easier: to add required new functions to the OS, or to write an OS from scratch that will run all those programs, or to reverse engineer all those programs? Perhaps I don't want the Civil Service running on LibreOffice because all the people who matter are trained on Office 2000. I don't care if the rest of the world is on Windows 9: what I care about is that all my bureaucrats and schools across a vast country are running something which runs my programs with my controls. I can develop new programs and know they won't be borked by OS changes.
Why should I care what Microsoft does? My users are writing Cyrillic script with a whole lot of different cultural assumptions from the Microsoft target audience.
Having lots of brilliant programmers isn't the problem: at the end of the day it is business processes and users. If you are stuck with all those PhDs doing desktop support for Rubuntu (or Pubuntu perhaps), they can't be out there planning the cyber-destruction of the United States, can they?

--
From scarped cliff or quarried stone she cries "A thousand types are gone, I care for nothing, no not one."
1. Re:Missed the point by TheLink · 2012-08-07 00:01 · Score: 4, Interesting
  
  If ReactOS actually becomes stable and usable I suspect a number of large US corporations might be interested too.
  
  There are lots of corporations that are happy with Windows XP, and the only problems with it is the bugs are no longer going to be fixed, and MS will stop selling it.
  --
  
  Too many replies beneath your current threshold
2. Re:Missed the point by bmo · 2012-08-07 00:54 · Score: 1
  
  Let's take Office 2000...please. Let's assume that I am the Russian Government and I have cracked copies of, I don't know, older Photoshop, Office, you name it.
  Now someone gives me an OS that runs all those programs but to which I have the source code
  Sure. Wine runs all that old stuff on various other OSes - OSX, Linux, BSD. Faster than Windows does. Heck, it runs WoW faster than Windows does and it does so on already mature operating systems that you don't have to baby to keep from crashing. You don't need an entire OS, just the API.
  But then let's look at the idea of running obsolete pirated software on a not-even-third-tier OS. Modern versions of Libre Office, for example, work better than 12 year old obsolete closed-source software, if only for the fact that they can open modern, *standardized* ISO and ECMA file formats. Or are you willing to go through life with Office 97 formats forever? Really? And what if these users want to communicate with the outside world? What happens in 10 years when you've got all these files in 25 year old formats that nobody knows how to read but yourselves because y'all have been using pirated copies of Microsoft Office 97?
  Do you make a habit of sending files in AmiPro format? Because that's the equivalent of what you'd be doing in 10 years.
  Down that road lies madness.
  Your argument is pretty weak and self-contradictory.
  --
  BMO
3. Re:Missed the point by willy_me · 2012-08-07 03:20 · Score: 1
  
  Not really. When every new PC comes with a copy of Windows there is no reason to go with ReactOS. The additional license costs for a corporate Windows Pro upgrade are minimal. If one wanted an alternative OS they would just go with Linux.
  So on the plus side you save a little money for each PC but you do so at the risk of software compatibility/support, possible legal action from Microsoft, and increased labour costs as now the IT people have to work with more then 1 OS. Small gain, large risk - that's why it won't happen.
4. Re:Missed the point by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-07 06:22 · Score: 0
  
  The license costs aren't the issue.
  
  And it's not as if Windows 8 or even Windows 7 has new features that those orgs need or want.
  
  So if (big IF) ReactOS behaves like a Windows XP clone that means the big orgs spend less time and resources on training and support.
  
  Of course it'll mean Microsoft will sue, they can't afford not to.
5. Re:Missed the point by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-07 14:59 · Score: 0
  
  Reason to go w/ ReactOS is long term. Whe MS tries to force customers to move from Windows 7 to 9, when they end LTS, the customer is screwed. However, if they went w/ a Windows 7 equivalent of ReactOS, they'd be pretty stable, since it's unlikely that customers will want to move away from Windows 7, particularly when MS has struggled to get them away from XP
Re:who the fuck would use a Russian OS by Kupfernigk · 2012-08-06 23:27 · Score: 1

The answer to your rather stupid header is "Russians, of course". Are you a Russian?

--
From scarped cliff or quarried stone she cries "A thousand types are gone, I care for nothing, no not one."
He would doubtless be flattered... by Kupfernigk · 2012-08-07 00:22 · Score: 2

I have no idea where Vladimir Putin lies on the scale from evil KGB dictator to enlightened ruler trying to extract Russian from its appalling history, but, had he ever read the books, I rather expect he would be flattered by the comparison.
In Pratchett's books, Vetinari travels the reverse way from, say, the Assads or Stalin. They start as probably quite well meaning and gradually become more paranoid, violent and repressive. Vetinari starts as a repressive ruler of a backward city state and, as it rapidly advances technically and socially, gradually becomes more liberal and devolves more power to the general public.

--
From scarped cliff or quarried stone she cries "A thousand types are gone, I care for nothing, no not one."
Re:So does this thing do really do Windows binarie by Richard_at_work · 2012-08-07 00:33 · Score: 1

You'd think you could do what Microsoft was too dumb to try and make a sandbox mode where .exe can't touch things it can't.
Sandboxing has existed in Windows since Windows 2000 (see SAFER) and has seen updates in every Windows version since.
Again??? by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-07 01:59 · Score: 0

http://www.osnews.com/comments/25155 :-)
Open Source form of Freedom of speech Mr. Putin ! by burni2 · 2012-08-07 03:38 · Score: 1

Yes, it is a form of free speech. And in Russia you have no free speech, instead the careful speech let's you stay free.
In Russia.. by Penurious+Penguin · 2012-08-07 03:57 · Score: 1

..The operating system configures you. What we is really need is a super solid Linux distro named Putin. Of course, sudo would be aliased with putin, e.g. "putin do", and /dev/null would be /dev/oligarch. You wouldn't need a firewall if Putin was root -- and rootkits wouldn't even dare. And if you were running low on resources, you could just FSB into the NSA's data center and use their's. And yes, the bold is obviously obligatory.

--
Forward! -- Emperor Norton, 2012
1. Re:In Russia.. by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-07 05:40 · Score: 0
  
  ..The operating system configures you. What we is really need is a super solid Linux distro named Putin. Of course, sudo would be aliased with putin, e.g. "putin do", and /dev/null would be /dev/oligarch. You wouldn't need a firewall if Putin was root -- and rootkits wouldn't even dare. And if you were running low on resources, you could just FSB into the NSA's data center and use their's. And yes, the bold is obviously obligatory.
  Oh, screw politics, really. I'm from Russia and I can tell that Putin is a fscking dictatowfoojre;oigejg;gsmgfes;lgmgghs
statistically speaking... by schlachter · 2012-08-07 04:12 · Score: 1

Hey, statistically speaking...with all the people in Russia and the former soviet bloc, even "rare" isotopes are bound to be swallowed by at least a few people.

--
My God can beat up your God. Just kidding...don't take offense. I know there's no God.
political bumpersticker by schlachter · 2012-08-07 04:15 · Score: 1

Don't instantiate Romney for the 2013 control function!

--
My God can beat up your God. Just kidding...don't take offense. I know there's no God.
didn't work for bill gates in south park by schlachter · 2012-08-07 04:19 · Score: 1

GENERAL PLYMKIN
Now what's wrong with this thing?
General Plymkin messes with the controls.
GENERAL PLYMKIN
Fucking windows 98!
General Plymkin has pulled the plug. He stands there with
the cord in his hands.
GENERAL PLYMKIN
GET GATES IN HERE!!!
BILL GATES walks in, escorted by two MILITARY GUARDS.
GENERAL PLYMKIN
YOU TOLD US WINDOWS 98 WOULD BE FASTER
AND MORE EFFICIENT WITH BETTER ACCESS TO
THE INTERNET!!!
BILL GATES
It is faster, over five million--
Plymkin pulls out a gun and shoots him in the head. Gates
falls to the floor, dead.
GENERAL PLYMKIN
Alright men, get lots of rest, and
prepare thyselves for battle!

--
My God can beat up your God. Just kidding...don't take offense. I know there's no God.
Re:who the fuck would use a Russian OS by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-07 05:11 · Score: 0

The answer to your rather irrelevant and stupid question is "no". But I do admire Putin, at least for certain characteristics which I find lacking or void in the brothel of US politics. Why? You could watch THIS, which is a recording of Putin's speech at the 2007 Munich Security Conference. Aside from Ron Paul and a very-few other US politicians, I rarely ever hear anything that makes any sense, but the content of that speech actually made sense to me.
As for who the fuck would use a Russian OS? Since it's such a large country, maybe it doesn't make any difference. But I would.
PS: I've posted this "anonymously" from another browser because my slashdot account is 'special' and does not show your reply; it also hides a lot of other things in my primary browser (firefox). Could be a cache issue; I don't know. But hey, it's not Russian and it aint working.
Drop Win32? by Zinho · 2012-08-07 05:20 · Score: 1

I really hope they don't. As time goes by it gets harder and harder and harder to run legacy apps on modern operating systems. ReactOS is a godsend for those who just want to keep that one ancient service alive. Having XP finally drop completely out of support will make Win32 support in ReactOS more critical, not less.

--
"Space Exploration is not endless circles in low earth orbit." -Buzz Aldrin
1. Re:Drop Win32? by Bill,+Shooter+of+Bul · 2012-08-07 08:04 · Score: 1
  
  Well, it would be a godsend, if it worked for non trivial programs. Every single applicaiton I've tried on react os dating back to 2002 has not worked. Its a fun hobby project that could have developed into something useful, but it just didn't work out that way.
  
  --
  Well.. maybe. Or Maybe not. But Definitely not sort of.
2. Re:Drop Win32? by Gavagai80 · 2012-08-07 11:38 · Score: 1
  
  When you want to run a DOS program, you use DOSBOX -- you don't install a FreeDOS partition. Likewise, it'll be much more practical to run Win32 in WINE.
  
  --
  This space intentionally left blank
Let's imagine I'm Vladimir Putin by Kupfernigk · 2012-08-07 07:20 · Score: 2

I'm running a large country. I want control of my computers and the software they run. I tell people to sort out compatibility and support. Labour costs aren't a worry. And being sued by Microsoft? How many ICBMs do they have?
I really do not think you quite get the commercial environment here.

--
From scarped cliff or quarried stone she cries "A thousand types are gone, I care for nothing, no not one."
I still use VMS and I call BS. by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-07 15:37 · Score: 0

DELETE FILENAME
is not quite right as you have to specify the version, or *
DELETE FILENAME;VERSION
How do you change into a directory
set def [.DIRECTORYNAME]
How do you recursively copy a directory
copy [.DIRECTORY1...]*.* [.DIRECTORY2...]
(The elipses mean recuse. You better put in both sets if you don't want to flatten the copy - ie all files in top level)
How do you delete a directory
SET PROT /SEC=O:(RWED)
DELETE DIRECTORY.DIR
how to make Windows 99% secure .. by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-08 04:24 · Score: 0

Dont network it, /message ends..