Slashdot Mirror


Wine 4.0 Released With Vulkan Support, Initial Direct3D 12 and Better HiDPI (phoronix.com)

Michael Larabel writes via Phoronix: Wine 4.0 is now officially available as the new annual stable release to Wine for running Windows programs and games on Linux and other operating systems. Following seven weekly release candidates, Wine 4.0 was ready to ship today as judged by Wine founder Alexandre Julliard. Wine 4.0 is a big release bringing initial Vulkan graphics API support, Direct3D CSMT is enabled by default, early Direct3D 12 support via VKD3D, continued HiDPI work, various OpenGL improvements, multi-sample D3D texture support, 64-bit improvements, continued Android support, and much more. The release announcement and notes can be read via WineHQ.org. The source can be downloaded here.

73 comments

  1. Wine by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    If my wine is not decantered will I suffer?
    Will you give me a discount or comp me a desert special?
    Or perhaps a coupon for half off an early bird
    And if I drink all the wine will my complaint fall on deaf ears?
    Or will the gracious bartender look the other way and leave
    Behind
    A bottle of tequila and a shot glass to share?
    Pass the salt

    1. Re:Wine by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      burma shave

    2. Re:Wine by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And if I drink all the wine will my complaint fall on deaf ears?

      Just when I thought all of the possibilities for different types of porn had been used up.

  2. The real question by JustAnotherOldGuy · · Score: 2

    The real question is "how well does it actually work" with mainstream Windows programs like Word/Excel, Photoshop, etc.

    I use VirtualBox to run Win7 under Linux Mint, and while some stuff works great, a lot of stuff doesn't.

    For example, I can use MS Word under VirtualBox and most things work fine, but do something like update the Table of Contents and *boom* Word crashes.

    So...is Wine better, or is Crossover a viable solution?

    (I'd happily dump Word/Excel in a heartbeat, but the fact is that some of my clients use Word and they're not gonna change. I need to be able to send them a file that they can use.)

    --
    Just cruising through this digital world at 33 1/3 rpm...
    1. Re: The real question by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I have a client who still uses WordPerfect and they wonâ(TM)t accept that other stuff.deaf ears

    2. Re: The real question by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Can't top perfection

    3. Re:The real question by Gavagai80 · · Score: 2

      Have you actually ever had a problem with Word files saving wrongly in Libre Office? If so, have you tried saving them to an older version Word format?

      --
      This space intentionally left blank
    4. Re:The real question by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Binaries are not available yet.

    5. Re:The real question by Shikaku · · Score: 1

      I'm laughing at my own suggestion but I'm genuinely curious how well it would actually work:

      https://office.live.com/start/...

      How well does the online version work?

    6. Re:The real question by bill_mcgonigle · · Score: 5, Insightful

      For example, I can use MS Word under VirtualBox and most things work fine, but do something like update the Table of Contents and *boom* Word crashes.

      There's probably something wrong with your Word or Windows (or out of memory, etc.). That combination should "just work" - it's really running on Windows on virtualized hardware.

      WINE contains no Windows; it's a reimplementation of the Win32API, etc. Stuff may or may not work depending on completeness and for bug-for-bug compatibility reasons (check their database).

      --
      My God, it's Full of Source!
      OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
    7. Re:The real question by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Are you running Virtualbox 6.0 and suffering some random regression or bug maybe?

      (or not running 6.0 which would somehow fix whatever is happening, but well..)
      Another idea would be to create a Windows 8.1 VM if you can, and see what's happening in there. You'll need to (within the year) if using not-EOL Windows is important.
      Are you using Win 7 32bit vs 64bit...

      These are not answers in depths, but I'm suspecting that if your stuff is brittle for an unknown reason, maybe it'll work again by doing the same thing a bit differently along these ideas.

    8. Re:The real question by Kjella · · Score: 5, Informative

      I use VirtualBox to run Win7 under Linux Mint, and while some stuff works great, a lot of stuff doesn't. For example, I can use MS Word under VirtualBox and most things work fine, but do something like update the Table of Contents and *boom* Word crashes.

      Well, first off does it crash on a native Win7 box? If it doesn't I'd try doing a fresh install, in this scenario VirtualBox is running genuine Windows on virtualized hardware. If that didn't work properly it'd be front page news. Quite frankly that setup is almost always less hassle than WINE, the obvious downside is that you need a license for the Win7 box while WINE is a re-implementation so it's just your code running on top of WINE.

      --
      Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
    9. Re:The real question by phantomfive · · Score: 1

      It's worth a try. It depends on the application, but in my experience, all the Applications I want to use work well enough.

      --
      "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
    10. Re:The real question by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Office 365 is a thing if you really have to have it. Chances are that you aren't doing anything terribly complicated with it, even if your clients are. You can also do your Office work on an Android device, but in my experience that web version of Office is enough for about 95% of what people want.

    11. Re:The real question by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Some people do use the scripting and add-on features within Office.

      I suspect anybody who does desktop support knows some autistic MBA doofus who has a 40,000 LOC pet spreadsheet that a whole office or business unit runs. Yes, somebody with a proper programming background could make it infinitely better by turning it in to some form of real application, but that would require the guy who wrote it to explain everything he needs it to do, which never happens, which is why everyone needs the 40k LOC spreadsheet. And then THAT is the spreadsheet everyone trots out when someone suggests trying any other spreadsheet application.

    12. Re:The real question by Bite+The+Pillow · · Score: 1

      Try it and let us know?

    13. Re:The real question by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I actually fixed this (some huge multi-file bs excel "program") for some auditing software at a university. Data is automatic now instead of some imbecile having to run a bunch of macros and shitting his pants when it doesn't work as expected.

    14. Re:The real question by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Wow, not often I see a vitriolic AC post that is spot on. 100% THIS.

      Excel enables business to solve problems quickly.

      Excel then sucks the life from the profit of that process over time as the macros become more and more complex (and fragile, its VBA we're talking about).

      40,000 LOC spread sheet across 5 different spread sheets which had to create new spreadsheets on the fly because excel2003 couldn't handle the > 128,000 rows he was automatically deleting and such.

      I've seen similar things a few times now.. ITS ALWAYS THE FINANCE PEOPLE! Typically financial analysts, they are the worst, combining a masters in statistics with a 201 level course in How To Use Excel for Statistics.

    15. Re:The real question by Bert64 · · Score: 1

      There's no reason that virtualbox would cause word to crash when updating a TOC, you're running a full version of windows and word just under a hypervisor instead of bare metal hardware... That crash could just as easily happen in a native install.

      --
      http://spamdecoy.net - free throwaway anonymous email - avoid spam!
    16. Re:The real question by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Have you actually ever had a problem with Word files saving wrongly in Libre Office? If so, have you tried saving them to an older version Word format?

      Some years ago I decided to show a friend that Open Office (back before the Libre Office days) was an alternative to a stolen Microsoft Office. I opened OO Writer, I typed a simple sentence and tried to save it as a Word file. As I pressed OK to save the file Open Office crashed hard on me. I still remember my friend's laughter. That was the last time I suggested Open/Libre Office to anyone.

      And before you suggest I know nothing about Libre Office as of today, my work computer runs Linux and I use Libre Office for all my work-related text documents.

    17. Re:The real question by tlhIngan · · Score: 1

      For example, I can use MS Word under VirtualBox and most things work fine, but do something like update the Table of Contents and *boom* Word crashes.

      First, don't run the latest and greatest Office. I generally stick to a version behind if you can, because you're probably running into a Word bug. The latest and greatest basically have all the bugs in them, while the previous release would have most of their bugs fixed.

      Second, apply all the Office updates from Microsoft. I had a the misfortune of having to run unpatched Office because the IT department where I was contracted to basically locked down their configurations. It's terrible using Office where anything you do might crash it. Of course, the same version of Office on my work laptop (the one I work for, not who I was contracted to) worked just fine on hardware that was wimpier and weaker, just because it was patched completely.

      Life sucks when dealing with word documents that are especially crashy. Save often.

    18. Re: The real question by OrangeTide · · Score: 1

      WordStar is still used by a few full-time authors, after trying it for a bit I can see the appeal. Sometimes you just need a digital version of a typewriter's basic functionality, and not the huge fucking headache that modern software often ends up being.

      If you want someone to switch software, you have to make some logical arguments that take their own use cases into consideration. If they can get by running their stuff in vDos or DOSbox, then I say let them.

      At a client's request, I got a them setup in vDos, including printing and faxing, with their patient records app and saved them a fortune in software and re-training. Their only employee wasn't really up to the task of switching away from the software she has been using for the last 30 years. Once she retires maybe they'll switch over to something more modern.

      What gets me are the self described experts that can't configure their browser not to assume the character encoding of an HTML form. Or /.'s unwillingness to add a tiny bit of code to fix it. /. might not be the website we want, but it's the website we deserve.

      --
      “Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
    19. Re:The real question by 93+Escort+Wagon · · Score: 1

      WINE contains no Windows; it's a reimplementation of the Win32API, etc.

      This is true in the default config, but Wine also supports dropping in many/most of the actual Windows DLLs if you have them. It’s one common hack to get otherwise-unsupported versions of software to work (especially games).

      --
      #DeleteChrome
    20. Re:The real question by someoneOtherThanMe · · Score: 1

      Never mind saving wrongly, just opening a .docx in LibreOffice makes it look totally different than if opened in Word. Also, certain documents that on opening crash the whole LibreOffice (that is, including all opened spreadsheets and presentations). Fortunately, document recovery has always worked so I haven't actually lost work in other files.

    21. Re:The real question by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      For example, I can use MS Word under VirtualBox and most things work fine, but do something like update the Table of Contents and *boom* Word crashes.

      There's probably something wrong with your Word or Windows (or out of memory, etc.). That combination should "just work" - it's really running on Windows on virtualized hardware.

      WINE contains no Windows; it's a reimplementation of the Win32API, etc. Stuff may or may not work depending on completeness and for bug-for-bug compatibility reasons (check their database).

      Hold on.. "just work" is too close to the Apple trademark slogan ... you know, the one they use to ignore their hardwware and software errors.... namely... "It just works"

    22. Re: The real question by Greyfox · · Score: 1

      Bah! You guys need to get on the LaTeX train! It's kind of a turd, but they've been polishing that turd for nearly as long as I've been alive, and it does make a beautiful document.

      --

      I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?

    23. Re: The real question by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That is because word is buggy, not because OpenOffice is.

    24. Re:The real question by JackieBrown · · Score: 1

      This is probably the worst reason I have ever read not to use Open/Libre Office.

      "It crashed unknown years ago when I first installed it. I got laughed at so never tried again."

      Outlook crashes on me (or hard freezes) almost once a day at work.

    25. Re:The real question by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If your word crashes under virtualbox the fault is on word or windows install.
      You could have problems if you use fancy 3d stuff and complain that some cad/game software does not work or crash. Thats possible.

      But word crashing under virtualbox is very unlikely. Do a reinstall and check again.

    26. Re:The real question by johnsie · · Score: 1

      So because a program crashed on you one time a long time ago you are afraid to use it. ROFLCOPTER

    27. Re:The real question by Type44Q · · Score: 1

      Indeed I have that same combo (Win7 on VirtualBox under Mint 19 Mate) running on a client's 4th or 5th gen iCore laptop and it's been rocksolid since last spring.

    28. Re:The real question by jellomizer · · Score: 1

      With previous versions, Wine works well with the applications, but they have always been trouble to get setup, often require more additional components to be setup. And needing external "hacks" which are not necessarily legal. To get them to work.

      The advantage of Wine over Virtualization is primary the fact the Application will run will less resources, and you are not running a full OS layer, so a small App lets say the Calc.exe App will not need 4 gigs of ram, and 1 reserved CPU core, and a few gigs of storage. to hold the OS and the Calc.exe app.

      --
      If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
    29. Re: The real question by OrangeTide · · Score: 1

      Spending your time typesetting instead of writing? Why wouldn't I work with a publisher or hire an editor to do that dirty business? At least when dealing with novels that don't need much typesetting, or rather have to be typeset multiple times to fit a variety of trade formats.

      TeX is perhaps ideal for publishing papers and writing textbooks. You can quickly splice together lots of data with a tiny bit of markup, and that surely beats fighting the auto-formatting in a WYSIWYG editor.

      --
      “Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
    30. Re:The real question by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      There's probably something wrong with your Word or Windows (or out of memory, etc.). That combination should "just work" - it's really running on Windows on virtualized hardware.

      Probably true, but I have always found Virtualbox to be unreliable. Either qemu-kvm or vmware is a far superior solution if you expect things to work. vmware might be a bunch of bastards, but vmware is solid and in my experience always has the best virtual graphics device by a wide margin.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    31. Re: The real question by juanoviedo · · Score: 1

      Recommend it. He said he uses it on a daily basis.

    32. Re:The real question by jasonharrop · · Score: 1

      I use VirtualBox to run Win7 under Linux Mint, and while some stuff works great, a lot of stuff doesn't.

      For example, I can use MS Word under VirtualBox and most things work fine, but do something like update the Table of Contents and *boom* Word crashes.

      That sounds odd; I open all sorts of documents in Word 2010, 2013 and 2016 in VMs (in Win 10) in VirtualBox 6 (previously 5.x) on Manjaro host (previously KDE neon) and have never had any issues at all with Word behaving differently to how it would if it wasn't in a VM.

    33. Re:The real question by sad_ · · Score: 1

      it's a hit & miss, just like with games.
      some applications run great other don't even start.

      also, all crossover patches should normally find their way into wine after some time.

      --
      On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero.
    34. Re:The real question by JustAnotherOldGuy · · Score: 1

      There's no reason that virtualbox would cause word to crash when updating a TOC, you're running a full version of windows and word just under a hypervisor instead of bare metal hardware... That crash could just as easily happen in a native install.

      Except it never, ever did this in a native install under Win7.

      --
      Just cruising through this digital world at 33 1/3 rpm...
    35. Re:The real question by JustAnotherOldGuy · · Score: 1

      The advantage of Wine over Virtualization is primary the fact the Application will run will less resources, and you are not running a full OS layer, so a small App lets say the Calc.exe App will not need 4 gigs of ram, and 1 reserved CPU core, and a few gigs of storage. to hold the OS and the Calc.exe app.

      I understand, but in this instance I'm not concerned with ram or how many cores it uses, I just need it to work and I'm willing to give it all the resources it needs.

      --
      Just cruising through this digital world at 33 1/3 rpm...
    36. Re:The real question by JustAnotherOldGuy · · Score: 1

      That sounds odd; I open all sorts of documents in Word 2010, 2013 and 2016 in VMs (in Win 10) in VirtualBox 6 (previously 5.x) on Manjaro host (previously KDE neon) and have never had any issues at all with Word behaving differently to how it would if it wasn't in a VM.

      If you would ship me your PC I would not only stop complaining but I'd send you a genuinely nice Thank You card for all your trouble. :)

      --
      Just cruising through this digital world at 33 1/3 rpm...
    37. Re:The real question by JustAnotherOldGuy · · Score: 1

      Have you actually ever had a problem with Word files saving wrongly in Libre Office? If so, have you tried saving them to an older version Word format?

      Yes, it screws up a bunch if different stuff, and not consistently.

      Sometimes it's the margins that get all borked, sometimes it's images, tables, etc etc. I never know if it'll look okay when they open it in Word.

      --
      Just cruising through this digital world at 33 1/3 rpm...
    38. Re:The real question by JustAnotherOldGuy · · Score: 1

      Well, first off does it crash on a native Win7 box?

      Nope, never. Literally never saw this behavior until I started running it in the VM.

      --
      Just cruising through this digital world at 33 1/3 rpm...
    39. Re:The real question by JustAnotherOldGuy · · Score: 1

      I'm laughing at my own suggestion but I'm genuinely curious how well it would actually work:

      https://office.live.com/start/...

      How well does the online version work?

      I have a few friends that use Office 365, and they say it's not bad. Not perfect, but not bad.

      Fun Fact: Office 365 won't pass Microsoft's own tests for compatibility with Word and Excel. It's true, I know a tester that works at MS and he says it's an open secret there.

      --
      Just cruising through this digital world at 33 1/3 rpm...
    40. Re:The real question by Bert64 · · Score: 1

      It doesn't happen in a hypervisor on the machines i've seen recently either...
      I've seen random problems occur on windows machines for all manner of reasons, registry corruption, a dll got replaced with an older version etc, wether physical or virtual.

      --
      http://spamdecoy.net - free throwaway anonymous email - avoid spam!
  3. Re: A Nice Chianti... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    A better pairing would be a big Amarone and some MAOIs.

  4. Re: Dont insult me... by wolfheart111 · · Score: 1

    U make me sad :(

    --
    [($)]
  5. Re:A Nice Chianti... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Burn the bodies then bring me the cold ashes on a silver plate with a glass of chilled Sancerre.

  6. Re:In other release news... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    And in other news, TDS is still rampant among the intellectually-challenged.

  7. This is awesome by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

    I'm really excited to see all the work in the Linux world generally on Wayland and GPU and related APIs. The latest versions of wine are actually amazing. One of the issues I've often had was that wine included with most distros is an ancient version many many years old. This gives an impression of the state of the project that is not in line with current reality.

    Current version of wine will actually run almost all of my non-game windows software including office which is awesome. I fully plan on ditching Windows for good once W7 is abandoned. Microsoft's behavior is simply unacceptable.

  8. WIll it support Java yet? by Rick+Schumann · · Score: 1

    The one piece of Windows software I'd still like to be able to use won't work under WINE because I can't install Java. Will this version support that? From the release notes it doesn't look like it does.

    1. Re:WIll it support Java yet? by Bert64 · · Score: 2

      If it's java, is it really windows software? It might run just fine with the linux version of java...

      Several people have got the windows version of java running on wine, according to the wine site the installer doesnt work but java itself does so you can take an already installed version, copy it across and run it.

      --
      http://spamdecoy.net - free throwaway anonymous email - avoid spam!
    2. Re:WIll it support Java yet? by someoneOtherThanMe · · Score: 2

      Can't install Java? I can do that just fine (wine-1.9.11 (Staging), which came with my version of Ubuntu).

    3. Re:WIll it support Java yet? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Java has worked in Wine for many years. What are you on about?

    4. Re:WIll it support Java yet? by Rick+Schumann · · Score: 1

      Several people have got the windows version of java running on wine, according to the wine site the installer doesnt work but java itself does so you can take an already installed version, copy it across and run it.

      ..okay, but that seems to imply having a working Windows installation handy you can copy it from, which creates an chicken-and-egg conundrum. If I have to have a bootable copy of Windows around then there's no point really messing with WINE is there?

    5. Re:WIll it support Java yet? by Rick+Schumann · · Score: 1

      Fine, I'll bite. I'm on Ubuntu 18.04, and the Windows installer for Java doesn't run, therefore the one Windows program I want to use doesn't work either.
      Here's what I want to run: https://www.powertap.com/produ...
      If you have One Stupid Trick to get the current version of Java to install under the current version of WINE, then post it.

    6. Re:WIll it support Java yet? by Rick+Schumann · · Score: 1

      See the above comment to another AC: https://slashdot.org/comments....
      Same challenge goes to you.

    7. Re:WIll it support Java yet? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Java 8 is bugged but Java 7 and OpenJDK both work fine. I bet you can get what you want working if you try.

    8. Re:WIll it support Java yet? by Rick+Schumann · · Score: 1

      WINNER, WINNER, CHICKEN DINNER!
      If I had money right now and knew where to send it I'd send you $100.00 for that. Java 7 installs under WINE and PowerAgent actually runs.
      That, by the way, is the last piece of the puzzle so far as getting away from Windows entirely and for good.
      A thousand "THANK YOUs" to you sir!

    9. Re:WIll it support Java yet? by Rick+Schumann · · Score: 1

      Okay that worked but it won't read the COM port it needs to read to work. :-(

  9. Re: Dont insult me... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You'd probably be happier if you read more books. ;)

  10. Re: Dont insult me... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    U make me sad :(

    So be it. Come, Patsy!

  11. There's no such thing as TDS by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It's called patriots fighting terrorism. You're either with us, or with the fat man.

  12. Re: A Nice Chianti... by CronoCloud · · Score: 1

    It is Amarone in the book. It was probably chaged to Chianti, because of the ViewersAreMorons trope

  13. as can be seen by the comments, not much interest by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    wine has been trying since at least 1995:

    https://wiki.winehq.org/Wine_History

    There is not much excitement about any wine release anymore, because long time "users" (and developers) know that the project basically suffers from a big discrepancy between the expectations (Windows applications "just" work, Windows not needed anymore), and the reality of the matter: something might work, for an unknown amount of time, with a variable amount of effort in configuration, code patches, modifications to the original applications etc.

    Wine 4.0. Yay.

  14. Re:as can be seen by the comments, not much intere by ledow · · Score: 1

    It's more:

    - Do you need a Windows app to run? It's probably cheaper, easier, more manageable and more likely to work if you just buy Windows.
    - Do you need to do that on a machine that you don't want to run Windows on? It's probably --all of the above again -- to just buy VMWare or virtualise Windows. VMWare can make Windows-native applications work like Linux-native applications without the desktop at all (i.e. you can drag, overlay, minimise just the window of the Windows program you want, just like it was a native Linux program).
    - Do you need to reduce all dependency on Microsoft operating systems (and their associated costs)? Then you're out of luck - most of this stuff is harder to get working and not as good, AND you end up having to install native library via winetricks etc. for almost anything of note. You're still running their software, frameworks, etc.
    - Do you need to run some random Windows app that nobody else cares about and is no longer supported on Windows? Chances are a) you really shouldn't and b) that won't work anyway. Even the "big" programs that are free and everyone can run, test and debug have thousands of bugs against them under Wine.

    The use-case used to be "you can be a Windows person, and do everything a Windows person could do, without having to run Windows or pay Microsoft". That's just not deliverable. As time goes on, you're going to get further behind, too. I used Crossover for nearly a decade, with Office 2000. It worked. It worked quite well. Everything else was just a waste of time trying, to be honest.

    It was actually quicker to wait for Microsoft to re-code and re-release Age of Empires 2 and a modern Windows application (AoE2 HD Edition) than for the original game to become stable and have sufficient performance under Wine as it had on Windows. The AoE2 GDI issues took forever to fix, caused all kinds of performance problems and I'm not even sure if they're solved today... (checks WineHQ... some golds and silvers for various incarnations but the original Age of Kings: Garbage... and ironically with the newest versions of Wine with 64 test results... and lots of winetricks and other workarounds).

    If you want old Windows, virtualise.
    If you want Windows on your Linux, virtualise.
    If you want Windows-to-work-on-nothing-Windows, pretty much you only have one choice and that's poor.

    It's a huge undertaking, a constantly-moving target, incredibly difficult, incredibly impressive, etc. etc. etc.

    But in terms of "using" it... I paid someone else to make my Word 2000 work on Linux, gave up and used native LibreOffice ever since, and haven't ever used it for anything practical since then. Even SteamOS etc. has only very recently (when they realised that the Windows developers weren't going to re-write their games for it) introduced Wine emulation layers to try to run Windows games on Linux... and that's something Transgaming was doing... what? 15-20 years ago now? And never made a success of. And it only works on a small portion of the titles anyway.

    Like ReactOS... it's a hobby project. A huge one with thousands of developers, but a hobby project. The effort would be so much better off elsewhere (e.g. an open-source VMWare that does half what VMWare can do in terms of desktop integration!), but people still bash on it because it's fun to get old games working on Linux.

    I think similar to Samba's efforts to be an AD domain controller too... they should have just gone for "file access over the network", the necessary components for that, and then just left it. Dozens of man-years of effort to arrive at something that nobody really wants, deploys, tests or has a use-case for that isn't better catered for by saying "Let's not do Microsoft LDAP/AD" or "Let's just buy Windows Server".

  15. Re:In other release news... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "The misery that is now upon us is but the passing of greed - the bitterness of men who fear the way of human progress. The hate of men will pass, and dictators die, and the power they took from the people will return to the people. And so long as men die, liberty will never perish.
    ...
    "Dictators free themselves but they enslave the people! Now let us fight to fulfil that promise! Let us fight to free the world - to do away with national barriers - to do away with greed, with hate and intolerance. Let us fight for a world of reason, a world where science and progress will lead to all men’s happiness..."

      – Charlie Chaplin, The Great Dictator (1940)

  16. Re:as can be seen by the comments, not much intere by fgouget · · Score: 1

    Like ReactOS... it's a hobby project. A huge one with thousands of developers, but a hobby project.

    You are greatly overestimating the number of contributors to ReactOS. They have 38 contributors with more than 100 commits and only 55 with more than 10.

    The effort would be so much better off elsewhere (e.g. an open-source VMWare that does half what VMWare can do in terms of desktop integration!),

    You mean like the open-source VirtualBox and QEmu?

    But no virtual machine technology is going to solve our societies utter dependency on Windows. Take away Windows and everything grinds to a halt: no more loan at your bank because the software for that runs on Windows, half the ATMs down, gas pumps too, cashiers at a significant fraction of the supermarkets revert to paper, and in a number of states no election anymore, etc.

    And yet there is only one supplier. That would be totally unimaginable for oil, steel or most other critical resources. That's what makes Wine important: it is the only alternative Windows API implementation.