4 ms·

I've often thought there's a massive market for ReactOS in legacy support. There's so many platforms (ATMs, flight controllers, banking software) that use unsup

by pippy 11y ago

I've often thought there's a massive market for ReactOS in legacy support. There's so many platforms (ATMs, flight controllers, banking software) that use unsupported windows versions. Many of these platforms would pay an arm and a leg for ongoing support and security updates.

chris_wot 11y ago
Actually, I'm curious, but for slightly different reasons. Windows can still technically support other architectures than x86; if ReactOS is truly compatible (which it evidently is!) then I wonder how hard it would be for them to port the HAL layer to things like SPARC.
- slipstream- 11y ago
  uh, Windows does support other architectures than x86: currently, it supports x86, x64, ARM and ARM64. (and as Windows Server 2008 R2 is still supported, the IA64 version is also still suppored)
  - chris_wot 11y ago
    Yeah, I know. But it will never support SPARC. Or anything other than the architectures you mention. Windows can still support these other architectures, I'd love to see it happen. ReactOS might be the way that it's made to occur.
    - chungy 11y ago
      Definitely. Microsoft doesn't see commercial value in supporting, eg, a SPARC version, especially when it won't run existing x86 apps. It'd be a huge lost cost in development just to make one. ReactOS isn't driven by the same market forces. Anybody with enough determination can port it to SPARC and fly away :) Windows NT 4 supported x86, MIPS, PowerPC, and Alpha. All but one were dropped with Windows 2000... and it wasn't until XP that non-x86 returned (initially IA-64, and x86_64 in three more years after initial release).
osullivj 11y ago
Excellent point. I'm contracting on a banking project currently, enhancing a C++ MFC fat client application that dates back to 1995. The client org - a UK bank - runs it on Windows XP.

4 ms·

I've often thought there's a massive market for ReactOS in legacy support. There's so many platforms (ATMs, flight controllers, banking software) that use unsup

by pippy 11y ago

chris_wot 11y ago
Actually, I'm curious, but for slightly different reasons. Windows can still technically support other architectures than x86; if ReactOS is truly compatible (which it evidently is!) then I wonder how hard it would be for them to port the HAL layer to things like SPARC.
- slipstream- 11y ago
  uh, Windows does support other architectures than x86: currently, it supports x86, x64, ARM and ARM64. (and as Windows Server 2008 R2 is still supported, the IA64 version is also still suppored)
  - chris_wot 11y ago
    Yeah, I know. But it will never support SPARC. Or anything other than the architectures you mention. Windows can still support these other architectures, I'd love to see it happen. ReactOS might be the way that it's made to occur.
    - chungy 11y ago
      Definitely. Microsoft doesn't see commercial value in supporting, eg, a SPARC version, especially when it won't run existing x86 apps. It'd be a huge lost cost in development just to make one. ReactOS isn't driven by the same market forces. Anybody with enough determination can port it to SPARC and fly away :) Windows NT 4 supported x86, MIPS, PowerPC, and Alpha. All but one were dropped with Windows 2000... and it wasn't until XP that non-x86 returned (initially IA-64, and x86_64 in three more years after initial release).
osullivj 11y ago
Excellent point. I'm contracting on a banking project currently, enhancing a C++ MFC fat client application that dates back to 1995. The client org - a UK bank - runs it on Windows XP.