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Someone should explain to them that open source software without being actively developed by a global community of high skilled enthusiasts (doing it for their

Someone should explain to them that open source software without being actively developed by a global community of high skilled enthusiasts (doing it for their own use) is doomed to lag, stagnate and die. Even a Linux distribution will lag and stagnate without active community. So many did. It just a law of big numbers. Even Solaris forks are effectively dead - who would write all the drivers for all these new chipsets? Long time ago Russian military had a brilliant idea to maintain their own Linux - it was an epic failure. And always will be.

jeditobe 11y ago
ReactOS has a plenty of drivers and programs, because the idea of ReactOS is to be 100% compatible with windows 2003+
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]
- dschiptsov 11y ago
  Any 10gb Ethernets? SAS controllers? Latest server chipsets? Support of NUMA architectures?
  - jeditobe 11y ago
    I dont have any of these on any of my home or work PCs or laptops
  - pjc50 11y ago
    I presume it can load NT closed-source drivers for the first three.
  - rjaco31 11y ago
    If they are binary-compatible with Windows, I guess they can just use the existing ones.
    - cwyers 11y ago
      Is that legal? Are Windows drivers distributed in such a way that they can be used with non-Windows operating systems?
      - madez 11y ago
        Who cares? I know this is a loaded question but I mean it seriously. The importance of legal aspects is highly varying, from matter-deciding to completely irrelevant. Especially if you have a government of a souvereign country like russia behind you, legal problems about redistribution or usage shouldn't be a big problem.
      - sp332 11y ago
        Aren't the drivers for SAS controllers and other server hardware usually written by 3rd parties?
        cwyers 11y ago
        It's possible, I think, that there's some Windows driver SDK code used by most drivers that has conditions on it.
      - userulluipeste 11y ago
        Microsoft doesn't really own the drivers. Microsoft just provides its DDK, then the hardware vendors who wish to include their drivers along with Windows are forced to provide the sources for the drivers in cause to Microsoft. Otherwise the drivers are usually made and provided directly, independently from Microsoft, by the hardware vendors themselves. Its safe to assume that the condition for using these drivers is something that has to make the hardware vendors happy (which is whatever sells their hardware).
  - EGreg 11y ago
    Yes. I think their attitude is one of NUMA NUMA YAY!
    - userulluipeste 11y ago
      If that's from the O-Zone song, it translates (from Romanian) "you only don't take me" - was it a pun?
- sudioStudio64 11y ago
  the driver model has changed pretty significantly in the last 12 years. I think its an interesting project, but other than basic desktop compatibility this just isn't going to be really viable. Basic means...no directx...which means pretty much none of the text and 2d advances from Win7/2K8R2...
  - userulluipeste 11y ago
    There are a lot of no-DirectX operating systems out there which do just fine. Although there is a long history of releasing Windows with DirectX, those versions of DirectX were pretty limited and installing the newer (more powerful) versions used to be only optional, on a per-need basis, before Windows got bloated. Considering that the ReactOS Foundation does not take decisions in the same way as corporations do, it's possible for DirectX to become again just some install-able frame-work (or frame-game if you will). So, DirectX may not be so badly needed as you imply it to be. EDIT: Somewhat related - regarding OpenGL, ReactOS' decision was to bundle only the version 1.4, because installing the graphic card's drivers will give you exactly the last version of OpenGL your card can handle, that is - if you'd be interested in accessing the card's capacity (beyond what the default bundled ReactOS driver will give you) in the first place. Many folks might not even be interested in such a thing, considering that not every one plays hardcore games, so why bother? Why bloating the entire system with something that can be left as optional?
    - sudioStudio64 11y ago
      That's a very optimistic outlook. I hope it works out exactly as you hope.
  - alexi5 11y ago
    There no such decision had place, one which would be against implementation of DirectX. From the other side, DX could be just taken and installed.
userulluipeste 11y ago
Well, ReactOS happens to be developed by a global community just like you've mentioned as prerequisite. It didn't died so far and the news is that there is a high chance for it to receive even more life in its veins! We'll only have to see how it will go from now on.
pgeorgi 11y ago
Then they don't have to worry, I guess. The project is 17 years old and development speed increased in the last couple of years, since the basic building blocks in the kernel got into shape. By the way, why are you so strongly opposed to people doing stuff?
- dschiptsov 11y ago
  Only to incompetent but over-confident bureaucrats. BTW, I am the guy who migrated Lenta's (retail chain) servers from SCO Open Server to Linux back in 2000 without losing a single day of sales.
  - pgeorgi 11y ago
    So you're just ranting against your very own nemesis, whether it has anything to do with the original article or not. Good to know.
    - dschiptsov 11y ago
      Surely you know better ..
snw 11y ago
The solaris forks are definitly not dead. What became of opensolaris is now known as illumos and there are quite a few specialized illumos distributions around like SmartOS, OmniOS, OpenIndiana, Nexenta Stor and a few more. I agree that you need a community of users and developers for a successful open-source project. Luckily in addition to the companies like Joyent, OmniTI, Nexenta, Lucera, Delphix (who all actually do a lot of drivers development) there is a friendly and growing community of volunteers that contribute. What is sadly sometimes lacking a bit is marketing. After oracle went closed again many assumed opensolaris died, but in fact a lot of interesting systems development is happening in illumos land. Of course all open source. I wish a few more people would recognize what a great system and community SmartOS and OmniOS have.
plq 11y ago
There are many open source projects who are basically one-man shows (SQLAlchemy springs to mind -- it recently reached 1.0 after 9 years of intensive hacking) which survive just fine. I agree that having an active community helps, but being the main author of an open source project myself, I feel that the real reason a project survives is because its authors' lives depend on it :)

jeditobe 11y ago

ReactOS has a plenty of drivers and programs, because the idea of ReactOS is to be 100% compatible with windows 2003+

deleted 11y ago
[deleted]
dschiptsov 11y ago
Any 10gb Ethernets? SAS controllers? Latest server chipsets? Support of NUMA architectures?
- jeditobe 11y ago
  I dont have any of these on any of my home or work PCs or laptops
- pjc50 11y ago
  I presume it can load NT closed-source drivers for the first three.
- rjaco31 11y ago
  If they are binary-compatible with Windows, I guess they can just use the existing ones.
  - cwyers 11y ago
    Is that legal? Are Windows drivers distributed in such a way that they can be used with non-Windows operating systems?
    - madez 11y ago
      Who cares? I know this is a loaded question but I mean it seriously. The importance of legal aspects is highly varying, from matter-deciding to completely irrelevant. Especially if you have a government of a souvereign country like russia behind you, legal problems about redistribution or usage shouldn't be a big problem.
    - sp332 11y ago
      Aren't the drivers for SAS controllers and other server hardware usually written by 3rd parties?
      - cwyers 11y ago
        It's possible, I think, that there's some Windows driver SDK code used by most drivers that has conditions on it.
    - userulluipeste 11y ago
      Microsoft doesn't really own the drivers. Microsoft just provides its DDK, then the hardware vendors who wish to include their drivers along with Windows are forced to provide the sources for the drivers in cause to Microsoft. Otherwise the drivers are usually made and provided directly, independently from Microsoft, by the hardware vendors themselves. Its safe to assume that the condition for using these drivers is something that has to make the hardware vendors happy (which is whatever sells their hardware).
- EGreg 11y ago
  Yes. I think their attitude is one of NUMA NUMA YAY!
  - userulluipeste 11y ago
    If that's from the O-Zone song, it translates (from Romanian) "you only don't take me" - was it a pun?
sudioStudio64 11y ago
the driver model has changed pretty significantly in the last 12 years. I think its an interesting project, but other than basic desktop compatibility this just isn't going to be really viable. Basic means...no directx...which means pretty much none of the text and 2d advances from Win7/2K8R2...
- userulluipeste 11y ago
  There are a lot of no-DirectX operating systems out there which do just fine. Although there is a long history of releasing Windows with DirectX, those versions of DirectX were pretty limited and installing the newer (more powerful) versions used to be only optional, on a per-need basis, before Windows got bloated. Considering that the ReactOS Foundation does not take decisions in the same way as corporations do, it's possible for DirectX to become again just some install-able frame-work (or frame-game if you will). So, DirectX may not be so badly needed as you imply it to be. EDIT: Somewhat related - regarding OpenGL, ReactOS' decision was to bundle only the version 1.4, because installing the graphic card's drivers will give you exactly the last version of OpenGL your card can handle, that is - if you'd be interested in accessing the card's capacity (beyond what the default bundled ReactOS driver will give you) in the first place. Many folks might not even be interested in such a thing, considering that not every one plays hardcore games, so why bother? Why bloating the entire system with something that can be left as optional?
  - sudioStudio64 11y ago
    That's a very optimistic outlook. I hope it works out exactly as you hope.
- alexi5 11y ago
  There no such decision had place, one which would be against implementation of DirectX. From the other side, DX could be just taken and installed.

userulluipeste 11y ago

Well, ReactOS happens to be developed by a global community just like you've mentioned as prerequisite. It didn't died so far and the news is that there is a high chance for it to receive even more life in its veins! We'll only have to see how it will go from now on.

pgeorgi 11y ago

Then they don't have to worry, I guess. The project is 17 years old and development speed increased in the last couple of years, since the basic building blocks in the kernel got into shape. By the way, why are you so strongly opposed to people doing stuff?

dschiptsov 11y ago
Only to incompetent but over-confident bureaucrats. BTW, I am the guy who migrated Lenta's (retail chain) servers from SCO Open Server to Linux back in 2000 without losing a single day of sales.
- pgeorgi 11y ago
  So you're just ranting against your very own nemesis, whether it has anything to do with the original article or not. Good to know.
  - dschiptsov 11y ago
    Surely you know better ..

snw 11y ago

The solaris forks are definitly not dead. What became of opensolaris is now known as illumos and there are quite a few specialized illumos distributions around like SmartOS, OmniOS, OpenIndiana, Nexenta Stor and a few more. I agree that you need a community of users and developers for a successful open-source project. Luckily in addition to the companies like Joyent, OmniTI, Nexenta, Lucera, Delphix (who all actually do a lot of drivers development) there is a friendly and growing community of volunteers that contribute. What is sadly sometimes lacking a bit is marketing. After oracle went closed again many assumed opensolaris died, but in fact a lot of interesting systems development is happening in illumos land. Of course all open source. I wish a few more people would recognize what a great system and community SmartOS and OmniOS have.

plq 11y ago

There are many open source projects who are basically one-man shows (SQLAlchemy springs to mind -- it recently reached 1.0 after 9 years of intensive hacking) which survive just fine. I agree that having an active community helps, but being the main author of an open source project myself, I feel that the real reason a project survives is because its authors' lives depend on it :)