ReactOS (open source Windows NT clone) accepted into Google Summer of Code 2011 | Hacker News Reader

ReactOS (open source Windows NT clone) accepted into Google Summer of Code 2011

reactos.org

90 pointsfogus17 comments

I've been ReactOS' 'Web Team Leader' from 2004 to 2006. I'm really happy to see them get accepted into SoC again. Maybe that will bring some much needed impulses, it did when they were accepted the last time. The project has been around for a long time and has contributed significantly to Wine, but sadly has gotten nowhere with the OS itself. There has always been ambitious planning (Version 0.3.0 was released in 2006 and 0.4 and 0.5 were planned for not much later.) but not much getting forward (The current version is 0.3.13.). The problem is, that there are a few very talented people working on the project, doing what they love to do, but this is really not enough to get an OS anywhere.

Microsoft doesn't see the project as a threat because the code is nowhere near enough to replace any Windows installation.

An SSH service would be of real benefit to Windows users, too. As the page says, the Cygwin sshd is much too intrusive when all you need is a Windows command prompt.

A terminal services implementation would make an interesting project. The original Microsoft terminal services implementation in NT needed wide-reaching changes to the way Win32 works.

For "Windows-style" ssh, where I just need a prompt, I use psexec:

  psexec \\computer -u administrator cmd

A true SSH service would be useful in lots of other situations though.

I've found WinRM and PowerShell to be a pretty effective "ssh-like" tool for Windows. Plus it's object-oriented.

http://www.computerperformance.co.uk/powershell/powershell_r...

I like PowerShell SSH Server - it's a normal SSH protocol, unlike WinRM, and native, unlike the various Cygwin hacks.

http://www.powershellinside.com/powershell/ssh/

There are certain things that ReactOS could do that would make it a genuine threat to Microsoft. Tighter integration with Samba, a multiplexed VNC-type terminal service and Office compatibility with Wine would help transition ReactOS from interesting hobby project to actual competitor.

efforts in the reactOS project ultimately result in contributions to Wine as discoveries in one, help the other

I would use it for gaming only. So it would be nice to support gaming =)

Does it support the NT drivers? Without native GPU drivers, I don't think there's much chance of using it for gaming :)

As I recall, driver binary compatibility is a goal. Last time I looked into it, they had you drop in the generic VGA driver from an NT install while they were stabilizing their VGA driver.

last time i checked ATI drivers were not supported. Not sure about Nvidia.

I am very surprised MS is allowing this project to exist. Maybe I'm missing something, but isn't there a real threat that MS is going to come down on this with the rage of a thousand suns?

Don't get me wrong, I'm all for an open source alternative to windows. Just pointing out some (possibly misplaced) concern.

I dunno if this indicates anything, but one of the former core contributors to ReactOS co-wrote the latest edition of the book on Windows internals published by MS Press.

http://blogs.technet.com/b/markrussinovich/archive/2009/07/0...

"You can watch me and David Solomon talking about the book and our history of collaboration in this Channel 9 interview we recorded a couple of weeks ago. David and I coauthored the previous two editions alone, but this time around we add a third contributor, Alex Ionescu. Alex came to our attention back when he was a primary contributor to the kernel of the ReactOS project, an attempt to develop an open source clone of Windows. Alex now teaches Windows internals training classes with David Solomon, including on campus here at Microsoft like I used to do before I joined Microsoft. Needless to say, Alex was a valuable addition to our team on this revision of the book."

(weirdly, Alex's LinkedIn page also indicates that he is now simultaneously employed both by Apple working on iOS (!) and as a consultant on Windows security and internals. Maybe it just hasn't been updated correctly? It's also kinda funny that MS apparently hires outside consultants to teach their employees about the internal workings of their own operating system.)

If this is the same project I'm remembering, it's been around for something like 12 years.

MS has given them trouble in the past i believe and they've gone through a full code audit to keep running.

On what basis?

That it's potentially a direct threat to one of their few profitable divisions?

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