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Comment by castell | Hacker News Reader

There are alternatives to "Windows 10 as a service" - WINE on Mac/Linux and ReactOS.

ReactOS is an attempt to build an open source version of Windows XP/7. It uses source code from WINE and it aims for better compatibility with legacy apps and drivers by developing a WinNT-like OS-Kernel: http://www.reactos.org/screenshots

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WINE and Reactos are a bit more complicated than an alternative.

ReactOS is nothing more than (arguably pre-)alpha software. It's not possible, at this stage, to predict when and if it will ever reach sufficient stability and security. If you follow the project closely, you will realize how complex an O/S is, and how fundamentally it needs big backing (which it doesn't have) to reach maturity.

WINE is not an alternative to an O/S. Specifically, it's a layer which needs to be evaluated on a per-case (application) basis; it's not (and it's not meant to be) a universal solution (which an O/S needs to be). Of course, ideas about tweaking WINE instead of fully porting software (see Carmack) are interesting, but again, that wouldn't make it a generic replacement.

It all will depend on the dissatisfaction with "Windows as a service".

If there is a real benefit for companies, things can change fast ... see the history of UNIX and Linux. ReactOS is where Linux was in 1996.

It's not an alternative. At least not for a lot of companies. I work at a games studio and we exclusively use Windows - PS4, Xbox One, Wii U sdks and tools only work on Windows and only with Visual Studio(well, PS4 and Xbox One), and it's extremely unlikely that you would get them to work under Wine. So now our company will have to pay a fee to Microsoft to continue using windows, instead of a single flat payment when we bought our hardware.

Also - yes I know they are saying they will support Windows 10 for the lifetime of the device it was bought with,but I doubt it will work like this for enterprise users.

ReactOS re-implements the WinNT series (XP+) OS kernel (you can compare it with UNIX vs. Linux) and WINE provides the user mode layer.

Visual Studio 2010 and the dotNet Framework work fine in WINE: https://appdb.winehq.org/objectManager.php?sClass=applicatio... . VS run as early as 2003 in ReactOS: http://virtuallyfun.superglobalmegacorp.com/wordpress/wp-con...

As ReactOS also supports the Windows graphic card driver from NVidia, AMD and Intel - it's for sure an upcoming alternative to Windows. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ReactOS . Beside that more and more Indie-game-developers support Mac & Linux (PR via Humble Bundle), and beside Indie: GOG and Steam (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steam_Machine_(hardware_platfor... ) are going strong too.

Visual studio 2010 and dotNet surely works fine under wine. But there are lots of small cornerstones in the tools and software companies use that does not work so great.

If there was an real free alternative to windows where all the specialized software worked i am dead sure companies would start to use it. But at this moment there is no such alternative.

Ask yourself, what's better to have: a showstopper bug in a closed software or in a free open source software?

Bugs are often easy to locate and fix, if one can reproduce it. A small donation usually helps open projects.

If I am working with a latest, super secret revision of PS4 sdk that I can't even legally talk about, how would I ask developers of Wine for help if that SDK doesn't work with their software? I can't.

But Microsoft and Sony will be both legally bound to help, in certain cases they could even pay for delays if their software is at fault. I would much prefer to have a showstopper bug in closed software, thank you.

I'm pretty sure that Sony wouldn't like Microsoft to find out about their super secret PS4 sdk, as after all, they are direct competitors. So you can't seek Microsoft's help for something that happens with Sony's super secret PS4 sdk.

Or am I missing something?

Why would you ask microsoft for help if it where sonys software that was failing??

Of course it would be better with open source software. But what difference does it makes? There are no viable free/open alternatives to lots of commercial software out there and it will probably stay that way for the rest of our lifes.

I bet 1000sek that you are not able to setup an game development studio focusing on ps4 games with only free/open software for example.

If you're interested in attempting to get your software to work on other OSes through Wine, my company would be thrilled to talk to you. That's exactly what we do :)

What about drivers for new devices? Even current hardware manufacturers dont provide XP drivers anymore.

It's a bit complex. Basically only graphic card drivers are a bit problematic. But it's the binary driver compatibility that makes ReactOS unique.

Windows XP and 7/8/10 supports several driver models (incl. legacy) and drivers models are in user- and kernel-mode. So for most devices it's not a problem. The display driver model changed with Vista; Win2000 display driver are still supported. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Driver_Model , http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Display_Driver_Model , http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Driver_Frameworks

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