Improving copyright

[Niall Douglas]

On 13 May 2004 at 22:48, João Miguel Neves wrote:

> > > And what's the advantage of using an operation system over another
> > > that is just a look-alike? -- 
> > 
> > If this were true, why use Linux when FreeBSD looks almost identical
> > and can run Linux binaries?
> > 
> Because GNU/Linux is my first of the two and there's no compelling
> reason for me to change to FreeBSD (the 1000% factor usually used in
> marketing).

Which is precisely the same logic why people continue to use Windows. 
Unless there's an obvious and compelling reason to change, the 
incumbant has a major advantage.

> > A free software clone of Windows would be immensely useful. For one
> > thing it brings all the driver & application support Windows gets.
> > It's also open source with all the advantages that brings like
> > ability to modify, enhance & study. It would likely cost no money
> > though that's not so important.
> > 
> Why isn't wine enough?

1. No binary compatibility with Windows drivers. This is very 
important to most people
2. Few Windows games will run under WINE. And this is unlikely to 
change as DirectX demands a certain driver architecture Linux isn't 
moving towards.
3. No matter how wonderful WINE becomes, running Windows applications 
under it will always be a bit of a black art. Most people just want 
to shove in the CD and make it go. This is why Linux is unsuited to 
replace Windows in non-server arenas

> And why do you think reactos will go further
> than wine on implementing win32?

Actually ReactOS incorporates WINE, they simply provide a "native" 
implementation layer - instead of calling Linux functions, they call 
reimplementations of the NT kernel API.

Cheers,
Niall




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