ReactOS might support Windows 98 programs...
Well, ReactOS is an NT clone. Freewin95 was the
original project that later became ReactOS when
progress was too slow. The developers, according
to the bulletin boards, have given up on dos based
Windows.
That is too pessimistic, years for ReactOS to get stabilized.
Why? The facts are not encouraging as far as the time it took
for ReactOS 0.3.5 to be released and 0.3.5 is an alpha. Alpha
means, if it works at all that is great. The 0.5.x series will
be the first beta series. It is supposed to come out this year,
but the next release is 0.3.6 and the 0.4.x series hasn't even
happened yet. Anyone who expects an alpha to support the
software they are interested in using is crazy. I haven't given
up on ReactOS, I just realize that it will be a year before it
reaches beta, and that is optimistic.
Keeping mpxplayer for dos alive...
I guess one route is to encourage the developer of mpxplay to port
it to freedos32, if that is reaching beta stage yet. Another
route is to implement a 32 bit version of opengem that will run on
top of freedos 1.1. It sounds like the developer is concerned that
it is easier to write a Windows program than it is to write for any
of the dos based extenders. Well, a better gui might change his
mind. Freedos 1.1 needs a 32 bit gui that people are willing to
write graphical programs for which need more than 640k. If the
gui supports Windows 9x software, that'd be a great bonus.
I've heard that there are various attempts to develop gui's other
than opengem for dos and I've even run into claims that freedos
will eventually compete with Linux and Windows. Well, I think
freedos has a place on older computers that are powerful enough
to be useful if the OS is light enough. Windows 9x is a mess,
this is partially why dos went away. I have yet to see an NT
style system be as light as dos. ReactOS is promising, but it's
potential is a year or two down the road still. ReactOS will get
better, but it will be an NT clone instead of a Win 9x replacement.
One advantage of a strong 32 bit gui that runs on top of dos, it
becomes possible to port firefox 3 to freedos.
Michael C. Robinson
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