Jump to content

Open Sourcing Windows 9x


patchworks

Recommended Posts

copyrights do expire.

(afaik on work produced after January 1, 1978, 95 years from publication or 120 years from creation, whichever is shorter) also it worth remembering that national laws do not apply everywhere (stated example is under US law).

Copyrights expire in 95 years, or 125 years! That's great!

By the time Win98's copyrights expire and I can use a version based on the source code legally, I'll be . . . :unsure: dead. :o

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

Interesting topic...

All it means is that one day somebody can attempt to reverse engineer the code, without worrying about being sued, but I'll tell you now that's next to impossible, even for uber geeks.
Not too impossible... remember that most of the components of 98se were compiled and compilers back then weren't as efficient and produced code which was generated in fixed patterns and easily decompiled. With advanced technology in analysis and a team of experienced reversers it would be possible to eventually dissect the entire workings of Win98se and possibly write an enhanced version. It's not too far from reality.

I've disassembled an entire DOS 3.20 kernel myself and modded it with my own code... it's now running on an old 386 being used as a print server. (Microsoft definitely isn't going to sue me for that!)

In the Win9x area, I'm currently inspecting the IDE driver (ESDI_506.Pdr) and working on a version that will enable 98se to work with hdds up to 2 terabytes in size. It isn't very difficult. Gradually, little by little, components will be replaced with non-MS replacements and eventually we'll have an open-source extensible OS with only the architecture of 9x. I assume the final step would be a replacement kernel.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 11 months later...

1. Current hardware doesn't support Win9x anymore

2. Current commercial software doesn't support Win9x anymore (with few exceptions)

3. Open-source developers don't support Win9x anymore (also with few exceptions)

4. Online content started not to support Win9x anymore

Conclusion: either join forces and create a Windows-compatible open-source OS with a light, fast and powerful kernel that will be compatible with current AND future hardware/software, or just drop the subject.

I'm a Win98SE addict myself and it hurts to say, but Win9x's time is over. MS killed its children. :(

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1. Current hardware doesn't support Win9x anymore

2. Current commercial software doesn't support Win9x anymore (with few exceptions)

3. Open-source developers don't support Win9x anymore (also with few exceptions)

4. Online content started not to support Win9x anymore

...good reasons for open sourcing Win9x ! :angel

Conclusion: either join forces and create a Windows-compatible open-source OS with a light, fast and powerful kernel that will be compatible with current AND future hardware/software, or just drop the subject.

I'm a Win98SE addict myself and it hurts to say, but Win9x's time is over. MS killed its children. :(

If your conclusion is true, why this forum exist then ? :whistle:

We all know that *official* Win9x support is dead, but many enthusiasts are still working to continue its development... as already sayd, switching to open source could help other projects too ! :yes:

Edited by patchworks
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1. Current hardware doesn't support Win9x anymore

2. Current commercial software doesn't support Win9x anymore (with few exceptions)

3. Open-source developers don't support Win9x anymore (also with few exceptions)

4. Online content started not to support Win9x anymore

...good reasons for open sourcing Win9x ! :angel

Conclusion: either join forces and create a Windows-compatible open-source OS with a light, fast and powerful kernel that will be compatible with current AND future hardware/software, or just drop the subject.

I'm a Win98SE addict myself and it hurts to say, but Win9x's time is over. MS killed its children. :(

If your conclusion is true, why this forum exist then ? :whistle:

We all know that *official* Win9x support is dead, but many enthusiasts are still working to continue its development... as already sayd, switching to open source could help other projects too ! :yes:

Another good reason to still try to maintain Windows 98SE running is that projects like ReactOS may probably work on getting Windows 98 compatible in a couple of years, so you need to have a working Windows 98 machine for reference testing, kernel debugging, etc.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Online content started not to support Win9x anymore

What kind of s*** is this? The Internet is platform-agnostic!

If you're talking about things like Flash, well, they're proprietary, and not in the spirit of the web.

Tell that to the guys at VH1.com. I had a subscription to their site but have been visiting it very rarely. Recently when I tried to follow a link in one of their e-mails, I got a nice message saying "sorry but your operating system is no longer supported by our site" or something like that. I have no idea if it was about Media Player version or anything else, they just said my OS was bad. So I said "f*ck them" and sent an unsubscribe reply (as instructed). At least twice. They still send me those stupid news e-mails and I keep marking them as junk.

As for Flash... that's funny, but I currently have installed v9.0.28 and it works fine. But I disabled it in my browser using Nir Sofer's TurnFlash, and enable it only when needed. And no, that was not the reason for the VH1.com rejection.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Tell that to the guys at VH1.com. I had a subscription to their site but have been visiting it very rarely. Recently when I tried to follow a link in one of their e-mails, I got a nice message saying "sorry but your operating system is no longer supported by our site" or something like that. I have no idea if it was about Media Player version or anything else, they just said my OS was bad. So I said "f*ck them" and sent an unsubscribe reply (as instructed).

You did the right thing! But can somebody explain me how the f*** a web site can be OS dependant? Does M$ give them dollars to ban people who use OSes they don't wanna see around anymore? Because I don't see any other reason.

I guess we can still spoof our user-agent... But really, why do they even waste their time creating an OS check just to virtually exclude people using Win9x?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Online content started not to support Win9x anymore

What kind of s*** is this? The Internet is platform-agnostic!

If you're talking about things like Flash, well, they're proprietary, and not in the spirit of the web.

Tell that to the guys at VH1.com. I had a subscription to their site but have been visiting it very rarely. Recently when I tried to follow a link in one of their e-mails, I got a nice message saying "sorry but your operating system is no longer supported by our site" or something like that. I have no idea if it was about Media Player version or anything else, they just said my OS was bad. So I said "f*ck them" and sent an unsubscribe reply (as instructed). At least twice. They still send me those stupid news e-mails and I keep marking them as junk.

As for Flash... that's funny, but I currently have installed v9.0.28 and it works fine. But I disabled it in my browser using Nir Sofer's TurnFlash, and enable it only when needed. And no, that was not the reason for the VH1.com rejection.

Use Proxomitron. It can make other websites think you're running whatever OS or browser you want. In fact, I'm sure more than one server admin is a bit puzzled that someone is still using DOS 3.2 and Lynx as a browser ;)
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Tell that to the guys at VH1.com. I had a subscription to their site but have been visiting it very rarely. Recently when I tried to follow a link in one of their e-mails, I got a nice message saying "sorry but your operating system is no longer supported by our site" or something like that. I have no idea if it was about Media Player version or anything else, they just said my OS was bad. So I said "f*ck them" and sent an unsubscribe reply (as instructed). At least twice. They still send me those stupid news e-mails and I keep marking them as junk.

As for Flash... that's funny, but I currently have installed v9.0.28 and it works fine. But I disabled it in my browser using Nir Sofer's TurnFlash, and enable it only when needed. And no, that was not the reason for the VH1.com rejection.

The web is not dependant to OSes. However there are some script capable of detecting your OS and telling you that based upon this information, your system is not up to date to browse their website.

Of course that's BS but they just don't want to read complains from poeple who made no update in the last 6 years.

So if you have w2000, they are sure that at least, your IE is from that year and not earlier.

The wrose thing is that websites are increasingly dependant on scripts and on useless scripts which only makes thing slower and buggier. So to avoid system crashes, they don't correct or simplify the scripts, they just tell w98 users to keep away.

The main difference with softwares, is that online scripts and even online applications are perfectly compatible with any computer able to handle javascript and less importantly vbscript. Normaly no website is supposed to include applets which are calling to XP specific ActiveX components...except to hack your system.

Yet I'm still waiting for the website that won't open on my fully updated w98 machine.

Y!MailBeta wasn't supposed to run on my w98 but I use it it on a daily basis.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...