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Old 10-21-2005, 07:16 AM   #1
dr_zayus69
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Would you use Windows if it was Open Source?


I think i've heard that Vista is supposed to eb built from teh ground up so i don't know if it has any code in it from prior windows or not but if it didn't and windows released the code to one of their older OS would you think about using it? They coudl call it something like Open Windows. I think i wouldn't use it at first - i'd let the community get at it and twink it a little so it didn't operate like windows and crash all the time. I've had xp on my computer and it was boring. i like linux because i acn mess with stuff and get under the hood. Maybe windows would be as interesting if i could do the same. Just a thought that popped into my head. thought i'd share it and see what people thought.
 
Old 10-21-2005, 07:34 AM   #2
okmyx
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It's a big if and very unlikely. But maybe in some alternate universe, like you say, i'd wait until real programmers got a hold of it and fixed it.

But from the rumours/stories i've read, that under the hood windows is such a mess (patches, fixes, work-arounds, chewing gum, sticking plasters, etc,...) that it would be an impossible task.
 
Old 10-21-2005, 07:44 AM   #3
dr_zayus69
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yeah i was saying it is something that would ever happen, windows source being released, just kinded of posted as a "What if" type of deal.
 
Old 10-21-2005, 08:20 AM   #4
oneandoneis2
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The problem is, if it were open-sourced, it would get heavily modified by various OS developers - so while you'd be using a Windows derivative, you wouldn't really be using Windows.

Just the fact that the source was open certainly wouldn't make me consider a switch.
 
Old 10-21-2005, 08:24 AM   #5
reddazz
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If it didn't have so many bugs and loopholes for crackers, then I would consider it. In its current state I would never use it as my main OS.
 
Old 10-21-2005, 08:41 AM   #6
mrcheeks
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I have sometimes to use windows at work of to test programs on some windows machines.

I don't need windows to be open source to use it. If i want to use it i will. Some people think this is a war antiwindows/antilinux. I am used to linux and i still can use windows efficiently.

Still funny to me to see polls like which is the best? If there was a best everybody would be using it, wouldn't they? vim versus emacs, who cares, at least use what you can use! Windows sucks, bsd sucks, macosX sucks, linux sucks, i said it all and then what! :-) I have a report to write and send at ten a clock if there is a mac computer in front of me, i will probably use it.

If i want to use vista i will, if i wanted to use the vista builds i would be, no one stopping me from buying it or getting it :-). But i don't even care about vista or xp unless my job requires me too :-). I still read the news about technology involving whatever operating system it could be mac osx, linux,bsd,etc.

You already know some users of this forum use windows a lot and some time to time, some almost never.
If you have to help or work with someone using mac you will be using mac, if windows it will be windows,etc. You will use the OS you have to or are compelled to use to achieve your goals. It is not mind driven, but business driven/goals driven, needs driven, circumstances driven.

My english is far from fluent so i hope i get myself understood.
 
Old 10-21-2005, 08:51 AM   #7
Ahmed
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Quite an adventurous assumption I must say.. I'd wait for some major changes to happen and for once some really positive reviews to appear before trying it out.

On another note, Microsoft would never open the source code of older Windows versions. Heck they still have Windows 3.1 copyrighted, so it still is illegal to get it for free and modify it. You'd think you could because it's so darn old, but no..

-A
 
Old 10-21-2005, 09:52 AM   #8
jmr71769
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Re: Would you use Windows if it was Open Source?

Quote:
Originally posted by dr_zayus69
I think i've heard that Vista is supposed to eb built from teh ground up so i don't know if it has any code in it from prior windows or not but if it didn't and windows released the code to one of their older OS would you think about using it? They coudl call it something like Open Windows. I think i wouldn't use it at first - i'd let the community get at it and twink it a little so it didn't operate like windows and crash all the time. I've had xp on my computer and it was boring. i like linux because i acn mess with stuff and get under the hood. Maybe windows would be as interesting if i could do the same. Just a thought that popped into my head. thought i'd share it and see what people thought.
Would you drive a BMW if Chevrolet made one? :-)
 
Old 10-21-2005, 10:57 AM   #9
Agrouf
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in this case, I think some part of it could be integrated into linux.
Wine would work flawlessly because all the code of windows would be an accurate documentation at last.
The hardware support would be tremendously improved.
I would be able to play the latest Games when DirectX is ported to Linux.
 
Old 10-21-2005, 02:35 PM   #10
jsmarshall85
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Quote:
Originally posted by oneandoneis2
so while you'd be using a Windows derivative, you wouldn't really be using Windows.
couldn't you say that about linux?

i think that if it were open sourced, the best thing to happen would be to have parts of it ported over to linux, like the previous post suggested (directx)

Last edited by jsmarshall85; 10-21-2005 at 02:36 PM.
 
Old 10-21-2005, 03:17 PM   #11
Hydroksyde
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Maybe not as my primary OS, but I would use it as a secondary OS (as I do now), and sell computers running it.
 
Old 10-21-2005, 07:09 PM   #12
sundialsvcs
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It frankly puzzles me why Microsoft is so reticent about providing source-code licenses to Windows. (Source-code does not have to be free, nor open, to be extremely useful.) I think they ought to do it more often than they do.

However, an operating-system probably isn't something that most people would actually use in source-code form. Of the millions of people who use Linux today, most of them do not compile the majority of it "from source." (I count myself among the minority who do and did, but even then it's mostly an exercise for me.) The majority uses "distros," most of which are purchased from companies who do the maintenance work for it, on behalf of every one of their customers.

Source-code is most valuable as an authoritative reference, and for that purpose it is priceless. Or at least, worth a very good price! (Which is why I wonder sometimes why Microsoft will not quote a price.) But once again, the people who actually use the source-code in that capacity are in the minority of users.

No, I honestly think that Windows is widely used because it works, and because people do not wish to think of computer "hardware" and computer "software" as separate. They, quite sensibly, want to plug the computer in, turn it on, and do work with it. They do not want the computer to be "a kit." And Microsoft, for all we decry them, does provide a product that basically does what they want, and does support it well enough.

Linux will become more popular among desktop users by one means only: it will earn its way into that market. And yet, I think we'll observe its success by the degree to which end-users are happily able to ignore the difference between one OS and another. Ask an OS/X user what "Unix" is and he might (or might not) know. Ask him what Unix means to him and he probably does not know or care. Even though the machine he uses every day is running Unix!
 
Old 10-21-2005, 08:51 PM   #13
Zeniq
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I don't want to be called a Windows-lover here because frankly, I choose not to participate in the never-ending Linux vs. Windows war. I came from a background where DOS was a must, and my technology and programming firm used it as our main platform. So when Winhose came around it was a little bit easier sliding into that (after mourning the loss of the CLI and being forced to actually use the mouse) then to reground myself with a UNIX variant or even OS/2, a slightly better GUI-based OS at the time.

Jumping ahead 10 years, I can easily vouch for WinXP & Win2003 Advanced's vulnerabilities and inefficiencies due to unorganized code. But you have to remember that just like there are power user's and "under the hood" programmers in the Linux corner, there also exists quite a number of hardcore manipulators and tinkerers that occasionally know their way around Windows more than most Micro$oft techs. While having the code would be wonderful, it is not neccessary to those of us who've mastered turning Win into a solidly stable and efficient fortress. We've just had to use other methods to make up for the lack of code. You'd be surprised what you can do with C++, a few DLL's, and a good hex editor or SoftIce.

While Linux is a much better OS in so many areas out of the box compared to a fresh Windows installation (a service just for Windows Help and 3 services for Windows Update??), I can confidently say that with proper tweaking by someone who knows what they're doing, Win 2003 or even 2000 can equal Linux as far as stability and efficiency. My series of web servers are still running on Win32 and the system has not had any crashes, memory leaks, or even a reboot for almost a year. Now security on the other hand, that's a different story. Linux is inherently more secure in its natural state while Windows requires numerous fixes and apps on a regular basis just to keep up.

Still..... I prefer to use Linux as my main OS which is why I'm here. Windows and its library of costly software is already in bad enough condition. Unlike Linux, if it were to be open source... more security vulnerabilities would be found and eventually people would give up their attempts to do it some good, which would drive its user base down so low that MS would discontinue the OS and probably start a new one that would be hardly better.

Meanwhile we'd lose the crap OS and what it's really good for:
A reeeeally expensive gaming platform.

Last edited by Zeniq; 10-21-2005 at 09:01 PM.
 
Old 10-22-2005, 09:07 AM   #14
Agrouf
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Quote:
Originally posted by sundialsvcs
No, I honestly think that Windows is widely used because it works, and because people do not wish to think of computer "hardware" and computer "software" as separate. They, quite sensibly, want to plug the computer in, turn it on, and do work with it. They do not want the computer to be "a kit." And Microsoft, for all we decry them, does provide a product that basically does what they want, and does support it well enough.

Linux will become more popular among desktop users by one means only: it will earn its way into that market. And yet, I think we'll observe its success by the degree to which end-users are happily able to ignore the difference between one OS and another. Ask an OS/X user what "Unix" is and he might (or might not) know. Ask him what Unix means to him and he probably does not know or care. Even though the machine he uses every day is running Unix! [/B]
I kindly disagree with you.
Microsoft does not provide a product that just works. It just works when it is preinstalled and tinkered by hardware manufacturers which sell the comp with the software. Hardware manufacturers are the ones who make the windows drivers and who make sure hardware and software are well integrated into one box. Apple Macintosh users enjoy Apple hardware and Mac OS X compiled and packaged with all the proper support for their specific hardware when they buy the box.

Very few hardware manufacturers provide good drivers for linux and aven less of them do sell boxes with linux preinstalled and tinkered for their specific hardware because that's not their culture. They need to embrace the culture change which the end user has already embraced. The industry is always slower than the consumers. They try to smell the market but they are blind to what happens outside of the market. Microsoft and Apple provide strong financial numbers and hardware manufacturers only base their decisions on those numbers, but linux does not provide such numbers. Linux is more user-based. Smelling the linux market involves looking at users and they can not just ask the linux corp. how happy the users are. Soon they will be forced to change their culture when they will learn the hard way that their numbers are flawed.
 
Old 10-22-2005, 12:07 PM   #15
mr_demilord
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No I wont use it because.

Windows is very unstable at me, I tried it once on my notebook and had mysterious freezes and hangups. can be fixed
The kernel isn't real multitasking/multiuser like linux is.
There are too many bugs in it wich can be fixed.
The kernel base is pretty old, should be rewritten. can be fixed.
Memory management is far from good.
I hate the Windows register wich I find bloat, security risk, unreliable. should be possible to change that.
If windows had a terminal/console like linux. cannot live without it.
The way windows handles services right now is a huge security risk also, like if you hit control alt del, youll see all svchost.exe a couple of times wich handles the services instead of the real processes wich are running.
Windows should go back to slaches instead of backslashes wich is highly annoying.

if windows was totaly stripped down to the bone without internet explorer/html support , media player etc etc etc.. and a completely rewritten kernel, I will try it, but still I will stick with linux, wich is far more reliable then windows.

Last edited by mr_demilord; 10-22-2005 at 12:15 PM.
 
  


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