XP longhorn...

[Ninkazu]

Anyone know what's so special about this new Windows?

[oracle]

It's based on Linux? :lol:

[na_th_an]

Nothing special. It is just that for the first time M$ has approached to the concept of a good OS.

It lacks stuff and still has its glitches and bad designed stuff, but I find it far more stable, more reliable, and has nice features (if you have several accounts in your computer, you can shift to another account leaving your programs gently running in the background, such a thing couldn't be done in W2000).

[LooseCaboose]

Longhorn is Microsofts first operating system that is installed with high security settings and must be reconfigured to make it more open. If you watch the security warnings from Microsoft you will see that Longhorn has lower priorities for virus and worm warnings that XP/2000 because it is typically unaffected from a default install, whereas XP/2000 are succeptible because they dont automatically enable security settings at install.

It's based on Linux?

Nah, but then SCO will probably try claim that Microsoft stole code from them and put it in Windows and Windows users owe them a licensing fee for using UNIX technology ;-)

[Plasma]

na_th_an, are you talking about XP or longhorn?

[oracle]

Nah, but then SCO will probably try claim that Microsoft stole code from them and put it in Windows and Windows users owe them a licensing fee for using UNIX technology

I have a friend at work who is adamant that Linux comes up with good ideas, then M$ copies the code and uses it for their programs... is this actually true? Is is allowed under the GPL (the fact that you have to pay for it)?

[Sterling Christensen]

I have a friend at work who is adamant that Linux comes up with good ideas, then M$ copies the code and uses it for their programs... is this actually true?

Microsoft has stolen a lot of ideas from Unix/Linux and Mac, but i dunno about actual code. They do have a lot of employees... I'm sure it happens sometimes. And they probably keep it quiet when they find out that an employee has.

Is is allowed under the GPL (the fact that you have to pay for it)?

When some software is GPL'd it means:
1. that you can't distribute it with or incorporate it into commercial software - it must be totally free
2. you must allow other to create derivative works, as long as they don't cross the line into plagiarism (they must give you credit were credit is due)
3. you must make the source code freely available

So the answer is most definitely no.

Here's a link to the full, unabridged, GPL license, and here's a FAQ.

[oracle]

Ideas, then. My friend has some sort of grudge about Microsoft, so I don't know whether that will persuade him, but it seems most likely that only ideas are stolen, because some countries' governments are allowed to look at the MS source code (New Zealand has just become the 6th country).

[LooseCaboose]

I have a friend at work who is adamant that Linux comes up with good ideas, then M$ copies the code and uses it for their programs... is this actually true?

Microsoft have lifted code directly from BSD such as the TCP/IP stack because BSD licensing scheme is less restrictive than the GPL, it allows anyone to do anything with the code, including placing it in a closed source package and selling it. If you run a string finder over the ftp.exe program distributed with most versions of Windows you will find the BSD stamp.

I have a friend at work who is adamant that Linux comes up with good ideas, then M$ copies the code and uses it for their programs...

As far as the operating systems go, the underlying technologies of WinNT and Linux are very different, but the incorporation of ideas works both ways. Windows has recently added better multiuser support (such as user switching and multiple users logged in at once) which brings it closer to the way Unix works. Linux kernel 2.6 has made the kernel preemptible which allows for soft realtime, which makes media programs (video and music) work much more smoothly when several applications are running, Windows has done this for a long time because one of its target audience want media support.

Microsoft has stolen a lot of ideas from Unix/Linux and Mac.

Actually a large number of ideas and technologies used in operating systems and applications in general is developed in research institutes and universities first. Large companies such as Microsoft have there own research departments, my supervisor and office mate are both doing research on .NET and compilers for Microsoft. The original ideas behind GUIs for example came from Xerox Parc's research and was simultaneously(more or less) incorporated by both Mac and Windows operating systems.

I dont think that anyone outside of Microsoft has been made privy to /all/ of the Windows source code. For one thing its too big (around 30million lines now) and for another Microsoft has publicy annouced that they can't release it because it contains exploitable flaws which cannot be repaired without breaking vast amounts of existing software.

Then there is the SCO debacle, SCO are claiming that the Linux kernel contains 80 odd lines that have been ripped directly, comments and all, from SCO UNIX and that all Linux users owe them a licensing fee. The problem is that SCO refuse to show anyone the 80 lines (otherwise the Linux team would just recode the offending portion), SCO itself used to distribute a Linux distro as Caldera and Novell are busy telling SCO that when they sold UNIX to them they didn't sell them the patents and copyrights and thus haven't got a leg to stand on. Unfortunately all of the FUD that has been spread has hurt Linux's development, with companies becoming reluctant to switch to Linux until the outcome is reached (which could take several years).

[Agamemnus]

Hopefully the new microcrap will have instructions/programs to REALLY remove startup crap from STARTING up...

Also, hopefully the idiot programmers can start making descriptive dll names, or at least attach a goddamn desccription to each one....