Hi, On Thu, Sep 26, 2019 at 9:04 AM Michael C Robinson <mich...@robinson-west.com> wrote: > > ReactOS won't replace Windows 9x/ME because it is not dos based.
But it does have a partially working NTVDM nowadays. Seriously, rule out ReactOS and WINE entirely (i.e. try them with your workload on your personal machines!) before even thinking about Win9x, at least when worrying about licensing freedom and such. > Originally the target was 9x, but they gave up on that :-( For stuff > that isn't supported anymore but should be, surely all the players > could come together and release source code. Frankly, I think it > should be the law that you have to release source code if you stop > supporting a popular OS. Aren't some of the licenses pushing 20 years > now? Copyright used to (originally) last "only" twenty years, I believe. But that changed. Yes, it's a bit ridiculous that software can literally rot with no legal (or practical) way to use (or find) it. It certainly ages very quickly (and badly) when compared to other copyrighted works. Having said that, it's just more motivation to keep software Free! If you have specific software that you want to keep using, try to find a suitable alternative. For many things, such a replacement exists (but is probably still somewhat obscure to find). There are probably others who can help you, e.g. user groups or whatever target demographic used that software in the first place. There might even be developers who are writing (or willing to write) a compatible replacement. You just have to keep looking. Sometimes you might be surprised. (At worst, you could write your own. It's grueling work but rewarding.) But overall, don't get your hopes up. And be grateful that so much Free software exists already (ahem, Linux). It may not do literally everything, and certainly nobody is saying you can't use other stuff (ahem, FreeDOS), but it's quite good for what it does. Personally, although it's VERY cheap to give such advice, I'd say avoid anything proprietary (or non-standard) that ties you down. Maybe even avoid legacy (if you can afford the hours needed to relearn or retrain your staff). Personally, I am obsessed with legacy (obviously), but *sometimes* new stuff is also good, too. ;-) _______________________________________________ Freedos-user mailing list Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user
