What part/component of MS technology/code would u be interested in if it were GPL'd

[megadave]

(a side-band of the question about Windows source being GPL'd).

As I stated in the other thread,
MS Office AI,
Windows XP boot process,
Windows Update (what does it really send to MS)


That's all I can think of in this drunken stupor.

[blackbelt_jones]

I would be interested in whatever part of Windows Code that would allow WINE to work better than it does in Red Hat.

[nko]

DirectX!

[Hayl]

Originally posted by blackbelt_jones
I would be interested in whatever part of Windows Code that would allow WINE to work better than it does in Red Hat.

it isn't the wine code that makes wine / winex crappy in red hat. it is the red hat kernels.

[Darksamurai]

If I could pull any part of Windows:

Lessee... mostly just the software support... I'm using StyleXP to tweak out my desktop, using "Sandra" to check out my hardware, playin' GTA3, and being able to load up software without having to worry about dependencies.

[Syngin]

Outlook Express so the Open Source community could fix the security problems.

[sharth]

ntfs, their api, and the kernel.

ntfs for the project.
the api for wine
and the kernel so that we don't need wine. (support exe binaries in the the kernel)

[banzaikai]

Well...

Long ago, I would've said the "Input Method Editor", which allows users to type in different languages. Problem was, this ONLY works inside IE and Outlook, and will only print if your printer happens to have the fonts required.

Then I found the FreeWnn, canna, and kinput servers for Linux. Needless to say, they blow the doors off what the MS team came up with, so nertz to them...

I do like the Windows Update better, though.
DirectX was buggy at first, but since 7.x, it's been great.

Other than that, I'm a happy camper with Linux.

banzai

[scott_R]

Nothing in particular. Actually, I think this thread should go another way: What would you like to see added to Windows that Linux has? Not to help BG and friends out, but nowadays when I use windows, I can't beleive people think it's so great.

A GOOD console would be my choice, not that crippled 6.22 windows has now.

[dungscooperdave]

Originally posted by Syngin
Outlook Express so the Open Source community could fix the security problems.
And so that I could get my e-mail from my account at hotmail, which I got long before I ever knew what Linux was. If I had known that I couldn't use anything but outlook express as a client to get my e-mail from there, I probably never would have gotten an account there in the first place anyway.

[zdude255]

I'd get the snippets for perfect wine and directx support. And maybe make a file format specification for office.

Otherwise probably just butcher the rest. Maybe i could fix it for fun. :D

[Syntaxis]

You don't have to use Outlook Express. Just use gotmail (http://www.nongnu.org/gotmail/).
It occasionally breaks when Microsoft make a change on their end, but it's always fixed within a day or two. Looks like it now works with msn.com accounts, too.

[sharth]

aptsharth@debian:~$ apt-cache search hotmail
gotmail - Utility to download email from a Hotmail or MSN account
hotway - POP3 to Hotmail (HTTPmail) gateway
libroxen-imho - Web-based e-mail module for Roxen (using IMAP)
sharth@debian:~$

[dungscooperdave]

I'm not sure why but for some reason I happen to actually kind of like the "fisher-price" feel to Windows XP. I guess I've just been brainwashed by Microsoft. If only I had been introduced to Linux instead of Windows at a younger age.

[dungscooperdave]

I thought Microsoft used proprietary protocols or something for Hotmail?

[dungscooperdave]

Is it possible to configure K-Mail to access my hotmail account?

[sharth]

hotway acts like a pop3 server, so that anything that can access pop3 can access hotmail. however, I don't know if these programs still work (might be unmaintained.)

[AlexPlank]

Originally posted by dungscooperdave
Is it possible to configure K-Mail to access my hotmail account?

SEARCH THE FORUM. RTFM. Lol, I think you should do a search. I just saw a forum with quite a few programs to open hotmail. also apt-cache search hotmail.

[sharth]

uhmm.. that was this thread :)

[AlexPlank]

Originally posted by sharth
ntfs, their api, and the kernel.

ntfs for the project.
the api for wine
and the kernel so that we don't need wine. (support exe binaries in the the kernel)

Wouldnt we still need wine for apps that utilize the windows filestructure(most of them) or could some sort of fake windows drive be built into kernel?

Oh yeah: id like to see the source code of palladium but it wouldnt be gpl'd, it would have to be stolen. Palladium couldnt exist as gpl. (im pretty sure?)

[AlexPlank]

Originally posted by sharth
uhmm.. that was this thread :)

LOL.... I need to pay more attention!

[terribleRobbo]

You... LEGEND.

You're a champ, you know. :D

[sharth]

Originally posted by AlexPlank
Wouldnt we still need wine for apps that utilize the windows filestructure(most of them) or could some sort of fake windows drive be built into kernel? not if we had support for the binaries like we have support for elf.

[AlexPlank]

Originally posted by sharth
not if we had support for the binaries like we have support for elf.

What is elf?

[Stween]

Originally posted by AlexPlank
What is elf?

elf is a binary executable format that linux can run natively.

In your kernel settings you'll see 'elf support' and 'a.out support' compiled in.

[deanrantala]

A)I would like to see some sort of abstraction layer for linux that would enable to use windows drivers - this would really be nice for, say winmodems and SB live! cards (so you would have full control over the EMU's 10K chipsets Surround EAX).

B)Solitaire

C)Minesweeper

D)XP Firewall (just kidding)

[bwkaz]

Originally posted by deanrantala
A)I would like to see some sort of abstraction layer for linux that would enable to use windows drivers - this would really be nice for, say winmodems and SB live! cards (so you would have full control over the EMU's 10K chipsets Surround EAX). Interesting idea... if it wasn't going to cause MASSIVE instability issues, I think I'd be in favor of it. As it is, most of the problems with Windows are the poorly-written drivers anyway, so I'm not sure this would be such a good thing. ;)

B)Solitaire

C)Minesweeper Err, so I take it you've never heard of kpat or kmines?

[deanrantala]

Kpat and kmines....

Huh... I find more and more software on this darn thing every day.

[hop-frog]

Originally posted by deanrantala
C)Minesweeper
Minesweeper (or a close variation of it) now ships with WINE.

[MighMos]

I think exe file compatibility built into the kernel would be nice, altho if we did, how long do you think it'd be before half of all windows programs were reverse engineered?

[sharth]

Originally posted by MighMos
I think exe file compatibility built into the kernel would be nice, altho if we did, how long do you think it'd be before half of all windows programs were reverse engineered? huh? What the heck are you talking about? Why would that make it any easier? As far as I know, just because we have the method to execute something doesn't make it any easier to recreate...

[sonictooth]

I'm suprised no-one mentioned this before, but windows is remarkably good at asertaining how to display itself on you r monitor, whether you want it to or not. I've never seen a case where windows wouldn't get some gui up and running. Admitadly this isn't a core issue, but for large scale linux aceptance it would be a tremendous boon, to be able to get hypotheticly X working on any set up, with no config.

[mage492]

I ask only 2 things. They may only be little things, but they're the only good things to come from Windoze...

1. Mech Commander

2. Command & Conquer

They don't run at all under WINE, and they run terribly under RealPC on my iBook (MC corrupts the virtual drive C after every 2 or 3 games ("corrupts" is a bit of an understatement, I think...). If you move your saved games to drive D, though, you can use your files with the new C drive. Very annoying, but workable).

It hasn't made me touch Windoze, yet, but I wish there was better support.

[TheCatMan]

I've been impressed by the Windows NT stress sensor - the bit that makes it crash/freeze/bork something when I'm tearing my hair out trying to get a piece of work finished. It seems quite adept at choosing the moment and the type of failure that would cause most distress.

If that feature were GPLed then we could use it for something constructive - instead of corrupting a file, it could fire up xmms and choose just the right tune to calm the troubled user.

:p

[maxima]

LOL TheCatMan .. agree 101%
hehe i'd also like to know how they implemented BSOD
does it work with wine ? :D

[awesomejt]

Ooops. I read the thread title wrong, I thought it was:
"What part/component of MS technology would you be" -- which my answer would be: "Windows!" Because I crash everyday and have to be rebooted. :-)

[bwkaz]

Originally posted by sonictooth
I've never seen a case where windows wouldn't get some gui up and running. Then you haven't installed MDAC 2.7 on a Windows 98 machine that logs onto a 2K domain, have you (yes, at work we HATE this one machine, but we need to support it for the Ceridian payroll software, which is DOS-only).

Said MDAC setup borks comctl32.dll, and without that DLL working, you get NO GUI whatsoever. You get a nice-looking background, but you get a couple of messages from explorer about how "comctl32.dll failed to start. Check the file to see what the problem is", or something like that, and no taskbar, no icons, no nothing, shows up. Actually, for even easier '98 screwups, either delete this file, truncate it to zero-length, or replace it with a version from Win2K -- any of the above will probably cause a similar error (though deleting it might give you a text-mode error instead, never tried it).

Luckily, ctrl-alt-delete still works in this no-taskbar-no-icons mode, and so does SMB (a.k.a. file sharing), so we could restore from backup and cleanly shut the stupid thing down, but man, that is retarded.

The first time it happened, I hit the start button, thinking that maybe by some luck the menu would still display, and caused an IPF in kernel32.dll. The machine then locked up completely, requiring a manual power-cycle and Scandisk.

[nko]

I'll agree that nothing's perfect, but I do think Windows handles things better than X as far as hardware. Not that X is bad, but that Windows is idiot proof (unless you're trying to do something funky, as said above).

DirectX! Direct3D!