[ros-dev] Arwinss presentation

[Joshua Bailey]

I'm not a developer, so I have no say in the matter, but if you want an outsider's opinion, I 
would suggest implementing Arwinss for the near-term, so we have better software 
compatibility.  Software compatibility brings publicity, since people will actually be able to
 do things with ReactOS that they couldn't do before, like run Win32 programs.  A lot of 
the software I test has issues with Win32, and if Arwinss gets them running in the near-
term it'll show people the real potential of ReactOS.  Some of these people may be 
programmers, who can then funnel their interest in ReactOS towards contributing to 
development.

Arwinss is a stopgap measure.  Regardless of your personal differences in the matter, use 
Arwinss to gather publicity and near-term compatibility, so development can be focused on 
other issues, such as DirectX, USB support, or better filesystem support.  When the other 
components are up and running, when we have a functioning ReactOS in beta, hopefully the 
publicity that will follow ReactOS's progress will have added to the pool of developers.  This 
larger pool of developers will then have the manpower to re-implement a more "native" Win32 
subsystem.   While everyone in an open-source project is technically free to go as they please, 
perhaps the current pool of developers could have a gentleman's agreement to fix the native 
Win32 when the rest of the Windows components are up and running.  Everybody seems to 
agree that the current Win32 is a monster, so use Arwinss to rally more troops to battle the beast.

Even when the native Win32 is fixed, there may be a place for Arwinss where the optional
features it offers can be used.  Specialized deployments of ReactOS could take advantage
of Arwinss, though the main branch of ReactOS would re-implement the native Win32.  A
corporation that likes the X Server features of Arwinss might decide to sponsor ReactOS,
and that assistance could be used to progress the rest of the project as a whole.  Don't forget 
native Win32, but let's see what opportunities Arwinss opens up for ReactOS.

Perhaps the choice between Arwinss and native Win32 could be made at install.  Arwinss
would be the recommended package until native Win32 is fixed.

For what it's worth, I'm looking forward to testing my personal list of benchmark software 
against Arwinss.  :)

-Joshua Bailey



      
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